Installing Community Server 2 - web install on XP localhost with sqlexpress

Tim Huffam — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:24:00 GMT

I had to resort to using the web installer as the CS MSI installer didn't work (threw error stating it could not find MDAC 2.7 or above - even though I'm running XP Pro SP2 which has the MDAC components built into it - duh!).

Download CS 2 web install & unzip.
Edit Installer\default.aspx - modify the line:
bool INSTALLER_ENABLED = false;
so the installer is enabled eg:
bool INSTALLER_ENABLED = true;
Using IIS admin, create virtual dir (eg 'cs') pointing to the 'web' dir beneath the installation.
Created a db on sqlexpress.
Create an account (sql authentication) on the sqlexpress server that ASPNET can use and give it access to the db you just created.
Either use SQL Server Management Studio Express or Aqua Data Studio. Note you may need to enable SQL Authentication. This can be done via the latest version of SQL Server Management Studio Express.
Run the CS installer from a browser eg: http://localhost/cs/installer
When prompted, specify the db login details:
ServerName: localhost\sqlexpress
Select Sql Server Authentication
Enter the details for the login you just created.
Follow the rest of the instructions on screen (it's all very straight forward).
When complete update Installer\default.aspx again so that the installer is disabled eg:
bool INSTALLER_ENABLED = false;

Now you should be ready to use it, however...

When the installer completed I clicked on the link to the start the app (in my case: http://localhost/cs) - this caused the following error:

An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

This was very strange - because during the installation it was connecting to the db just fine. Also, the db server was working fine (for both pipes and TCP - both enbled and working for other apps). I suspect the installation process does something to the context of the current web request. So to work around this I simply opened the url from another browser instance - and bingo it worked.

HTH

Tim