Installing Office SharePoint Server 2007 on Virtual PC

Recommended Requirements:

Web Servers:
- Dual-processor 2.8GHz or above
- At least 4GB of RAM
- 64-bit OS preferred
Database Server:
- Dual-processor 2.5 GHz or above
- At least 4GB of RAM
- SQL Server 2005, SP2 (64-bit preferred)
- 64-bit OS preferred

Pre-Installation Steps:

I like to be very consistent in my naming conventions for service accounts. They need to be self-documenting and I like to use the same names across each environment but include a suffix to indicate the environment for dev and staging. Ex: SVCMOSSDEV_WEBFARMADMIN and SVCMOSSTEST_WEBFARMADMIN. Some may say this is a bit anal but it keeps me from guessing what account is being used for what.

Step 1: Create Active Directory (local) accounts

These accounts need to be dedicated accounts with passwords that do not expire.

SVCMOSS_WebFarmAdmin

This domain account will need to be:

a member of the administrators group on the front end SharePoint servers and the SharePoint index server
a member of the Administrators group on SQL Server
a database system administrator on SQL Server
have SQL Security Admin and DB Creator rights on SQL Server

This account will be used to complete the SharePoint installation and therefore will be designated as the identity that the SharePoint Central Administration web application will run under and the account that will access the SharePoint configuration database.

SVCMOSS_SSP1

This domain account will be the identity that the SharePoint Shared Services Provider will run under. Access rights will be granted during the SharePoint installation.

SVCMOSS_SEARCH

This domain account is used as the service account for the Windows SharePoint Services Search service. It will have read/write access to the SharePoint content databases, read access to the configuration database, and read/write access to the WSS Search database. The user account must be a member of the Administrators group on the computer that is running the Search service

SVCMOSS_APPLICAT

Use this account as the identity to run the web applications within the SharePoint farm.

Installation Steps:

Step 1: Install Windows Server 2003

I chose to install Windows Server 2003 Enterprise rather than R2. Black Viper provides step by step screenshots of the whole installation.

Step 2: Change VPC settings (will need to shutdown VPC first)

Set memory to 1024 MB
Enable Undo Disks
Under Networking, set Adapter 1 to Shared Networking

Step 3: Add VPC add-ons to improve navigation experience

Click on Action (when VPC session is started)
Select Install or Update Virtual Machine additions)

Step 4: Check for updates

This will require setting up connection to the internet first.

Select Start à All Programs à Windows Update.

Install all available updates and IE 7.

Installed the following:
Windows Server 2003 SP2

Step 5: Install IIS

Under Add/Remove Programs, select Add/Remove Windows Components

Highlight Application Server and click Details
Highlight IIS and click Details
Highlight World Web Service and click Details
Select Active Server Pages, Server Side Includes, and World Web Service
Click OK three times
Unselect Internet Explorer Enhanced Configuration
Click Next to complete installation

Step 6: Install .NET Framework 2.0

Step 7: Install .NET Framework 3.0

Download

Step 8: Check for updates via Windows Update

Step 9: Modify IIS settings for ASP.NET

Go to Web Service Extensions and set ASP.NET to ALLOW

Step 8: Install POP3 Email to test email functionality via SharePoint

Follow instructions from SharePoint Reporter Blog

Step 9: Install and configure Outlook 2007 to test email functionality via SharePoint

Follow instructions from SharePoint Reporter Blog

If there is a problem with sending a test email:

Go to IIS
Right click Default SMTP Virtual Server and select Properties
Click the Access tab
Click Relay button
Select All Except List Below

Step 10: Install SQL Server 2005 (Developer Edition, 32 bit)

Follow instructions from SharePoint Reporter Blog

Step 11: Configure SQL Server for SharePoint

Follow instructions from SharePoint Reporter Blog

Step 12: Apply latest service pack to SQL Server (SP 3)

Step 13: Install Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Enterprise Edition)

IMPORTANT: Make sure you are now logged into the VPC as the SVCMOSS_WEBFARMADMIN account.

Step 14: Create the configuration database and the Central Administration web application

NOTE: For consistency, I always use port 5555 for my Central Administration Web Application. This makes it easy to remember the URL if need be.

Verify that all the settings look right and then click Next to create the configuration database and the Central Administration web application. Go get a cup of coffee. The setup will take a few minutes.