This article describes the configuration of Windows Server 2008 R2 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. While you don't necessarily need to manually do the steps I suggest that you read the post so you understand what the SharePoint prerequisites installer does.
One thing I didn't talk about yet is the difference of the Windows Server 2008 versions. It doesn't really matter for our development environment but does matter for a production environment. What I didn't know is the fact that the version of Windows Server 2008 has an impact on SharePoint regarding geographically distributed users, the number of mobile and remote users, regulated environments that requiring a high level of data security and compliance or scenarios with high availability.
So it is a good idea to check your requirements against the functionality of the different versions of Windows Server.
By the way... a thing which helps you to keep calm and which doesn't really matter within a development environment is the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security feature. It prevents users and administrators from browsing SharePoint sites which are directly served by the server. So if you want to open Central Administration or any other SharePoint site you can disable it for users and administrators. You don't have to change the registry.
Are you actually doing the configuration by hand or do you use the prerequisites installer to do the things? You can leave a comment how you handle that... if you need an overview of the complete series or the the farm topology and the deployment scenario you can follow the link below.
Please have a look at
Windows Server 2008 R2 configuration
Web Server (IIS) role and Application Server role including .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Check the “Application Server” role and add required features.
Check the “Web Server (IIS)” role.
Proceed to the feature selection.
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is selected by default. Check all the role services as shown in the picture and add all required features.
Check all the role services as shown in the picture and add role services if required.
Proceed checking all the role services as shown in the picture.
These role services will be installed by the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Preparation Tool later if you don’t do it now.
Keep the settings and start the installation.
After finishing the installation you usually don’t have to restart and you can see the installation results.
If some of the role services are not installed repeat the steps described above.
SharePoint 2010 software prerequisites
The remaining software requirements can be installed by using the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Preparation Tool which is part of the SharePoint installer.
- 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
Pop3, SMTP, Outlook
Since Windows Server 2008 the Pop3 server feature is deprecated. If you need mail you have to install Exchange Server or something similar.
IE Enhanced Security Configuration
Don’t do this in production environment! If you are deploying SharePoint 2010 in a development environment you can disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security configuration if you want to open Central Administration and other SharePoint 2010 sites directly on the server.
Use the server manager to disable enhanced security for users and administrators.
Next steps