Ryan Dunn points out on his blog how to install ADAM on Vista. Basically, the installer chokes.
His approach is to install on a different machine (not Vista), then copy the files over, registry change, run the admininsall.exe, then import the LDIF schema's you want.
One thing you can also do is use 7-Zip to extract the "ADAM" directory from the installer, then just start from step 2 on Ryan's list - saves a bit of time if you don't have another VM handy.
Here's Ryan's list repeated.
- << Extract using 7-Zip >>
- Copy the %WINDIR%\ADAM folder that is created to your Vista machine to the same location.
- Create a new registry key called HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ADAM_Shared
- Under this key, create a new Multi-String value called "SharedFolders"
- Now, run adaminstall.exe from your %WINDIR%\ADAM directory and follow the wizard. Do not import any LDIF files.
- Finally, run ldifde.exe for each import you wanted to have in step #5. The correct command line arguments to use are listed at the top of each .ldf file.
Thanks to Ryan for the clarity on the installation steps.