Installing SharePoint Server 2010 in Windows 7

Well, firstly I would like you guys to know that in no way it is an “original” post. I was installing SharePoint Server 2010 in my Windows 7 machine (which is not supported by default by SharePoint )so this all about the whole process … possible errors and their solutions. So you can say its kind of consolidation of different posts which I looked for answers. (And link to those posts are in the end) with my own workaround…

With that said, lets begin our journey of Installing SharePoint Server 2010 in Windows 7 …

As first step, download demo of SharePoint Server 2010 from official Microsoft site. And then run the installer. With surprise you will be greeted with error saying that you need to have Windows Server 2008 (x64)with SP1. Means that as a minimum system rec. you need to have 64bit edition of Windows Server 2008. Which I don’t have… So I did little “Googling” and with no surprise there were lots of people were complaining about this rec. (mostly people like me who just want to try SharePoint ) … and I stumbled across my fav. Site (the Code Project) where someone had posted a solution to this problem.

Go to “C:\Program Files (x86)\MSECache\oserver2010”
Find FILES folder Then Setup folder Edit config.xml file (using Notepad with Admin privileges) … and add …
<Setting Id="AllowWindowsClientInstall" Value="True"/>

Re-run the setup from there, and you will find it go through without any further complains …

Once the installation is done, you will need to configure the SharePoint using “SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard” … so, start the wizard … and soon you will see another error it may be something like,

Failed to Create Configuration Database

An exception of type System.IO.FileNotFoundException was thrown. Additional exception information: Could not load file or assembly ‘Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version 3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35? or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Which suggests that there is something wrong with creation of database, so you might think its because of SQL Server … but no, its because you don’t have installed something called “Windows Identity Foundation” pack a.k.a. WIF … so download / install it from MSFT Site and you are all set … re-run the configuration wizard. Then, I was met with another error which was again failed to create configuration database, but because of different object …

Failed to Create Configuration Database

An exception oftype Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeException was thrown. Additional exception information: Failed to call GetTypes on assembly Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c. Could not load file or assembly ‘System.Web.DataVisualition, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find thefile specified.

And again with little Googleing, I found that its because something called “Chart Control” is not installed !! So, I downloaded it from MSFT site again. And then again I tried to run the configuration wizard … and guess what ?? it just went all the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy … Mug

So, once done .. I fired “SharePoint 2010 Central Administration” .. in essence its centralized page for SharePoint administration, but man I met again another problem … my admin page was nothing but blank !!! So, again I went back to Google to ask question, and I found that … I need to enable Windows Authentication and disable Anonymous Access in my IIS (yes, you need IIS for SharePoint Server) … once it is done … everything was in place … and my own SharePoint Server 2010 is all up and running !!! Party smile