SharePoint Tutorial, E-Books and Tools by Andreas Glaser

Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition - Step by Step

/ Andreas Glaser

See how to successfully install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition step by step as an administrator or developer.

Table of contents:

E-Book Download

Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition - The Complete E-Book:

What is SharePoint Server Subscription Edition?

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition (or SharePoint Server SE) is the newest version of SharePoint Server. It comes with a lot of new and improved features compared to SharePoint Server 2019.


What is SharePoint on-premise and Office 365?

SharePoint on-premise means that SharePoint will be installed on a server inside your company.

SharePoint Online in Office 365 is the cloud-based version of SharePoint maintained by Microsoft.


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How do I do a SharePoint Server Subscription Edition standalone installation?

I'm doing a step by step SharePoint Server Subscription Edition standalone installation using the following scenario:

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation scenario

It's a

  • SharePoint Server Subscription Edition single-server installation, including
  • basic installation accounts,
  • SQL Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022.

PowerShell automation is not shown but part of the E-Book.


Can I install SharePoint on Windows 10?

No, you can't install SharePoint directly on Windows 10. However, you can use virtualization software like Hyper-V, VMware or Virtual Box.

SharePoint can only be installed on one of the Windows Server listed under software requirements.


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Where do I download SharePoint Server Subscription Edition?

You can download SharePoint Server Subscription Edition from Microsoft:

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition


During installation you can use the following trial product key:

  • Enterprise: VW2FM-FN9FT-H22J4-WV9GT-H8VKF
  • Standard: KGN4V-82BMC-H383V-QJVFT-VCHJ7

Note: You must use an Enterprise product key for SharePoint to enable Project Server.



Where can I download Language Packs?

You can download SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Language Packs from Microsoft:

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Language Pack


Note: Changing the language on the download page changes the language of the language pack to the selected language.

Language packs or not part of your SharePoint requirements. They are additional installations.

You don't need to install a language pack for English if you install the English version of SharePoint Server Subscription Edition.


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How do I setup and configure SharePoint Server Subscription Edition?

Before you can setup and configure SharePoint Server Subscription Edition you must meet a lot of requirements.


What are SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Hardware and Software Requirements?

Please make sure you meet all SharePoint Server Subscription Edition hardware and software requirements.

SharePoint has specific hardware, software, domain and account requirements before you can successfully install it. You need to meet them before you can start your installation to minimize waiting time and mistakes.

Please make sure if you require specific SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Cumulative or Public Updates.


Which Administrative and Service Accounts do I need?

Basic Installation Accounts

You need to create at least the following domain accounts in Active Directory to successfully install SharePoint:

This table shows the basic installation accounts used for a SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation.
Required Account Example
SQL Server Service Account sqlSvcAcc
SharePoint Farm Administrator spAdmin
SharePoint Farm Account spFarmAcc

Service Accounts

Service accounts aren't needed for a successful SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation.


Assign Permission

The SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Administrator is the only account where you need to assign permission manually.


SQL Server Service Account
  • Permission are assigned automatically during installation of the database server.
  • This should be a domain account and is used to run the database server.

SharePoint Farm Administrator
  • You need to manually assign permissions.
  • The Farm Administrator is used to install Sand configure harePoint Server Subscription Edition.
  • The SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Administrator has to be a member of the administrators group on every server SharePoint should be installed.
    Add the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition farm administrator to the administrators group on every server SharePoint should be installed

  • This account also needs the securityadmin and dbcreator role:
    The SharePoint Server Subscription Edition administrator needs the securityadmin and dbcreator roles in SQL Server.

  • "If you run Windows PowerShell cmdlets that affect a database, this account must be a member of the db_owner fixed database role for the database." [1]
  • If I create a development environment I also assign the sysadmin role during setup so I have only one account I need to administrate different servers.

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Account

Permissions are automatically assigned by the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Administrator so you don’t have to do it.

The farm account is used for the following things [1]:

  • Configure and manage the server farm.
  • Act as the application pool identity for the SharePoint Central Administration website.
  • Run the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service.

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Helpful Tips

You may believe it or not but the following tips are the most useful I've seen during my years of installing SharePoint for my clients.

Meet all Hardware Requirements

Often I hear "SharePoint can't have such high requirements..." or "We won't need all features and there's no need to scale...".

Don't try to mess with hardware and software requirements and don't try to run a SharePoint server at the most minimal requirements. Of course it costs money and it doesn't matter if it's their hardware or your time: It has to be paid. But believe me if you need to change things later it takes way more time and resources than you would have invested at the beginning.

Get enough Time

Installing SharePoint can't be compared to installing a tool or application. It includes way more effort since it's based on different types of servers and a working infrastructure. Usually you will get challenges if you put a system on top combining different servers and services.

Take your time and schedule resources in time. Installing SharePoint can be done in some hours or days... it all depends on how well you and your team are prepared or not.

Prepare your Install Packages

This should be just a small thing but believe me it happens more often than you think and eats up your precious time really fast. Make sure that you prepare your own packages and that your customer has everything in place. It’s a waste of time if you need to wait when you are ready to install SharePoint. I met a lot of customers where time and resources were limited but the preparation wasn’t done.

Documentation

Documentation is everything and often it's not done. It doesn't matter if you give the project to someone else who needs to get into it. Usually there is more than one environment to install: staging, production or a recovery environment. There are hundreds of steps included and since nobody remembers all the steps which were done it’s important to write them down (and to take screenshots). This way the installation process can be done by different people or at different times.

Summary

You can ruin a really great SharePoint installation by missing the following things:

  • Meet the requirements
  • Try to get resources in time
  • Take your time and do it properly
  • Verify if you prepared everything for yourself and if your customer has done it too
  • Document everything

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"4 #SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation tips: meet hardware requirements, have enough time, prepare your install packages, create documentation."
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How to do a SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation step by step?

Please use these 4 steps to successfully install SharePoint:


Step 1) Install SQL Server for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition

The following steps apply if you don't have a working database instance yet. If you have a working database instance you can skip to the step below: "SQL Server 2019 configuration".

Note: You can't use SQL Server Express.

Select a new stand-alone installation:

Select a new SQL Server stand-alone installation and wait until the install rules have been checked.

Install product updates, wait until setup files have been installed and run the install rules:

Select the SQL Server Feature Installation.

Please select at least the following minimum features:

  • Database Engine Services

Select the Database Engine Services.

Keep the default instance.

Add the service account (in my case: sqlSvcAcc) plus password and keep the collation settings.

Keep the default instance.
Enter the SQL Server service account plus password and keep the collation settings.

If you create a development environment add the current administrator and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Administrator as SQL administrators.

Add the current administrator and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Fram Administrator as SQL Server administrators for a development environment.

Start the installation.

Make sure that you have at least SQL Server 2019 CU 5 installed.

Select the SQL Server Feature Installation.


SQL Server 2019 Configuration

Download and install SQL Server Management Studio:

Assign the dbcreator and securityadmin server role to the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition setup administrator.

Open SQL Server Management Studio and give the following permissions.

Assign the dbcreator and securityadmin server role to the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Administrator which is in my case spAdmin.

Assign the dbcreator and securityadmin server role to the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition setup administrator.


Tips

Please also make sure you respect the following best practices by Microsoft:

  • Set the max server memory to be less than the amount of the installed RAM.
  • Do not enable auto-create statistics on SharePoint content databases.
  • Do not manually restrict database size.
  • Keep max degree of parallelism (MAXDOP) to 1 for instances that host SharePoint databases.

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"4 SQL Server best practices for your #SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation."
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Step 2) Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition prerequisites offline

If your server where you want to install SharePoint can't connect to the internet you need to download the following prerequisites for offline use:

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8
Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2015-2019


Otherwise just run the installer on every Windows Server where you want to install SharePoint as described below:

Run the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Prerequisites Installer to enable required Windows Server 2022 role services and features.

The prerequisites installer installs and configures all SharePoint Server Subscription Edition requirements but it doesn't show you in detail what it does.

Start the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition prerequisites installer.
Make sure everything installed successfully and restart your server if required.

Make sure everything installed successfully and restart your server if required.


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Step 3) Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition on Windows Server 2019 / 2022

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition also comes with the MinRole feature (SharePoint MinRole Explained) which configures a server for a specific role in a SharePoint topology like a Web Server or Application Server.


Start the installation of SharePoint Server Server Subscription Edition and use one of the following trial product keys:

  • Enterprise: VW2FM-FN9FT-H22J4-WV9GT-H8VKF
    (Required to enable Project Server)
  • Standard: KGN4V-82BMC-H383V-QJVFT-VCHJ7

The keys are valid for 180 days and you can change to a licensed version anytime during the trial or after the trial has expired using the SharePoint Central Administration website.

Enter the product key and keep the file location.

Enter the product key to start the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation.
Keep the file location.

Next install all language packs you need.

Finish by running the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.


SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Configuration Wizard

Create a new server farm and enter your SQL Server [SERVERNAME] and specify the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Farm Account.

I installed SQL Server and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition in the same machine so I used localhost as the server name.

Select create new server farm.

Create a new SharePoint Server Subscription Edition server farm.
Enter your SQL Server instance name and specify the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition farm account.

Specify a new passphrase to secure farm settings:

Specify a new passphrase to secure SharePoint Server Subscription Edition farm settings.

Select the Single Server farm for our testing purposes. Specify a port number and start the configuration.

Select the Single Server farm for our testing purposes.
Specify a port number and start the configuration.

Once the installation has finished you can open SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Central Administration.

Wait until the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation has finished.
Once the installation has finished SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Central Administration will open.

Once you see the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Central Administration you're done with the installation:

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Central Administration.

You can manage most of the SharePoint settings using SharePoint Central Administration.


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"How to: Successfully do a basic #SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation."
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Step 4) Install Language Packs for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition

Install every language pack on every SharePoint server.

Don't run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard at the end of each installation if you have multiple language packs. Just run it once on every server after installing all language packs.

Don't run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard on multiple servers at the same time.


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How to Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition with PowerShell

Please take a look at the E-Book below on how-to do a SharePoint Server Subscription Edition with PowerShell installation.


How to Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition on a multiple server farm

Please take a look at the E-Book below on how-to do a SharePoint Server Subscription Edition multiple server farm installation.


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Install SharePoint Server Subscription Edition - The Complete E-Book:

Resources