4 Prerequisites Missing from SharePoint 2013 PrerequisitesInstaller.exe

There is an old adage that says “When all else fails, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!”  This is particularly true when it comes to installing Beta releases.  Unfortunately many people, including me, don’t always read all the release notes before installing.  When the preview Beta of SharePoint 2013 was released a couple weeks ago I very quickly downloaded it and spent the first evening installing it into a Virtual environment.  After all, I had installed lots of Betas in the past and I was normally able to work through any of the issues that came up.  Since I knew the client I would be installing it at soon had servers that could not download files directly from the Internet I even updated a 2010 PowerShell script that I got from AutoSPInstaller  on CodePlex to download all the new 2013 prerequisites.  (You can see that post here)  So I was very surprised when someone pointed out to me the next day that there were three (3) prerequisites that aren’t included and that are only mentioned in the documentation.  You’ll find them in step 6 of the various installation walkthroughs: single server with SQL, single server with SQLExpress, and multiple servers.

PrereqInstall

To keep you from making the same mistake I did here are descriptions and download locations for the 3 updates.  NOTE: These all are specific to Server 2008 r2 and probably aren’t needed if installing on Server 2012 RC.

  • KB 2554876 – The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2
  • KB 2708075 – IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes
  • KB 2472264 – You cannot customize some TCP configurations by using the netsh command in Windows Server 2008 R2

UPDATE: A Fourth required KB is being added to the list

I and several other people have been having issues getting the Search service to provision in SharePoint 2013.  The original suggested fix was to run Windows Update on the server and install all important updates.  This did indeed solve the issue.  But required installation of 53 updates in my case and since some servers aren’t connected to the Internet a number of people in the Forums started looking for a better solution.  That solution was to install KB 2567680 which is a security update for Server 2008 r2 and can be downloaded from:

KB 2567680MS11-063: Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time subsystem could allow elevation of privilege: August 9, 2011

I hope this saves you some time and trouble.  It should provide a more stable environment as you test the Beta.

Installing SharePoint 2013 Prerequisites Without an Internet Connection

There are already several blog posts about how to install SharePoint 2013, so I won’t duplicate them here.  But all of these posts are written assuming that you SharePoint server can access the Internet.  You need this to be able to automatically download the 10 additional prerequisites that need to be installed BEFORE you can install SharePoint 2013.  But what if your SharePoint server is behind a firewall or in a disconnected Virtual machine?  How can you get the prerequisites installed then?

You could download them manually, copy them to the server and install them.  but this presents several challenges.  For example, the first pre-requisite is .Net Framework 4.5.  Try using your search engine to find an official Microsoft site where you can download that.  Once you do you are left with the question of whether to install the Beta or Release Candidate version.  Once you’ve done all that you still have to find and download the other nine prerequisites.  But there is an easier way.

In the past you could find Powershell scripts on the Internet that you could use to download all the SharePoint prerequisites to a subdirectory.  In this post I’ve taken one of those scripts and updated it with the right links for the SharePoint 2013 prerequisites.  Then once the prerequisites are downloaded and copied to the SharePoint server I’ve created a batch file that you can use to install all the prereqs using the SharePoint prerequisite installer.  I’ve also included a list of the prerequisites and where you can download them from in case you want to get them manually.

Downloading the Prerequisites (Powershell)

You can use the following Powershell script to download all the SharePoint 2013 prerequisites and put them in a subdirectory that you specify.  Download Download-All_SP2013_PreReqs.ps1 script here.

   1:  Import-Module BitsTransfer
   2:  ## Prompt for the destination path
   3:  $DestPath = Read-Host -Prompt "- Enter the destination path for downloaded files"
   4:  ## Check that the path entered is valid
   5:  If (Test-Path "$DestPath" -Verbose)
   6:  {
   7:      ## If destination path is valid, create folder if it doesn't already exist
   8:      $DestFolder = "$DestPath\PrerequisiteInstallerFiles"
   9:      New-Item -ItemType Directory $DestFolder -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  10:  }
  11:  Else
  12:  {
  13:      Write-Warning " - Destination path appears to be invalid."
  14:      ## Pause
  15:      Write-Host " - Please check the path, and try running the script again."
  16:      Write-Host "- Press any key to exit..."
  17:      $null = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")
  18:      break
  19:  }
  20:  ## We use the hard-coded URL below, so that we can extract the filename (and use it to get destination filename $DestFileName)
  21:  ## Note: These URLs are subject to change at Microsoft's discretion - check the permalink next to each if you have trouble downloading.
  22:  $UrlList = ("http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/0/F/D0F564A3-6734-470B-9772-AC38B3B6D8C2/dotNetFx45_Full_x86_x64.exe", # Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
  23:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/2/B/52B59966-3009-4F39-A99E-3732717BBE2A/Windows6.1-KB2506143-x64.msu", # Windows Management Framework 3.0 (CTP2)
  24:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/3/9138773A-505D-43E2-AC08-9A77E1E0490B/1033/x64/sqlncli.msi", #Microsoft SQL Server 2008 r2 Native Client
  25:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/7/2/D72FD747-69B6-40B7-875B-C2B40A6B2BDD/Windows6.1-KB974405-x64.msu", #Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
  26:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/0/0/E0060D8F-2354-4871-9596-DC78538799CC/Synchronization.msi", # Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64) 
  27:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/6/7/A678AB47-496B-4907-B3D4-0A2D280A13C0/WindowsServerAppFabricSetup_x64.exe", #Windows Server AppFabric
  28:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/1/D/01D06854-CA0C-46F1-ADBA-EBF86010DCC6/r2/MicrosoftIdentityExtensions-64.msi", # Windows Identity Extensions
  29:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/D/91DA8796-BE1D-46AF-8489-663AB7811517/setup_msipc_x64.msi", # Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client
  30:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/F/9/8F93DBBD-896B-4760-AC81-646F61363A6D/WcfDataServices.exe", # Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
  31:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/B/5/7B51D8D1-20FD-4BF0-87C7-4714F5A1C313/AppFabric1.1-RTM-KB2671763-x64-ENU.exe" # CU 1 for AppFabric 1.1 (KB2671763)
  32:              )
  33:  ForEach ($Url in $UrlList)
  34:  {
  35:      ## Get the file name based on the portion of the URL after the last slash
  36:      $DestFileName = $Url.Split('/')[-1]
  37:      Try
  38:      {
  39:          ## Check if destination file already exists
  40:          If (!(Test-Path "$DestFolder\$DestFileName"))
  41:          {
  42:              ## Begin download
  43:              Start-BitsTransfer -Source $Url -Destination $DestFolder\$DestFileName -DisplayName "Downloading `'$DestFileName`' to $DestFolder" -Priority High -Description "From $Url..." -ErrorVariable err
  44:              If ($err) {Throw ""}
  45:          }
  46:          Else
  47:          {
  48:              Write-Host " - File $DestFileName already exists, skipping..."
  49:          }
  50:      }
  51:      Catch
  52:      {
  53:          Write-Warning " - An error occurred downloading `'$DestFileName`'"
  54:          break
  55:      }
  56:  }
  57:  ## View the downloaded files in Windows Explorer
  58:  Invoke-Item $DestFolder
  59:  ## Pause
  60:  Write-Host "- Downloads completed, press any key to exit..."
  61:  $null = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")

 

Downloading the Prerequisites (Manual Links)

In case you don’t want to use Powershell, or just want to download one of the prereqs that you missed.  Here are the direct download links for all the prereqs.

  • .NET Framework 4.5
  • Windows Management Framework 3.0 (CTP2) – PowerShell 3.0
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 r2 Native Client
  • Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
  • Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
  • Windows Server AppFabric
  • Windows Identity Extensions
  • Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client
  • Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
  • CU Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB2671763)

    Installing from a local Subdirectory

    Once you’ve downloaded all the prerequisite files you will need to copy them to a subdirectory on the SharePoint server.  Once the files are on the SharePoint server you can use the regular SharePoint 2013 prerequisiteinstaller.exe to install them.  Running prerequisiteinstaller.exe /? displays the following dialog which shows the switches you need to install the prerequisites from a local location.

  • 2013 prerequisites

    Once you know what the switches are you can use the following batch file to invoke the prerequisiteinstaller.exe and provide it with the local location for all the prereqs.  (Note:  the ‘^’ is a line continuation character in a windows batch file.  If it gives you trouble just remove it and put everything on two lines.)  Note:  You will need to substitute the path where you copied the prerequisite files in the first line. Download PreReq2013.bat Batch File Here. 

    set PreReqPath=E:\Install\SharePoint\PrerequisiteInstallerFiles
    PrerequisiteInstaller.exe /SQLNCli:%PreReqPath%\sqlncli.msi  ^
        /PowerShell:%PreReqPath%\Windows6.1-KB2506143-x64.msu  ^
        /NETFX:%PreReqPath%\dotNetFx45_Full_x86_x64.exe  ^
        /IDFX:%PreReqPath%\Windows6.1-KB974405-x64.msu  ^
        /Sync:%PreReqPath%\Synchronization.msi  ^
        /AppFabric:%PreReqPath%\WindowsServerAppFabricSetup_x64.exe  ^
        /IDFX11:%PreReqPath%\MicrosoftIdentityExtensions-64.msi  ^
        /MSIPCClient:%PreReqPath%\setup_msipc_x64.msi  ^
        /WCFDataServices:%PreReqPath%\WcfDataServices.exe  ^
        /KB2671763:%PreReqPath%\AppFabric1.1-RTM-KB2671763-x64-ENU.exe    

     

    Once the files are all on the server and the lines above are in a .bat file you can just run the batch file and wait for it to install all the pre-requisites. 

    Note: You will probably have to re-boot the server once during the install and again at the end before installing SharePoint itself.

 

Installing SharePoint 2013 Prerequisites Without an Internet Connection

There are already several blog posts about how to install SharePoint 2013, so I won’t duplicate them here.  But all of these posts are written assuming that you SharePoint server can access the Internet.  You need this to be able to automatically download the 10 additional prerequisites that need to be installed BEFORE you can install SharePoint 2013.  But what if your SharePoint server is behind a firewall or in a disconnected Virtual machine?  How can you get the prerequisites installed then?

You could download them manually, copy them to the server and install them.  but this presents several challenges.  For example, the first pre-requisite is .Net Framework 4.5.  Try using your search engine to find an official Microsoft site where you can download that.  Once you do you are left with the question of whether to install the Beta or Release Candidate version.  Once you’ve done all that you still have to find and download the other nine prerequisites.  But there is an easier way.

In the past you could find Powershell scripts on the Internet that you could use to download all the SharePoint prerequisites to a subdirectory.  In this post I’ve taken one of those scripts and updated it with the right links for the SharePoint 2013 prerequisites.  Then once the prerequisites are downloaded and copied to the SharePoint server I’ve created a batch file that you can use to install all the prereqs using the SharePoint prerequisite installer.  I’ve also included a list of the prerequisites and where you can download them from in case you want to get them manually.

Downloading the Prerequisites (Powershell)

You can use the following Powershell script to download all the SharePoint 2013 prerequisites and put them in a subdirectory that you specify.  Download Download-All_SP2013_PreReqs.ps1 script here.

   1:  Import-Module BitsTransfer
   2:  ## Prompt for the destination path
   3:  $DestPath = Read-Host -Prompt "- Enter the destination path for downloaded files"
   4:  ## Check that the path entered is valid
   5:  If (Test-Path "$DestPath" -Verbose)
   6:  {
   7:      ## If destination path is valid, create folder if it doesn't already exist
   8:      $DestFolder = "$DestPath\PrerequisiteInstallerFiles"
   9:      New-Item -ItemType Directory $DestFolder -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  10:  }
  11:  Else
  12:  {
  13:      Write-Warning " - Destination path appears to be invalid."
  14:      ## Pause
  15:      Write-Host " - Please check the path, and try running the script again."
  16:      Write-Host "- Press any key to exit..."
  17:      $null = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")
  18:      break
  19:  }
  20:  ## We use the hard-coded URL below, so that we can extract the filename (and use it to get destination filename $DestFileName)
  21:  ## Note: These URLs are subject to change at Microsoft's discretion - check the permalink next to each if you have trouble downloading.
  22:  $UrlList = ("http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/a/4/ba4a7e71-2906-4b2d-a0e1-80cf16844f5f/dotnetfx45_full_x86_x64.exe", # Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
  23:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/2/B/52B59966-3009-4F39-A99E-3732717BBE2A/Windows6.1-KB2506143-x64.msu", # Windows Management Framework 3.0 (CTP2)
  24:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/3/9138773A-505D-43E2-AC08-9A77E1E0490B/1033/x64/sqlncli.msi", #Microsoft SQL Server 2008 r2 Native Client
  25:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/7/2/D72FD747-69B6-40B7-875B-C2B40A6B2BDD/Windows6.1-KB974405-x64.msu", #Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
  26:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/0/0/E0060D8F-2354-4871-9596-DC78538799CC/Synchronization.msi", # Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64) 
  27:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/6/7/A678AB47-496B-4907-B3D4-0A2D280A13C0/WindowsServerAppFabricSetup_x64.exe", #Windows Server AppFabric
  28:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/1/D/01D06854-CA0C-46F1-ADBA-EBF86010DCC6/r2/MicrosoftIdentityExtensions-64.msi", # Windows Identity Extensions
  29:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/D/91DA8796-BE1D-46AF-8489-663AB7811517/setup_msipc_x64.msi", # Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client
  30:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/F/9/8F93DBBD-896B-4760-AC81-646F61363A6D/WcfDataServices.exe", # Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
  31:              "http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/B/5/7B51D8D1-20FD-4BF0-87C7-4714F5A1C313/AppFabric1.1-RTM-KB2671763-x64-ENU.exe" # CU 1 for AppFabric 1.1 (KB2671763)
  32:              )
  33:  ForEach ($Url in $UrlList)
  34:  {
  35:      ## Get the file name based on the portion of the URL after the last slash
  36:      $DestFileName = $Url.Split('/')[-1]
  37:      Try
  38:      {
  39:          ## Check if destination file already exists
  40:          If (!(Test-Path "$DestFolder\$DestFileName"))
  41:          {
  42:              ## Begin download
  43:              Start-BitsTransfer -Source $Url -Destination $DestFolder\$DestFileName -DisplayName "Downloading `'$DestFileName`' to $DestFolder" -Priority High -Description "From $Url..." -ErrorVariable err
  44:              If ($err) {Throw ""}
  45:          }
  46:          Else
  47:          {
  48:              Write-Host " - File $DestFileName already exists, skipping..."
  49:          }
  50:      }
  51:      Catch
  52:      {
  53:          Write-Warning " - An error occurred downloading `'$DestFileName`'"
  54:          break
  55:      }
  56:  }
  57:  ## View the downloaded files in Windows Explorer
  58:  Invoke-Item $DestFolder
  59:  ## Pause
  60:  Write-Host "- Downloads completed, press any key to exit..."
  61:  $null = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")

 

Downloading the Prerequisites (Manual Links)

In case you don’t want to use Powershell, or just want to download one of the prereqs that you missed.  Here are the direct download links for all the prereqs. 

  • .NET Framework 4.5
  • Windows Management Framework 3.0 (CTP2) – PowerShell 3.0
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 r2 Native Client
  • Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
  • Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
  • Windows Server AppFabric
  • Windows Identity Extensions
  • Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client
  • Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
  • CU Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB2671763)

    Installing from a local Subdirectory

    Once you’ve downloaded all the prerequisite files you will need to copy them to a subdirectory on the SharePoint server.  Once the files are on the SharePoint server you can use the regular SharePoint 2013 prerequisiteinstaller.exe to install them.  Running prerequisiteinstaller.exe /? displays the following dialog which shows the switches you need to install the prerequisites from a local location.

  • 2013 prerequisites

    Once you know what the switches are you can use the following batch file to invoke the prerequisiteinstaller.exe and provide it with the local location for all the prereqs.  (Note:  the ‘^’ is a line continuation character in a windows batch file.  If it gives you trouble just remove it and put everything on two lines.)  Note:  You will need to substitute the path where you copied the prerequisite files in the first line. Download PreReq2013.bat Batch File Here. 

    set PreReqPath=E:\Install\SharePoint\PrerequisiteInstallerFiles
    PrerequisiteInstaller.exe /SQLNCli:%PreReqPath%\sqlncli.msi  ^
        /PowerShell:%PreReqPath%\Windows6.1-KB2506143-x64.msu  ^
        /NETFX:%PreReqPath%\dotNetFx45_Full_x86_x64.exe  ^
        /IDFX:%PreReqPath%\Windows6.1-KB974405-x64.msu  ^
        /Sync:%PreReqPath%\Synchronization.msi  ^
        /AppFabric:%PreReqPath%\WindowsServerAppFabricSetup_x64.exe  ^
        /IDFX11:%PreReqPath%\MicrosoftIdentityExtensions-64.msi  ^
        /MSIPCClient:%PreReqPath%\setup_msipc_x64.msi  ^
        /WCFDataServices:%PreReqPath%\WcfDataServices.exe  ^
        /KB2671763:%PreReqPath%\AppFabric1.1-RTM-KB2671763-x64-ENU.exe    

     

    Once the files are all on the server and the lines above are in a .bat file you can just run the batch file and wait for it to install all the pre-requisites. 

    Note: You will probably have to re-boot the server once during the install and again at the end before installing SharePoint itself.

 

SharePoint 2013 Public Beta is Live

Office-2013-LogoUnless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably already heard that the Office 15 Public Preview Beta went live YESTERDAY at about 3:30 PM. I thought it might be haelpful to put a list of useful links in one web post for everyone who is trying to find things.  Here are links to a number of sites that I visited last night to download either bits, documentation or training.

Download Links

SharePoint Server 2013 Preview Download – SharePoint Server 2013 Preview is designed to bring people together to get work done. Whether you’re using it to manage your enterprise content, make it easy for business end users to share ideas and information, or help developers build innovative new applications, SharePoint Server 2013’s improvements in scale, security, and flexibility have you covered.

Office 365 ProPlus Preview Download – Office 365 ProPlus Preview is your new Office delivered fast to all your Windows devices. Office 365 ProPlus Preview includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher, and Lync. You will be able to preview Office 365 ProPlus applications and manage up to 25 users with a preview account.

SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview Download – SharePoint Foundation 2013 is the essential solution for organizations that need a secure, manageable, web-based collaboration platform.

Office Web Apps Server Preview Download – Office Web Apps Server Preview is a new Office server product that delivers browser-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. A single Office Web Apps Server farm can support users who access Office files through SharePoint 2013 Preview, Lync Server 2013 Preview, Exchange Server 2013 Preview, shared folders, and web sites.

Office 365 Small Business Premium Preview – Welcome to the next generation of Office 365, a powerful service that transforms the way you get things done. Office 365 is the smart choice for managing your business efficiently and professionally—without the need for technical expertise.

Office 365 Enterprise Preview – Create professional content more easily than ever, securely connect with customers and partners, and take advantage of powerful tools for more effective management, control and compliance with enterprise-grade security, data loss prevention, and rights management.

Office 365 Home Premium Preview – Best for families who want Office on up to 5 household PCs or tablets.

Other Office 2013 Downloads – On this page you can get other office products like Exchange, Visio, Project, etc.

Documentation

Developer documentation on MSDN – Find how-tos, overviews, training, and API references, and other documentation for SharePoint 2013 Preview

Setup a SharePoint 2013 Dev Environment – Learn the steps to set up a SharePoint 2013 Preview development environment by installing SharePoint 2013 Preview and Visual Studio 2012.

Training

Developer Training Videos – Developer-focused how to training and walkthrough videos about Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 including changes and new features for search, social, ECM, WCM, and REST. Learn about apps for Office and SharePoint.

IT Pro Training – Download walkthroughs, training, and reviews of new features, changes and options in Office 2013 for ITPros.

Keep watching this space.  I have more information about SharePoint 2013 to come.