SharePoint 2016 installation

Corey Roth [MVP]

A SharePoint MVP bringing you the latest time saving tips for SharePoint 2013, Office 365 / SharePoint Online and Visual Studio 2013.

SharePoint 2016 installation first look

Today Microsoft released the IT Preview of SharePoint 2016.  We’re going to look at the install process today and point out any differences between previous versions of SharePoint.  You can find out more about SharePoint 2016 from the Office blog post.

Installation

I created a new virtual machine running on Windows 10 Hyper-V.  This virtual machine is running Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3.  On this server, I have promoted it to a domain controller using Active Directory Directory Services.  I have also installed SQL Server 2014 R2.

Installation of SharePoint 2016 IT Preview looks similar to previous SharePoint installations.  When you mount the ISO, you will see a familiar splash screen.

Installing the prerequisites

The prerequisite installer looks similar to previous versions.  Click Next to continue.

Accept the license terms.

Wait and home it finishes successfully.

Installation of the SharePoint 2016 IT Preview prerequisites is just as troublesome as previous versions.  I managed to generate a few errors and never did get it to agree the role was successfully installed.  I had to install the Visual Studio 2013 Redistributable myself.  There is a work-around for getting around the IIS role configuration step on the Known Issues in SharePoint Server 2016 Preview page.

SharePoint 2016 Installation

The installation is quick and easy.  It also looks similar to other versions.  Start by entering the product key.  Remember this was found on the SharePoint 2016 download page.

Next, accept some more license terms.

Specify the install location for your search index.  You can just use the defaults for this preview installation.

Wait for the installation to complete.

When installation completes, you will be prompted to run the Configuration Wizard.

Running the Configuration Wizard

The Configuration Wizard also looks similar but has a few changes.  Click Next to proceed.

Now, create a new farm.

Then, specify your farm passphrase.

Specify your farm account, SQL Server name and database.

This new screen allows you use the new MinRole feature. MinRole simplifies the server architecture of SharePoint 2016.  In this case, we are going to use a Single Server Farm (which shouldn’t be as bad as previous versions).

Specify the details for Central Administration.

Confirm your settings.

When it finishes, you are ready to try out Central Administration.

Now, we can start our configuration.

That’s a quick look at the installation process of SharePoint 2016 IT Preview.  Be on the look out for my next posts covering changes in Central Administration and the UI.