This article describes the software requirements regarding Windows Server 2008 required for deploying SharePoint Server 2010 and is a part of a series describing the complete installation of SharePoint Server 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2. In general you need the Web Server (IIS) role and the Application Server role including .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

Please read the hardware and software requirements carefully since they are important if you contact Microsoft technical support. If your environment doesn't meet the minimum requirements support will be limited until you meet the requirements. Of course support isn't really needed for a development environment but it can become valid if you use the guide for some other environment. Don't say I didn't tell you...

A thing which comes to short in my guide on how to install SharePoint 2010 in your development environment are hard disks. I don't care where my logfiles or the SharePoint index are stored as long as I have enough space to store them. Because of performance reasons these files are stored on a separate disk in a production environment which usually has a separate spindel. Anyway I don't configure the IIS or SharePoint to store them somewhere else.

By the way... you can install SharePoint 2010 prerequisites from an offline shared network location using the prerequisite installer tool. This is usually required when the servers on which you want to install SharePoint 2010 are isolated from the Internet. Furthermore it's a good idea to use a network share if you plan to install the prerequisites on several servers because this way you can ensure consistency of your files.

It would be great if you leave a comment at the end of the post. You can also go back to the beginning of the series were you can find an overview of the complete series and of course the farm topology and the deployment scenario.

Please have a look at

• Installing SharePoint Server 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 - Part 1: Overview

Software requirements for application and front-end Web server

The software requirements [1] apply to

• a single server with built-in database and
• server farm installations including a single server or multiple servers.

Windows Server 2008

Your operation system needs to meet the following requirements:

• Windows Server 2008 SP2 64-bit,
• Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit,
• In general you should apply updates and according to TechNet [1] you need to apply the following update:
  For Windows Server 2008 with SP2, see FIX: A hotfix that provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF is available for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
  For Windows Server 2008 R2, see FIX: A hotfix that provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF is available for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 

Remarks:

• The second update isn’t available while writing the article. 
• The Beta version of the Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Preparation Tool does not install the mentioned updates.
• If you use Windows Server 2008 with SP1 then the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Preparation Tool will install SP2.

Windows Server 2008 – Roles and features

Furthermore you need to enable the following features and roles in your operating system which is described later in detail:

• Web Server (IIS) role
• Application Server role including .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Remaining software requirements

The remaining software requirements can be installed by using the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Preparation Tool.

• Beta: Microsoft "Geneva" Framework
  RTM: Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) - Geneva has to be uninstalled before WIF can be installed!
• Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)
• Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0
• Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
• Beta: Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP3
  RTM: Windows PowerShell 2.0
• SQL Server 2008 Native Client
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET
• Beta: ADO.NET Data Services v1.5 CTP2
  RTM: ADO.NET Data Services Update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Resources

Here are the resources used in this article:

• [1] Determine hardware and software requirements

Next steps

• Please take a look at Part 3: Windows Server 2008 R2 configuration.