his post is a complete solution for setting up SharePoint 2016 on-premise. Most of the documents available online do not provide a complete solution/steps to install SharePoint 2016 with all of the prerequisites to be installed manually. Also, troubleshooting steps are provided for some of the most common mistakes done while installing. This post will guide you how to set up the SharePoint server 2016 in your VM environment.

This document is a simplified guide written to cover all aspects and scenarios encountered while setting up the prerequisites for SharePoint 2016, system requirements, errors and problems faced during set up.

In this guide we will use Windows 2k12 R2 server as an example and explain the detailed procedure.

Prerequisites:

1. A Windows 2k12 server file (Windows_server_2012_r2_with_update_x64_dvd.iso)

According to your requirement and the installation scenario use the below configurations:

2. Active Directory Server in the same Domain where you will be installing SharePoint 2016 Server

3. SQL Server 2014 (SQLServer2014SP2-Full-x64-ENU.iso)

4. SharePoint server 2016 with license (SharePoint_server_2016_x64_dvd_8419458.iso)

Note: Install Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update: April 2014.

All the steps are explained in detail with pictures below:

Step 1:

As we are using Windows Server 2012 R2 in our example, let's update the server with all the latest available updates, the updates can vary depending upon the win2k12 r2 iso file you have.

It's recommended to install all the latest available updates from Microsoft.



Once the system is updated restart the server.

Step 2:

Install the Active Directory server on Win2k12 R2 server. The step by step procedure to set it up is given here: https://support.rackspace.com/how-to/installing-active-directory-on-windows-server-2012/.

AD server is one of the prerequisites which needs to be installed on the same domain where the SharePoint server will be installed.

Once AD is installed properly the System is ready for step 3.

Step 3

In order to install and configure SQL server 2014 you need to install .NET framework 3.5 first, which can be installed as shown below.

* Click on Server Manager-->Manage-->Add Roles and Features-->Select Features tab as shown below.

* Select .NET Framework 3.5 Features and include the (.NET 2.0 and 3.0) by clicking on the check boxes and click -->Next-->Install

* The installation will take around 1 - 3 minutes.

Step 4

After installing the .NET Framework 3.5, which is a requirement for SQL2014, begin installing the SQL 2014 server on the Win2k12 Server.

• • Mount the SQLServer2014SP2-Full-x64-ENU.iso and click on "Setup" application.

• • Now a popup screen appears in which you have to select the option "Installation -->New SQL server stand alone installation or add features to an existing installation".

• • The next popup will ask for entering product key or Evaluation i.e. free period of 180 days, select which ever is suitable for you and click Next.

• • Read and accept the License terms then Click Next.

• • Once you click on Next it will check for the prerequisites of SQL 2014, verify if all the prerequisites are met and continue by clicking Next.

• • Click on Next for all the screens till Feature selection, leaving the settings to default, ignore few warnings.

• • In Feature selection, you need to select "Database Engine Services" and "Management Tools complete" then click Next as shown below.

• • The next screen is for the configurations, leave it to default which is the Feature Rules, Click on Next.

• • In the Server Configuration section, provide the Account name as your Windows login name and set to automatic. If the credentials are correct you can go to the next screen, or it will throw an error after clicking on Next.

• • Once you move on to next screen you need to do the database configurations. We need to specify authentication mode for the Database engine which is Windows authentication mode. Select on "Add current User" to add a user under specify SQL server admin section. Click Next.

• • We are almost done for the installation, now check the summary in Ready to install Window and Click on Install.

• • The installation of SQL Server 2014 will begin, check the progress which will take 10-15 minutes.

• • Check for the success status after installation and Click on the close button to finish the installation.

• • Now let's do a few changes to the SQL server instance installed on the server. Go to -->SQL server management studio-->Connect using Windows Authentication, which connects to the SQL Server 2014 installed on the server.

• • Right click on the Server Name -->Properties from the Object Explorer, as shown below.

• • Click on Security-->Logins-->Right Click on the Windows login and select server roles. Assign roles "dbcreator" and "securityadmin" check boxes and click OK.

• • Assign the roles "dbcreator, securityadmin, and sysadmin" for "NT Authority\SYSTEM" i.e system account and the same for SQL server "NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER".

• • This completes the SQL Server 2014 installation.

Step 5

Once the SQL 2104 Server is installed we are ready to start with the SharePoint Server 2014 installation.

There are some prerequisites for the SharePoint 2016 which need to be installed before directly installing SharePoint 2016. Follow the steps below which will make it easy for installing all the required components.

• • First mount the file. (SharePoint_server_2016_x64_dvd.iso)

• • There are different methods to install the prerequisites for SharePoint 2016 which may be running the ready prerequisites installer or the offline method. Normally I would prefer using the offline method because using the ready prerequisites installer will not always work fine and also not reliable. So, let's follow the Offline method of installing the prerequisites.

• • Before proceeding with the Offline SharePoint 2016 installer, let's try running the installer that is available with the SharePoint_server_2016_x64_dvd.iso mounted file. The prerequisiteinstaller looks like as shown in the image below.

• • Run the installer prerequisiteinstaller application which will try to install all of the necessary components required for SharePoint 2016. The prerequisite components include the components below:

• Application Server Role, Web Server (IIS) Role
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client
• Microsoft ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server
• Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
• Windows Server AppFabric
• Microsoft Identity Extensions
• Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client 2.1
• Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.6
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6
• Cumulative Update Package 7 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB3092423)
• Visual C Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2012
• Visual C Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2015

• • Click on Next in the installer and accept the License terms then proceed. Normally this fails to get installed and the error which appears as given below:

• • Now, do not worry if this prerequisiteinstaller throws an error. Let's start with the Offline method for installing SharePoint 2016 prerequisites.

• • There is a slight difference in the prerequisites in SharePoint 2016 when compared to SharePoint 2013.

• • let's first download all of the prerequisites which are listed above in Step 5 and as shown in the above diagram.

• • First, let's run the setup file from the mounted location of SharePoint 2016.iso.

• • This step will help us understand the prerequisites required to continue the installation of SharePoint 2016. The image below will give us a clear picture of what prerequisites are still required by the installer.

• • There are 6 components which need to be installed as a prerequisite before triggering the actual SharePoint 2016 installation process. Now, let's download the required components using a PowerShell script, which will directly download from the Microsoft trusted site.

• • The Script can be downloaded from the link below. Save the file as .ps1 file. (powershell executable file)

Download-SP2016PreReqFiles

Open PowerShell as administrator and run the command as shown in the figure below:

Run the PoweerShell script from the location where the file is saved. Ex: " Desktop>.\Download-SP2016PreReqFiles.ps1 "



 

Note: Before running the script, create a folder inside C:\ or any desired folder where you want to download the prerequisites file, once the download is completed you will see all of the files in the folder you have given. (here C:\Pre is the folder name)



The above picture shows successful completion of the prerequisites and all components downloaded into the given folder.

Note: The script does not include 2 components, they are: Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.6 and Cumulative Update Package 7 for Microsoft AppFabric1.1 Windows Server (KB3092423), which can be downloaded from the trusted Microsoft locations https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=39373 and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49171 respectively.

• • Download and keep all of the components in a single folder and let's begin with the installation of the components individually.

• • Except for Windows AppFabric and its patch, all the components can be manually installed by double tapping on those applications. To install Windows AppFabric and patch, we need to run a command which will be covered below.

• • Let's begin first by installing the MicrosoftIdentityExtensions-64 as shown below.

• • After Microsoft Identity Extensions installation, install the Microsoft Sync framework Runtime.

• • Now install the third component i.e MSIPC (Active Directory Rights Management Services)

• • Reboot the Win2k12 R2 server after all of the components are installed.

• • Let's install the forth component i.e Windows Server AppFabric using the PowerShell script as given below.

.\WindowsServerAppFabricSetup_x64.exe /i CacheClient","CachingService","CachingAdmin /gac

After installation, restart the Win2k12 R2 server.

• • After restarting the server, install the AppFabric update7 patch by double clicking on the application as shown below. Before installing the AppFabric application -->Right click-->Unblock the file. This is a mandatory step which needs to be done before installing a file which is downloaded from outside.

• • Now again restart the Win2k12 R2 server.

• • After reboot now install WCF data services by double clicking on the application directly. Before installing the WCF application -->Right click-->Unblock the file. This is a mandatory step which needs to be done before installing a file which is downloaded from outside.

• • After installing the components, restart the Windows2k12 R2 server and again run the Setup to confirm if all the prerequisites are met. If the screen appears as below then all the prerequisites are met.

Note: Most of the prerequisites like sqlncli and .NET framework 4.6 will be installed when Windows update is performed, hence update is a necessary step which takes care of most of the prerequisites.

• • Enter a valid Product key and then accept the license terms. Accept and click on Continue-->Install.

• • Installation of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016 will take 10 -15 minutes.

• • After the installation is successful, click on Finish and a configuration wizard appears as below.

• • Read the information and click on Next, then select Create new server farm from the next window, Click Next.

• • Specify the configuration Database settings as shown below by providing the server ip address (Database server), Database name of your choice and then username and password for database login. Then click Next.

• • Once the port is configured, specify a server role, here we use Single-Server Farm, then click Next.

• • Specify the port for the web application and configure security settings as NTLM or Kerberos for authentication and then Next.

• • Verify the configuration and click Next.

• • 
    
    Click on Next after verifying and the configuration will begin which will take around 10-15 minutes to finish.

Note: Troubleshooting: If the configuration fails with the following failure message as shown below, then while installing WCF data services and AppFabric you have not unblocked the files. Now unblock both the files and reinstall them. Restart the Win2k12 R2 server and begin the configuration again.

• • Once the configuration is successful, Click on Finish as shown below. After which a window appears in the browser which asks for authentication. Enter the username and password provided as authentication for database and Click OK.

• • After successful authentication, a Welcome screen appears as shown below.

• • Start the Wizard and select "use existing managed account" and click Next. After clicking on next this will take a while to set it up. (10-15 mins)

• • Finally a Create Site Collection screen appears in which you can create your desired site. Then click OK.

• • This step successfully completes the Farm configuration. SharePoint 2016 installation and configuration is completed click Finish.

This is the final step for the SharePoint 2016 server setup. These steps are tested more than 5 times on a virtual machine environment. So there is a maximum chance for the above provided steps to work on your environment. Also some of the troubleshooting steps are mentioned in the article which will help you to handle the problem.

Feel free to post any comments on this or if you get stuck between any steps.

The above data has been referred from multiple Microsoft blogs on SharePoint 2013 installation and modified to suit SharePoint 2016 which has been made easy for the customer by gathering all the information in one place.

Reference links:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(v=office.16).aspx#section4

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-IN/library/cc262957.aspx

Thanks for reading

Note: How to unblock an application in windows

• • If you download any application /file on your windows machine you may face this issue of file blocked

Q. What happens if you are blocked and continue installation?

Ans: If you run the file /application when it is blocked you will not succeed in the installation it will fail or even if the installation goes through

it will not be completely installed you will encounter errors .

Q. How to Unblock file /application?

Ans: First check if your application is blocked or not . Go to your application -->Right click on the application or file -->Check if the file is unblocked as shown in the below screen shot



This is a blocked Application

Click on the unblock button as shown in the above screen shot and click Apply->Ok

Your application is unblocked now . Proceed with the installation.

Information Source: Microsoft SharePoint Guide.