Hey Everybody,
As you may have noticed, blogging has been a little light for me lately, but that’s only because I’ve been working on something that I think everybody is looking for and that is a how-to guide for installing SharePoint on Windows Home Server. The guide is available below, and if you have any questions, comments, or issues, please either comment below, or use the Contact page to contact me.
Download the SharePoint on Windows Home Server Installation How-to Guide
Guide Revision History:
v1.0 ( 11/3/07 )
– Initial Release
v2.0 ( 5/25/08 )
– Updated to use installer for WSS w/ SP1
– Includes steps for changing the database and search locations for SQL and WSS
– Fixed typos
– Removed bug in Alternate Access Mappings directions
– Using SharePoint Database Move Scripts provided by Ken Warren
v2.0.2 ( 2/16/09 )
– Corrected typo for link to Database Move Scripts
– Added link to blog post regarding modifying database move scripts if server uses name other than “SERVER”
Enjoy!
-Tom
Ramblings of a Home Server User 
Hi Tom, I am having a go at using you instuctions to install Sharepoint on my home server. In my instance in order to get the Wndows Home Server web site running I had to go into the properties of the default web site (using the IIS manager as described) but I had to change the web site identification IP address box to the IP address of my WHS on my network, this then alowed the remote accesss to the WHS web page.
I am looking forward to having a play with Sharepoint and see how I can use it on my home network.
Comment by Andrew Carr — November 5, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
Hi Tom, Thanks for the useful guide. I have Sharepoint installation running successfully on my WHS system now. I have a question about data storage locations, which you may know the answer to. Is there a way to change the location of shared data (specifically documents) so as not to fill up the small 20GB C: drive of WHS? I realise it would moving the default storage area for the SQL server the product installs, but I can’t find any descriptions of how to do this.
Any pointers?
Thanks
Comment by Steve — November 21, 2007 @ 6:00 am
You missed a key element in your how-to; instructions on how to move the SQL database either to the storage pool or a seperate, stand-alone drive. Installing WSS in the “C” drive, with its limited available space (20GB) in a WHS environment is a catastrophy waiting to happen.
Comment by John — December 1, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
Tom,
I may have missed something here, I can access my sharepoint site by pointing my browser to my http://subdomain.livenode.com:8085 subdomain with the port number (I chose 8085 too), but I cannot access the sharepoint site locally by pointing my browser to http://servername:8085. I can still access the default WHS site by pointing my browser to http://servername/ (which redirects to https://servername/. not sure if this has something to do with the Alternate Access Mappings steps.
Comment by Stephen — December 21, 2007 @ 4:05 am
Tom,
heh, never mind, I just add a new Advanced Web Site Identification for servername on the same port. (under website properties in inetmgr)
Comment by Stephen — December 21, 2007 @ 4:14 am
Tom,
Thanks for the instructions, I used them to get the initial site running.
I also was concerned with the limited space on the C drive, so this is what I have been messing with……
I did a complete uninstall, including the embedded data base(which does not uninstall with wss). I added sql express to the D drive and reinstalled wss using the advanced option, selecting “create a new server farm”. It seems to work fine….I have sharepoint running using sql express on D as the database server. We will see how it goes….. Oh and one more important thing…..WHS works just fine also.
Comment by Ray — January 8, 2008 @ 9:33 am
Tom,
It should be mentioned that sql express only has a 4 gb capacity, but can be seamlesly upgraded to workgroup for $$$$ which I believe has an unlimited capacity.
Comment by Ray — January 8, 2008 @ 10:02 am
I have a question about Sharepoint installed on Home Server. Once installed, is it setup such that the credentials I enter on the Remote Access web page is automatically entered into Sharepoint once I link to it after logging into Remote Access (sort of a single-signon system)?
Also any updates on the instructions for having the SQL database on D drive instead of C drive?
Comment by Zubin — January 14, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
What about using Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 with SP1 instead of the basic Windows Sharepoint Services? IS that possible with using your instructions?
Comment by Zubin — January 14, 2008 @ 10:55 pm
Sorry, I forgot to post the link to the Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 with SP1: IT is: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=EF93E453-75F1-45DF-8C6F-4565E8549C2A&displaylang=en
Comment by Zubin — January 14, 2008 @ 10:55 pm
So, if you install sharepoint on WHS, and you put the database on the D: drive, what is the strategy for backing up the database? I don’t believe there is a way to have WHS back up itself. I think the best method is to put the database on another machine and have that machine backed up nightly by WHS. Thoughts?
Comment by Paul Fisher — January 20, 2008 @ 9:42 am
Hey Paul,
On the older version of Sharepoint, I used to configure the database to perform nighly dumps and then finally copy the dumps over to a USB hard drive. It’s not the best solution, but it allows me to take an entirey copy of the SQL repository.
I don’t know if the same works for this latest version with SP1.
I also found this KB Aricle that might help.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833797
Comment by Zubin Anary — January 22, 2008 @ 10:41 am
Hi I have installed it all But now i want it to work on a form based sign on.
does anybody know how to do this?
or a tutorial maybe handy.
Comment by paul — February 1, 2008 @ 6:18 am
I do have the exact same problem as Stephen wrote on December 21st, 2007. However, I did not find a solution. Do you have one? Thank you very much. Frank
Comment by Frank — March 16, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
that issue is nothing but a dns issue. if you enter in http://:8085 should work for you. or use the homeserver.com address if you have online.
Comment by Motofreak — March 31, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
correction: http://ipadress:8085 for local use or create a dns enter for the local lan use.
Comment by Motofreak — March 31, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
First of all, thx Tom for the nice instruction. Worked fine for me.
Paul aksed about a form based sign on. I think it´s very interesting for a lot WHS_Users with SharePoint using…
Does anybody have a idea or solved this?!
thx Troxx
Comment by eTroxx — April 22, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
I created a share (SP-Data) from the Home Server console to store the SP data. I chose the advanced installation and pointed it to d:\Shares\SP-Data.
Comment by BigE — July 13, 2008 @ 6:33 am
Thanks for the instruction. I can access the website internally but not internally. Can anyone shine a light for me?
Comment by Denny — July 20, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
I am very much a newbie to all things sql, web, IIS and sharepoint but thought your instructions were really clear so had a go.
On the first attempt of the install I could not figure out how to get intranet clients to see the website, looked over the instructions (I was using v1 of yours) and thought I would start over. Uninstalled sharepoint…
Since then I have enjoyed a world of pain.
1. I seems that uninstalling sharepoint doesn’t really do that.
2. I have uninstalled and reinstalled loads of times and find the I cannot get the configuration wizard to complete. I have had so many different errors I can’t count them.
3. Tried all sorts of things: Deleting websites and re-running wizard and the instructions on this page regarding removal of IIS etc. Each time I seem to be getting closer but then the wizard fails again at some point.
4. Found your latest version of the notes and tried those. I noticed (on page 2) you now talk about using the advanced option and changing the location of the data – don’t understand this since later you then advise running the scripts to move the database to a different location (part 4 Page 5).
a. When using the advanced method the config wizard failed at the 2nd stage – unable to connect to database.
b. Uninstalled sharepoint and did the basic install.
c. But sill the config wizard fails with another issue. At the moment it is complaining: “Cannot open database WSS_search_servername”. Ahhhhhhhhh!
What I would really like to do is to get my machine back to the state it was in before I installed sharepoint and start again from scratch but it seems that that is far from easy.
Any ideas what I can do to get this wizard to complete? By the way, you will need to spell out any instructions you may give.
Comment by Jon — August 2, 2008 @ 7:11 am
Okay, I’m trying to use the ‘movesharepoint.bat’ file. the first part copies the files fine, but then I get the following errors (I put the bat file output into a log file:
C:\WSS>net start mssql$microsoft##ssee
The Windows Internal Database (MICROSOFT##SSEE) service is starting..
The Windows Internal Database (MICROSOFT##SSEE) service was started successfully.
C:\WSS>”C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\sqlcmd” -S \\.\pipe\mssql$microsoft##ssee\sql\query -E -i c:\wss\sharepoint.sql
Msg 5120, Level 16, State 101, Server MTC-SRV200\MICROSOFT##SSEE, Line 1
Unable to open the physical file “D:\SharePointDB\WSS_Content.mdf”. Operating system error 5: “5(Access is denied.)”.
Msg 5120, Level 16, State 101, Server MTC-SRV200\MICROSOFT##SSEE, Line 1
Unable to open the physical file “D:\SharePointDB\wss_content_log.ldf”. Operating system error 5: “5(Access is denied.)”.
File activation failure. The physical file name “D:\SharePointDB\wss_content_log.ldf” may be incorrect.
Msg 947, Level 16, State 1, Server MTC-SRV200\MICROSOFT##SSEE, Line 1
Error while closing database ‘WSS_Content’. Check for previous additional errors and retry the operation.
Msg 15010, Level 16, State 1, Server MTC-SRV200\MICROSOFT##SSEE, Procedure sp_detach_db, Line 34
The database ‘WSS_Search_MTC-SRV200’ does not exist. Supply a valid database name. To see available databases, use sys.databases.
Msg 5120, Level 16, State 101, Server MTC-SRV200\MICROSOFT##SSEE, Line 1
Unable to open the physical file “D:\SharePointDB\WSS_Search_SHAREPOINT.mdf”. Operating system error 2: “2(The system cannot find the file specified.)”.
C:\WSS>net start SPSearch
The Windows SharePoint Services Search service is starting…
The Windows SharePoint Services Search service was started successfully.
Any ideas??? Any thoughts are appreciated!
Comment by Charlie — November 16, 2008 @ 9:00 am
Just downloaded the how to guide. On the first page there is missing link to “SharePoint Database Move Scripts (Courtesy Ken Warren – WHS MVP) – Download here”
Any chance of posting an updated link?
Comment by John Layne — February 1, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
Hi John,
Here is the direct link to the scripts. The document is being updated and will be re-posted shortly.
http://cid-a39eeb94ae2631ec.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Windows%20Home%20Server/SharepointScripts.zip
-Tom
Comment by Tom — February 1, 2009 @ 5:59 pm