Installing SPS 2010 Tips

Here I wanted to capture all issues or trick dealing with installation of SPS 2010. I will keep this updating as I find new issues/answers…

1. Single Server Install/Farm Mode install

Issue

For Single Server installation, you may choose Farm Install just to avoid SQL Express being installed. But the Farm Install mode restricts to having a domain account when you run Configuration wizard.

Solution

Once installation is complete, run SPS Powershell, run SP-NewConfigurationDatabase. This will accept the local account and create config db, and connected the server to Farm.

Next run the configuration wizard which will confirm that the server is connected to  a farm, now complete the creation of CA.

2. Single Server Install/SQL or SPS2010 first.

Issue

For stand alone (such as development) servers installations where you want to have SQL Server and SPS 2010 running on the same box, you may encounter following issue if you first install SPS 2010 and then try install SQL Server 2008.

An attempt was made to install (or update) SQL Server Native Client on a computer where SQL Server Native Client is already installed, and where the existing installation was from an MSI file that was not named sqlncli.msi.

Solution

Option 1: Simply uninstall “SQL Server Native Client” from the Uninstall Program option from Control Panel

Option 2: Given the choice or for your next single server installation try installing SQL Server 2008 first before SPS 2010.

3. An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for microsoft.identityModel:

Issue

You may receive an error while trying to first time install or create a new configuration database that is described as below:

Exception: System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for microsoft.identityModel: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\WebServices\Root\web.config line 4) ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Solution

There are two aspects to this issue:

1. Ensure proper install of Windows Identity Foundation:  Make sure you have uninstalled Microsoft “Geneva” Framework.  This code is now renamed as “Microsoft Identify Foundation”. Find appropriate download for your platform from (Give attention to Instructions above the Files in the Download) "http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=eb9c345f-e830-40b8-a5fe-ae7a864c4d76&displaylang=en#filelist.

2. Microsoft.IdentityModel Version in coded in the web.config is incorrect:  Lets look at the Version Number in the Error message:  “Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=1.0.0.0”.  Next lets follow the Class name space as registerd under the GAC:

As you can see the actual Version number for the Microsoft.IdentiyModel is 3.5.0.0

Now lets follow the web.config entry as pointed by the Error Message.

Lets update this version number in the web.config pointed by the Error message to 3.5.0.0, save the web.config.

Now continue your configuration, this step has successfully worked for me, I hope this helps others battling thus error.

Bootable VHD in Windows 7 for Win 2008 R2 x64, SQL 2008, SPS 2010, VS2010, WF4

You can refer to my other post on this effort. Finally I was able to get a bootable VHD under Windows 7. I wanted to share what finally worked for me.

• With my base bootable image Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, only the Fixed VHD seems to work.
• The Fixed VHD must be on the local drive, meaning no external connected drives through USB, ESATA (Yes this is possible see my other post).
• So the above restriction put limit on my maximum size I could apply for my VHD (20GB)
• Here are some of my recordings of space requirements:

Software	Space Required
Windows 2008 R2 x64+IIS	6.7GB
VS.Net 2010 (C#,Web Dev, SPS Dev) Including all pre-requisites	3.3GB
SQL Server 2008	2GB
SPS 2010	2.3GB

• After all the components installed and ready to go with SPS CA created, I had only about 3.3 GB left.
• So I think if you are planning for this task, plan for your storage well in advance, I would say at least 25-40GB for the VHD if you can afford the space.
• When I created the VHD as fixed disk, the install and booting went well. Finally when everything started working, I felt that I been missing my productivity tools where were on my base Windows 7 install.
• So finally I am ended up going back to my VMware Workstation option, and here are couple of reasons.
• Microsoft VPC 2007 did not support x64 bit OS.
• VMWare Workstation 7 supported Windows 2008 x64 bit.

Bootable VHD in Windows 7 using Pre-Built Hyper-V VHD file

Overview

On my lap top currently I run Windows 7 x64  and MOSS 2007 and I am very happy with it (no more VPC, VMWare  or carry that heavy external Hard Drive). See Current Specs below.

I tried to install SPS 2010 on the same base install where I had MOSS 2007 already installed( see my other post before you try…)

This time I am trying to create new multi bootable  partition from a VHD that is attached on my base Windows 7 install.  While there are many good references to get started, I wanted to share my experience of how I got my build done.

My goal is to load create a new VHD where I can load all the next generation Beta products. This to include SPS 2010 Beta, VS2010 and all other supporting/necessary components.

Current Specs

Dell Latitude D630  (x64)
4GB RAM
Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
SQL Server 2008 SP1
VS.net 2008 SP1
MOSS 2007 SP2 Oct CU
Office 2010 Beta
SPD 2007

References

1. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/LessVirtualMoreMachineWindows7AndTheMagicOfBootToVHD.aspx
2. VHD-Extender toolkit
   1. http://vmtoolkit.com/blogs/announcements/archive/2007/01/17/vhd-expander-available.aspx

Solution

To start with I am repurposing Microsoft provided Windows 2008 R2 VHD pre built Hyper-V Virtual machine but has 180 day evaluation license, which is good enough at the movement  as SPS2010 and VS2010 are still in beta for at least next few months (3-6months).

• So I downloaded the image, extracted and repurposed only the base VHD file.
• The base VHD is only about 6.7GB.
• Next attached the VHD in Windows 7 and I was able to see the content of the drive.
• Following the bcdedit scripts I finished the dual bootable configuration.
• Upon booting, the boot failed with the green screen error message says that the size of the drive is too small.
• So next I utilized the VHD-Extender tool to extend the file, the version of the VHDExtender game an option extend only to minimum of 127GB. Which I did and this will be extended to a new file.

Steps

1. Download the Windows 2008 VHD (Reference link 2)
   1.  
2. Run the xxx-part01.exe and let the extract complete.
   1.  
   2. 

3. The extract process will create a folder structure, which is a pre configured Hyper-V virtual machine.

   1. 

4. From all of this all I am interested is the VHD file. So navigate to the following folder to find VHD file.

   1. 

   2. 

5. Extending the original 6.7GB VHD to 127GB file using the VHDExtender

   1. 

   2. 

6. Now from the Windows 7, from the Computer Manager, navigate to Storage>Disk Management, right click and choose Attach VHD
   1. 
   2. 
   3. 
   4. 
   5. 
   6. 
   7. 
7. Using BCDEdit, create new Boot entry
   1. 
8. Copy the new GUID  from above command
   1. 
9. Now follow next steps of BCDedit commands as below
   1. 
      
10. Validate the registration
    1. 
11. Reboot and choose the new Windows 2008 partition to boot.
    1. 

12. After choosing to boot from the new partition, I got below error with status code ”0xc000000e”
    1. 
13. Reboot with Windows 2008 R2 DVD
14. Choose Repair Windows
    1. 
15. Now notice that on the Windows 2008 partition, the drive size seems to be displayed as 0MB and the location is unknown.
    1. 
16. When I rebooted with the base Windows 7,  I noticed that the Attached VHD drive is no more in the list of drive under my storage management (Computer Management console).
17. Now I tried attaching the drive and trying to reboot, it seems that the VHD from the Hyper-V is not quite recognizable under this Windows 7 VHD attach process.
18. Further search led me to confirm that there might be an issue with this process with some one who had tried similar approach (http://blog.frankovic.net/2009/05/boot-win-2008-r2-rc-from-vhd/)
19. After further through I realized why the System Recovery Option was not displaying the partition size and the location.
    1. The drive where I stored the VHD is on an external drive that is connected to my lap top via ESATA connection.
    2. When the lap top was rebooted, the BIOS does not know or have the ESATA drivers and hence the VHD was not at all identified.
20. Next Steps
1. So my next steps are to really create a new VHD from scratch, install OS and go from there.
1. OR
2. Try with the base prebuilt Win 2008 R2 VHD which is 6.7GB by copying the VHD to my local lap top drive.
1. This option just did not work at all. When rebooted the windows never came up, always received BDOS.
21. See my next post for my results.
22. To clean up current configure simply ran bcdedit /delete as below:
    1.  

Final Update

When I created the VHD as fixed disk, the install and booting went well. Finally when everything started working, I felt that I been missing my productivity tools where were on my base Windows 7 install.

So finally I am ended up going back to my VMware Workstation option, and here are couple of reasons.

Microsoft VPC 2007 did not support x64 bit OS.

VMWare Workstation 7 supported Windows 2008 x64 bit.

Installing SPS 2010 side by side MOSS 2007

Overview

I have gone local with my Windows 7 install running MOSS 2007 (No more VPC/VMWare) on my lap top and I am really happy with it. I wanted to try and see what happens if I tried installing SPS 2010 Beta along side of MOSS 2007 install. I know Microsoft said it is not supported. But just for the kick…

Test results

I followed all the referenced as listed under the References section below to get through the Pre-Requisites which really went with no issues. (I will post my install experience when I finally get successful in another post). To save time of you all reading this post, finally when I got to the point when I ran the SPS 2010 install, this is what I saw…

I am not sure why Microsoft made this restriction but that's where I am being forced to try other option.

Next Steps

There is lot of buzz around the new Windows 7 support to load the VHDs as another bootable mount drive. So I am trying that option next to run the SPS 2010 as separate install and still make use of my Lap Top full potential. Will post my results in my next post….

Reference

1. MSDN:
1. Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server
2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx
2. MSDN Blog
1. SharePoint 2010 Pre-Requisites Download Links
2. http://blogs.msdn.com/opal/archive/2009/10/25/sharepoint-2010-pre-requisites-download-links.aspx

Installing SPD 2007 along with Office 2010 Beta

Issue

On my lap top I have Windows 7 x64 installed  and I run MOSS 2007+SQL 2008 (refer my other blog on how I got MOSS 2007 installed and running on my local Windows 7).  Next I went ahead to install Office 2010 x64 Beta as the bits became available. I got in to trouble with Office 2010 install complaining that previous version of Office programs were installed and that I must first uninstall in order to install Office 2010 and pointed to Office SharePoint Designer 2007.  This is documented and discussed issued with Office 2010. Well I still need SPD 2007 in order to work with MOSS 2007.

Solution

So I first took chance by first uninstalling SPD 2007  and continued with Office 2010 beta x64 install which worked pretty well.

Now I tried installing the SPD 2007 once again (there is only x86 version of SPD 2007), and it installed well and SPD 2007 is working as expected.

Follow up

On the above success next I am venturing in to installing SharePoint 2010 along side of my MOSS 2007 on my Windows 7 ( I know Microsoft says it is not supported, well MOSS 2007 install did the same until someone figured out why not?) , look for my next blog….

Installing MOSS 2007 on Windows 7

Overview

After Windows 7 was RTMed, I wanted to once again refresh my Lap Top with the released version as supposed to running the old RC version which would have timed out in July 2010. With the RC version I had the SQL Server 2008 and MOSS 2007 installed on my Windows 7 RC install. Worked very well.

But this time once again I have to work through some of the challenges to get the MOSS install kick in. So I had followed all the steps as given in the below references, but wanted to add little more clarity to some of the steps and also share my steps that made it work finally.

Also thanks to the Bamboo Solutions folks (Jonas Nilsson) for writing the program that fakes the MOSS installer that our Windows 7 really the server and let the install program continue. Randy Williamsfrom Synergy for sharing a small trick that did the one more trick that SharePoint.exe to be renamed back to setup.exe.

Here goes my little contribution…

References

http://community.bamboosolutions.com/blogs/bambooteamblog/archive/2009/05/07/installing-wss-3-0-moss-sp2-on-windows-7-rc.aspx

http://community.bamboosolutions.com/blogs/bambooteamblog/archive/2008/05/21/how-to-install-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-sp1-on-vista-x64-x86.aspx

http://www.synergyonline.com/blog/blog-moss/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=89

Steps

Follow all the steps in sequence as dictated by the first two links in my reference.

Tip 1:

In order to turn of the Application Compatibility, if you search “policy” in Windows 7 as below,



you will be search displayed as below…



Choose the “Edit group policy”, otherwise you can simply run “gpedit.msc”

Tip 2:

If you have renamed the original “<your MOSS 2007 Install Folder>x64\setup.exe” to sharepoint.exe, I kept on getting the help menu for extract command, so when I tried renaming sharepoint.exe back to “setup.exe” in the Install got kick in…



Tip 3:

Once all the above issues have been resolved, I was able to get the MOSS 2007 installed. Next I updated with latest SP 2 and the October 2009 CU, then ran config wizard and completed the Central Administration created.

Now I fired up the Central Administration in a browser and found little strange display under the Topology and Services options. The “Services On Farm” was not displayed.



As second test I tried to create a New SSP…



and got below error…



After checking my Local Users Group>Administrators, my Windows 7 login account was already part of administrator group (which I had already set up before I started with SQL Server and MOSS install steps).

Then I figure this must be something in the Windows 7 UAC that may have not set correctly. But there was no option to check any more details.

Then I ventured in to Local Security Policy to see if there are any policies that are blocking my account though who is member of local Administrator to act partially and blocking my full access/permissions to above problem..

Then I search for [not literally] “Can I turn off UAC?” and ended up with a nice guide from TechNet (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709691(WS.10).aspx). Look for section “To disable Admin Approval Mode “

Now to run the Local Security Policy follow below steps:

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click Run, type secpol.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.

2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue..

3. From the Local Security Settings console tree, double-click Local Policies, and then double-click Security Options.

4. Scroll down and double-click User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode.



Select the Disabled option, and then click OK.



Close the Local Security Settings window.

Now refreshed my CA and there you see all the missing options…



And further I was now able to create SSP and continue my journey running MOSS 2007 locally on Windows 7 happily….

Next I want to install and test Office 2010 Beta but still want to run SPD 2007.. see my next post..

Custom 401 for MOSS 2007

Overview

• Handling 401 Error under the WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 requires special handling.
• Unlike other Error messages that occur after the user is authenticated, all the browser requests handled through complete  ASP.Net pipe line and further WSS SPRequesthandler/SPPageFactory.
• In case of FileNotFound there is actually an object model property under the SPApplication object, which is unique and easier to handle.

How MOSS presents 401 Error Message?

• Under the context of hawkeye portal, were the users are restricted by means of an active directory group, users who are part of the group will get authenticated and are allowed to browse the portal.
• Users who are part of WSGC domain but are not part of the restricted AD group, will not get authenticated.
• Upon login attempt with proper username/password entry, user will be redirected http://<PortalURL>/_Layouts/accessdenied.aspx page.
• Above page is the standard MOSS Access Denied Error Message page.

How does Authentication work in IIS and Browser?

• When user points the browser to the hawkeye portal, the browser first sends out the request without the user credential.
• IIS checks to see if the request site is security enabled.
• If the site is security enabled (in hawkeye case it is Windows Authentication), then IIS challenges the browser to provide the credentials by means of sending a 401 status code back to browser.
• Browser then looks at 401 and understands that it is now required to provide a credential.
• Browser then looks up if it has user credentials.
  • If the IE setting is set to Login using current user login then the browser sends the current user name/password.
  • If the IE setting is set to Prompt for login then the users are prompted for login.
  • If the browser does not have a credential then the browser displays the 401 error message by looking up the local 401 error message (This is a page from IE client side)
• When the browser provide a credential, IIS server takes on checking for the authentication for given user/password.
  • If the user is authenticated, the requested page is served.
  • If the user is a valid Active directory account then the SharePoint redirects the user to http://<PortalURL>/_Layouts/accessdenied.aspx page which is SharePoint error page.
  • If the user is not valid Active directory account then the client side IE 401 error message is displayed.
    

What 401 error condition can you handle in SharePoint?

• You can only handle the 401 error condition for a valid AD user accounts but which do not have access to the portal. This is the only condition that Server handles.
• You can not handle the 401 error condition for non valid AD user accounts.

What are the challenges in SharePoint with handling 401 error?

• When the 401 error condition occurs for a valid AD user account  with no access to the site, SharePoint page handler will take over the call and manages to redirect to /_Layouts/accessdenied.aspx">/_Layouts/accessdenied.aspx">/_Layouts/accessdenied.aspx">http://<PortalURL>/_Layouts/accessdenied.aspx.
• Above SharePoint behavior process ignores any web.confg <CustomErrors> settings.
• The only way to intercept this redirection is by implementing a custom Http handler.
• Under the http handler, by subscribing to EndRequest event and by trapping for the page redirect where the url is /_layouts/accessdeined.aspx, and then redirecting to your custom error page.
• You can implement your own custom error page under the sharepoint context  at the given below URL location for example.
• /_layouts/<YourCompanyName>/MyCustomAccessDeined.aspx

Implementation

Below is the sample code base for http module. Substitute your <Company Name>. Compile this into a signed assembly.

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Collections.Specialized;

   3:  using System.Configuration;

   4:  using System.Web;

   5:   

   6:   

   7:  namespace Rajesh.MOSS401Redirector

   8:  {

   9:      public class RedirectorHttpModule : IHttpModule

  10:      {

  11:        

  12:          public void Init(HttpApplication context)

  13:          {       

  14:              context.EndRequest += new EventHandler(context_EndRequest);                

  15:          }

  16:   

  17:          protected void context_EndRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)

  18:          {

  19:              if (sender is HttpApplication)

  20:              {

  21:                  HttpApplication application = (HttpApplication)sender;

  22:                 

  23:                   

  24:                  if application.Request.HttpMethod == "GET")

  25:        {

  26:                      HttpContext context = application.Context;

  27:                      if (context.Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Contains("/_layouts/accessdenied.aspx"))

  28:                      {

  29:                          HttpContext.Current.Server.ClearError();

  30:                          HttpContext.Current.Response.Clear();

  31:                          HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect("/_layouts/<YourCompanyName>/AccessDenied.aspx", false);

  32:                      }

  33:   

  34:                   }

  35:   

  36:           }

  37:    }

Deployment and configuration

1. Deploy the redirector assembly Rajesh.MOSS401Redirector.dll to the GAC on all FEWs.



2. Deploy your custom error page under C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\<YourCompanyName>\



3. Add the following httpModule section to the web application web.config:

<configuration>

  <system.web>


    <httpModules>


      <add name="RedirectorHttpModule" type="Rajesh.MOSS401Redirector.RedirectorHttpModule, Rajesh.MOSS401Redirector, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=4f1f85ae373342d6" />


    </httpModules>


  </system.web>


</configuration>

     4.Test by login in with user with portal access, and user with no portal access.

     5. This test solution do not have proper implementation of the Custom Error page, it was meant to be a sample test only. You will need to implement proper supported SharePoint page.