Only in stand alone mode

I’ve now progressed to trying custom installations of SharePoint Foundation 2010 beta. This means that I basically want to set it up in a server farm configuration.

If you install SharePoint this way you firstly need to have the database server in place. No problems because before I commenced the SharePoint installation I installed Windows SQL 2008 Express Edition intending this to be the location where SharePoint stores its content databases.

The installation process continues until I need to nominate where my database server is located. So I enter in the information as follows:

And press the Next key, as I have done many many times with Windows SharePoint v3. Low and behold, something different happens.

Because I’m running this installation on a standalone server not connected to a domain I’m prompted that

The specified user server2008\administrator is a local account. Local accounts should only be used in stand alone mode.

and I can go no further with the installation.

I’m not sure whether this is an issue because of SharePoint Foundation 2010 beta or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition. Whatever the case, it appears that I can create a SharePoint server farm on a stand alone server, it has to be connected to a domain. This was certainly not the case previously with Windows SharePoint Services v3 and Microsoft SQL 2005 Server.

So here’s the first major configuration difference I have discovered. You have been warned!