Marwan Tarek's Blog [MVP]

I have installed SharePoint 2010 on a virtual machine, following quick guide to steps required to install SharePoint 2010.

Guest Software specifications:

1. Windows 2008 + SP1 – 64 bit
2. Optionally: do dcpromo to install Active Directory on the same SharePoint machine
3. 2. SQL server express 2008 – 64 bit

Guest Hardware specifications:

1. RAM 3 GB
2. HDD 30 GB
3. Hyper-V as virtualization software

Installation steps

1. Install the operating system: Windows 2008 + SP1 64 bit.

2. Run Windows Update and install all the latest updates (make sure the virtual machine is connected to the internet).

3. Run “Install software prerequisites” from SharePoint 2010 setup file, this will download and install all the required prerequisites for SharePoint 2010.

4. Install SQL server express 64 bit: you may need to install Windows Installer 4.5 as pre-requisites for SQL server, you can download it from here.

5. Install SharePoint: Click “Install Office SharePoint Server” from SharePoint setup file.

6. Choose Installation type: Choose Advanced mode.

7. Choose Server Type – Complete, Click Install Now.

8. Installation in progress.

9. Installation finished, Run configuration wizard

10. Configuration Wizard

11. Create New server farm

12. Configure Database Settings

13. Configure Farm security settings

14. Configure Central administration web application

15. Completing the configuration wizard

16. Configuration In progress

17. Configuration finished and Central administration open

and now you are ready to play around with the amazing SharePoint 2010

Related links:

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products - TechCenter

SharePoint Developer Center – MSDN