Technical Musings, Opinions and Articles

.Net Again…VS2008 touching an old project

Request for the permission of type ‘System.Web.AspNetHostingPermission, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089’ failed.

Don’t you just love it?

How I got here:

Fired up VS 2008 and opened up the project from a network location.

Ok, not a trusted location. If you continue and try to run the project you will get a security issue.

Now this just seems wrong to me. I’m on a VPN connection…

Yet I get…


[SecurityException: Request for the permission of type 'System.Web.AspNetHostingPermission, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' failed.]
   System.Reflection.Assembly._GetType(String name, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase) +0
   System.Reflection.Assembly.GetType(String name, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase) +42
   System.Web.UI.Util.GetTypeFromAssemblies(ICollection assemblies, String typeName, Boolean ignoreCase) +145
   System.Web.UI.TemplateParser.GetType(String typeName, Boolean ignoreCase, Boolean throwOnError) +73
   System.Web.UI.TemplateParser.ProcessInheritsAttribute(String baseTypeName, String codeFileBaseTypeName, String src, Assembly assembly) +111
   System.Web.UI.TemplateParser.PostProcessMainDirectiveAttributes(IDictionary parseData)

OK OK

So, I copied the project to a local folder. Tried VS again…

No change to the file but no warning message either…

No problem either. The app fired up in VS just fine.

Now why didn’t it work?

One thing is Windows 7. Windows 7 has trust issues! Well, not really but the security is certainly increased. Security state is persisted down so if you open a non-trusted location the files remain so.

Second thing… the credentials I used to access the network location through the VPN are different then the credentials I used to log on to the PC. Again, there are certainly ways you can get around it but that’s another story.

So, will the copy fit the needs?

Well, hmmm. …

A remote application NOT under source control can be copied down to a location where source control is used.

The copy remains untouched until the changes are complete and tested.

A new copy can be put back up in the network location as the next rev.

Thanks to local source control, the changes are persisted.

We’re done here…

Ok, this is a quick and dirty way around a security challenge. While perhaps not the most elegant solution it fit the bill. Call it guerilla coding or what not, when you’re in the trenches, a simple copy paste keeps the hourly rate down.

Adventures In SharePoint 2010 2

Time to change up the soundtrack a bit. At first it was Arrowsmith and “Toys in the Attic” followed by Mindi Abair and “It just happens that way” and finally ended with Joe Walsh and “Life’s been good”.

Now, I’m sitting here staring at the SharePoint Central Administration Screen. Good ol’ w2k8r2spsa:20111/default.aspx. Lots of settings to go through.

1st though, let’s look at the “Monitoring Section”. You might want to look at SharePoint Server 2010: Operations Framework and Checklists.

At this point, you will probably not see the yellow or red notification across the screen but it will come!

Click on Monitoring
1. Click on Health Analyzer’s “Review problems and solutions”. If there were any issues the reports would show up here.
2. Return to Central Administration
Click on application Management. Your blank site shows up as SharePoint -80 (Port 80)

Now, for grins, click on Configuration Wizards
Launch Farm Configuration Wizard
Go with the defaults on the next page, click “Next”
Notice how the “/” option for sites no longer exists
Click “Cancel”, we’ll add another site in a different fashion
At this point, hopefully you are still logged in as spAdmin
Open up a new tab on your browser
Type in the address for the computer less the port or add port 80 <computername>:80

Next click on “Site Actions” then “New Site”

The default template section opens and you have “All Types” and “All Categories” open. The “blog” template is visible. If you click on the “Content” filter type, the templates are reduced to Document Workspace, Blog and Document Center. I’ll add a blog.

Click on “Blog”
Give the Site a title and a URL Name.
Then click on more options (You can also start with this)
Look at “Permissions, Navigation and Navigation Inheritance”
1. Permissions
  1. If access to this site is the same as the parent, leave the default “Use same permissions…” checked
  2. If the site will have special permissions, select “Use Unique…” simple right?
2. Navigation – Two options to set
  1. If you want a link on the top only, the default of No, Yes is the setting
  2. If you want a link on the top and side, Yes, Yes is the setting
  3. No links = No No
3. Navigation Inheritance – I would have made the default “Yes” but it is set to “No”. If you want a consistent connection to the home site, switch this to “Yes”

The settings:

Get You…:

Where:

Adds “My Blog” to the link bar. The bigger deal is the “Home” button that seemed to do nothing before (e.g. Home = My Blog) has changed behavior to “Home = Site Home” and returns you to the main site page.

Ok, enough of playtime. Tomorrow it’s back to serious settings and configuration of SharePoint. It’s nice though to take a break and play with application.

Teched NA

Adding sites…

While the Jury is still out (for me at any rate) SharePoint Designer is either a help or it’s not. Prior versions of the product could be hard on SharePoint. So, taking the innocent until proven guilty, I will be using it for this iteration.

First thing, after the SharePoint Administration presented the choice, I added an Enterprise Wiki site. Et voila… What, “Adventureworks”??? Whre did that Icon come from, what’s going on??? In the land of Microsoft, Adventure Works is alive and well and a template model when you choose the Enterprise Wiki site. Templates can be changed to provide consistent site look and feel. I’ll get to those later. For now, time to modify Adventure works into something I want to use.

Steps…

Using Site actions, click on Edit inSharePoint Designer – If not install, go ahead and accept the install instructions (64 bit is OK if 2010 is all you’re working in)
If you opened it from the site, you’ll already be where you need to be, otherwise:
1. Click on the Open Site button
2. type in the root site address
3. Click on Open
Click on Master Pages Link
Click on nightandday.master
Edit this master page
This will show you the masterpage the template used when it constructed the Enterprise Wiki site.

OK, so now what? Got the master page up and you can see a lot of stuff.

So, you click on the Adventure Works logo
Click delete
Click on the save icon.
A warning pops up:

Now what?
You could goto to the Main Site Object and then click on the Edit Site Home Page link…

Click on the link
Click on the Edit in Browser Button
Click on the check out button
Edit your page

But wait, there’s more. You can’t get to the logo. It still says Adventure Works and you’re getting really tired of that site…

To recap:
You tried editing the master page directly and ran into a warning.
Going through the main page and edit site home page allowed you to edit internal items on the page but not the header.
And hey, when did source control enter the picture…

For now, take the easy road.

Exit SharePoint Designer, you’ll be back
Click on Site Actions
Click View All Site Content
Click on Site Collection Images
Click on Add New Item
Navigate to your new snazzy logo and click on Open
Click on OK
You’re presented with a form where you can add a Title, Keywords, Comments, Author, etc. about the image
Click on Check in when you are done
Click on Site Actions
Site Settings
Click on Title, Description and icon under Look and Feel
In the Logo URL and Description URL box, type: “/SiteCollection/<YourLogoName>.gif
Click on Click here to test, then click on ok.

What? The stories over? Naw, just this segment. Applications are the main thrust so most of the SharePoint of this blog will be talking about that.

Todays experiment? What happens when you delete the base site? Not the admin site but the :80 site. How graceful will SharePoint handle this?

Most stuff you find on the web is all about moving forward but what if you really roll the site in something that doesn’t smell quite right?

Well, here goes.

VM Ware SnapShot titled PreDelete and a date (maybe it’s just age but once you have more than one of these, it’s a nice way to figure out which one is what/when)
Bring up the site – yup still there…
Site Actions then Site Settings
Under the Site Actions Section theres a link… Delete This SIte… [click]
Read the warning…

Yup, looks pretty serious…
And yet one more warning…might not be a good idea
The “Sites been deleted page” comes up. Click the back link to verify the site has been deleted.
What happend to the Admin Site?
Modify the URL and add in the Admin Port and pull it up.

As expected, the admin site is just fine. Now check on the Create Site Link and lets see what deleting the primary site actually did? Remember to be logged in as the SpAdmin account.

When you click on the create a site button, you have regained the ability to create a root level site. In fact, it’s back to the base level of the install.

Enter In a new Title and Description
Chosse the site type
Assign Primary Site and Secondary Site Admins
Provide a quota if needed
Click on |OK|
Now, click on the link for the new site…this is NOT the |OK| button on the same page
Click on Site Actions once the page load
Site Permissions and give the site owner access

Now you can go back to your site with the correct login and modify and change as needed. This is what I would call a punt. Short of rebuilding the whole SharePoint site, this method provides a way to get back to square one as long as everything on the host is solid.

When to Automate Stuff…

A word or two on stuff…

Well, I could have used a different word than “stuff”. I mean, both start with “s”… I’ll leave word substitution to you. Ok, automate stuff? Why automate? What stuff? We like our stuff the way it is, why change at all? There’s a cost and someone with an accounting or business background is going to ask about ROI at some point. What is ROI? Simply put, will I save more (time, money, resources) stuff than it takes to build the stuff.

Why automate anyway???

Now there’s a good question. Why automate?

It takes time

Yup. Can’t argue with the facts. Automation is going to take some effort. As we all know, effort = time. So why spend the time? To get time back, of course… ok that sounded a little harsh and wouldn’t convince any boss that I know of (unless they are an extreme sensor type) to grant the time. <Mission Impossible theme kicks in> Your job, should you choose to take it… really is to look at the problem that you want to solve, come up with a high level plan and then present it. Perhaps, instead of going Ah Ha! (hoosker doo) and running off to the pointy haired one, is to look into the money, planning and training aspects…

It takes money <queue theme from JAWs>

Ok, here it comes, R O I. No, it’s not an alternative spelling for Roy… Return On Investment. This is always a good area to think about even if you’re not going up for some speculative dough or start up cash. ROI’s already been defined but if you need a more specific definition, see ROI in the wiki world…or see it from a different source at Investopedia. So, now that you know, what do you do with it? This is where you need to put ye olde sales hat on, ye olde accountant hat on and crunch some numbers and sell the result. This is also a good spot to ask (called a go/no go decision point) if the “thing” should even be done. There are a lot of tasks in business that can be automated. The automation does make sense. Just make sure you’ve backed up your good sense.

It takes planning <queue either theme from Rocky or Time Warp>

Really, it’s just a jump to the left… planning… The developer in me just wants to cut code and create. Who needs a plan… planning takes you out of the zone… <stop> Put that energy into the creative plan. Then, gack, create the tests to test the plan. Why? You’re going to find holes. The may even be big enough to drive a Humvee through. The time and effort spent in planning will mean that you’ll have a final product that looks like a duck, walks like a duck and even quacks like a duck. Following the “PLAN”, you can employ whatever development life cycle process you use from straight water fall to extreme agile and every iterative step in-between. Some interesting thoughts on planning? See the following references:

Reference Links…

Shaku Atre

Agile

SDLC

A search of MSDN Blogs…

It may take training

This one always is a sneaky so and so. What is obvious to the developer just ain’t so with the users who’ll be using the worlds greatest automation solution…

There are a bunch of tools out there to capture stuff and trust me, screen captures are a whole lot more understandable than a bunch of numbered or bulleted steps.

If you’re into the Adobe side of things and budget is not an issue, go with Captivate. Nice tool, gets the job done and pretty straight forward.

Now typically, I’m running on a tight budget and while Captivate is nice, I really like Camtasia. Really this product from TechSmith goes head to head with Captivate and is about 1/2 to 1/3 the cost. For more information see the following:

Captivate

– VS

Camtasia

It takes away flexibility

When you start hearing noise like this, your automate sales job probably didn’t find its mark or you’re choosing to automate the wrong process. Be selective and use the following checks prior to diving in…

Is it a standard process with little variation?
Will automating “it” save at least 1/3 the amount of time?
Can you build it in a way that’s extensible?
Did you get permission?

While you may be the worlds greatest appdev and automating Excel is a cake walk, do your self a favor and make sure the powers that be are behind your efforts. The worst question to get during the demo is “why did you do this in the first place?” Now you’re on the defensive and you can be fairly sure of two outcomes. One, that you are shoot from the hip kind of developer that doesn’t plan things through and (two) it will be much harder to get future projects funded.

Now, there are those times when you’re working for the pointy haired one and you’re project can walk on it’s own. Take a risk or not? You know best for that one…

What stuff should be automated…

Ok, you may think this has already been covered and you’re right… for other people’s stuff (OPS). But what about your stuff? Hey, you’ve got a little stuff here and a little stuff there…. it doesn’t need to be automated… That may certainly be true. Especially with the changes in coding style, design patterns and the like. Keep an open mind though. There’s a lot that can be done with VS.

We like our stuff the way it is, thank you very much…

There are just some folks who cannot be moved no matter what the ROI is for the change. Sometimes, like that office guy with the stapler, it’s best just to leave be. These tough nuts to crack are good experiences. So, just cause your processor came up with the best new process that, ummmmm, failed to get buy in doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Perhaps it wasn’t the process but was more the sales routine that went south for the winter. OK, you’re a dev. You think like a dev. Just play at being a sales guy for a minute. Shoot, you did that as a kid, right? No, you were the kid with the Cray super computer? Sorry… but you might try:

Get ‘em saying yes… Ask closed ended simple yes questi0ns. Float a couple trial balloons to get the feeling what a “yes” sounds like.

Feel ‘em out… You’be been talking for a bit (hopefully not too long) and you need a quick reality check. Do be afraid to ask things like:

”This sounds like it should save some time, wouldn’t you agreee?”

o r – a little empathy doesn’t hurt…

” Man, shaving off some of this process could free you up on your other stuff?”

If you’re curios, check out some sales thoughts at

Changing Minds

Thanks for making it through to here. This was a fun blog to write and different from the normal howto stuff. Feel free to share it on…

Book Review: “microsoft SharePoint 2010–building solutions for sharepoint 2010” by sahil malik

Some background why I chose this book: I was probably aware of Sahil Malik prior to TechEd 2009 but I had the chance to speak with him in the learning center. I received a copy of his book on SharePoint Designer 2007. So, when it was time to start developing with SP2010 I picked up his book on SharePoint development for 2010.

To get an idea about Sahil, take a look at this:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/ARCast.TV/ARCastTV-Improving-SharePoint-Development-with-WCF-Services/player?w=512&h=288

WCF is covered in the book.

What I found amusing and somewhat humbling is having to dust off old IT skills (Sahil refers to ITs as IT Ogres and Developers and Programmer Fairies…) and learn a whole bunch of new skills. This is a good thing. IMHO, appdevs need to be aware of the impact to servers and how servers operate to some level.

Content and structure of the book: Hopefully you are already versed in basic AD, PowerShell and a few other tidbits. The book moves fast over the area of set up. VMWare workstation is highly recommended.

At the time of this writing more 2010 material is coming available and there have been some minor changes that you’ll notice. But, if you want a no nonsense and straight forward approach to SP development. Check out this book.

Adventures in SharePoint 2010 1

Purpose: To set up a SharePoint 2010 development environment for Proof of concepts. SharePoint 2010 is a new product for our shop. We elected to not go from 2003 to 2007 to 2010 but went directly to 2010. This decision was made after coming to the 2007 party late and hearing the good reports about 2010. In taking this approach, I decided to create our sites from scratch rather than trying to coerce the 2003 set up through. This seemed to bo the best way to go. From the research into the problem, starting from scratch was a smaller effort than trying to migrate from 2003. Primary information has been gleaned from Sahil Malik’s book “Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Building Solutions for SharePoint”, Noel Spence’s book “Microsoft SharePoint 2010 – Unleashed”, TechNet and MSDN.

This blog starts after a lot of trial and effort. These are the items I found most useful in this process. The first is setting up a prototype environment to both try new things and blow some up in a safe environment. The only thing I really lost was time. On the other hand, learned a lot.

Δ Do’s and Don’ts: Stay away from trying this on a machine with only 4g of memory and an external hard drive running on USB unless you have the patience of a mountain.

Setup – started with Windows 2008 R2 Standard server on VM Workstation with 2g allocated memory and 60g allocated space. Fully patched and updated.

Cloned to a new machine by creating a full standalone clone. Pro’s, back up instance of the w2k8r2 box. Con’s, two systems to apply updates to
Opened up the new server destined to be SharePoint and made it more workstation like by using Sowa’s tool from win2008workstation.com
Since this is not a “production” system,running the tool under Administrator, I removed the shutdown tracker on “Visual Tweaks” tab
Not into verbose, so I disabled the start up/shutdown messages
The rest of the controls on this tab enables the desktop experience. My preference is to enable them. At this point I ran into some errors with the converter tool. It would install the first option but failed to enable themes service. <–to be determined later.
On the general tab, enables audio, optimized for programs, turned off the IE Enhanced Security, added the .Net Framework
Discovered that Servermanagercmd.exe is no longer favored…
Changed the computer name from WIN-74580DE9GUT to w2k8r2spsa (Win 2008 R2 SharePoint StandAlone)
Stopped ignoring the reboot now commands and restarted the computer

Active Directory Domain service role needs to be activated on the server.

From the Initial Configuration Tasks Screen Click on “Add roles” link and read the “Before You Begin”
From the Selected Server Roles Page, check Active Directory Domain Services
1. .NET FrameWork 3.5.1 Challenge dialog opens, click on “Add Required Features”
2. Click Next
On the Intro – you can click the links for additional information and/or click “Next”
On the next screen you get some messages with a notice of possible restart, click “Install” This will take a minute or two
1. If automatic updates are not activated, a warning will appear
2. Look for the Green check marks indicating success
3. Click on the link “Close this wizard and launch the Active Directory Domain Service Installation Wizard (dcpromo.exe)”
The new wizard starts, leave “Use advanced mode installation” unchecked and click next
Read through the Operating System Compatibility for addition information. Does not apply to this stand alone environment. Click “Next”
Select “Create a new Domain in a new forest”
enter the FQDN of the forest root Ex: t5s.corp –> the system will check and see if the name is already in use
select Windows Server 2003 functional level. –> this is a good clone point for future consideration to split to 2008 r2 domain controller
same with the next page. After a few minutes, the “Additional Domain Controller Options” page will open. Leave “DNS server” checked and click next.
A warning message will appear. For a development system, DHCP is fine, so click “Yes…”
Another warning message “A delegation for the DNS server cannot…” At this point, we want to continue so pick “Yes”
On the next screen accept the default file folder locations
Finally, provide a strong but memorable password (this is a development environment) like sh@rePoint2011 or fr@meWork1!
click “Next: and wait…click “Finish” once the wizard has completed and perform obligatory restart –> might be a good time to check for updates before restarting (enable automatic updates – there were 50 at this point).
Config File

Configure this server as the first Active Directory domain controller in a new forest.

The new domain name is “t5s.corp”. This is also the name of the new forest.

The NetBIOS name of the domain is “T5S”.

Forest Functional Level: Windows Server 2003

Domain Functional Level: Windows Server 2003

Site: Default-First-Site-Name

Additional Options:

Read-only domain controller: “No”

Global catalog: Yes

DNS Server: Yes

Create DNS Delegation: No

Database folder: C:\Windows\NTDS

Log file folder: C:\Windows\NTDS

SYSVOL folder: C:\Windows\SYSVOL

The DNS Server service will be installed on this computer.

The DNS Server service will be configured on this computer.

This computer will be configured to use this DNS server as its preferred DNS server.

The password of the new domain Administrator will be the same as the password of the local Administrator of this computer.

…by the way, this install, set up and all is for a standalone SETUP of SharePoint 2010 for the purpose of proto-typing, sandbox and learning environment. These instructions and observations are not intended for production use.

The server is still in a defaulted state but now has the dns set up and the 50 most recent required updates installed. Of the 24 remaining optional updates, 22 are recommended updates. Being the adventurous soul, I took a snapshot of the server then installed the 22 recommended updates.
Snapshot Updated Server with DNS installed

This took no time so it was time to power back on the system and install the updates. Why a snapshot instead of a full clone? Snapshots take up very little space and are quick. Like a restore point, are easy to roll back to. Now that the server is fully updated, it’s time to move onto the next step and add an application server.

Next steps:

Add the application server role to the system
1. From the Initial Configuration Tasks screen click on “Add Roles”
2. Now check the “Skip this page by default” box if you land on the “Before You Begin” page
3. Clicking on the “Application Server” box brings up the Add Roles Wizard.
4. Click on “Add Required Features”
5. Click “Next” when returned to the Select Server Roles screen
6. Read the “Things to Note” and check out the additional information links then click “Next”
7. Select IIS Support (This will autocheck http activation after the warning screen).
8. Click “Next” and accept defaults. Keep “Nexting” until the confirm screen and click “Install”
9. Validate that the installtion completed with Green Checks.
10. Click close
Add Visual Studio
1. Go through the VS Set Screens
2. Install the full version (Default Install)
3. This would be a good time to go read some email, write some coce, VS takes a bit of time to install
4. If you want, install the documentation. Because this is a limited space VM, I chose to skip that step.
5. This is a good place to visit the Visual Studio Galllery and maybe get the Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Power Tools
Check for updates – by now you’ve added more “stuff” to your install
1. Service Pack 1 for W2008 R2 64 is available
2. Note, VS 2010 SP1 is also available

At this point, you make want to clone this install or checkpoint it. I would clone here if I was going to branch and create different servers to develop against.

Other links of interest: http://www.harbar.net/archive/2010/03/31/sharepoint-2010-and-kerberos.aspx

<thinking> Title is getting old…oh well, it’s already there.

Server Summary:

So far the, what’s been installed:

Depending on your preferences, set up your environment how you want it.

For example:

Open Libraries
Click on Organize
Click on Folder and Search Options
Review the settings on General, View and Search and change them to your personal preference.

Back to SharePoint Setup

64 bit all the way (office, designer)
First along the path is SQL Server. When Visual Studio installed, SQL Express was installed.
SqlServer 2008 R2 Developer Version
1. Click Next Accept the Default Instance and click next
2. Click passed the Disk Space Requirements
3. Specify Service accounts and Collation (Change if the default is not your standard) Also See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc281953.aspx
4. Specify Mixed Mode authentication – if this were a production environment, you would also specify the data and log directories as well
5. Add the current user to the Analysis Services Account Provisioning
6. Install the SharePoint Reporting Services
7. Click “Next” until you reach “Install” then Click “Install”
Run updates, patch and snapshot server

<Grateful Dead playing in the back ground… “Casey Jone’s you better watch your speed…”> What is it with installs and Grateful Dead tunes…by the way, this install, set up and all is for a standalone SETUP of SharePoint 2010 for the purpose of proto-typing, sandbox and learning environment. These instructions and observations are not intended for production use.

A quick check and all the updates and service packs have been applied… It’s time for SharePoint <and the crowd goes wild>

Open the splash

Review Hardware and Software and take a look at the Installation Guide
Prep the system for installing SharePoint
Go to active directory and add a new user
1. Click on “Start”, “Administrative Tools” and “Active Directory Users and Computers”
2. In your Domain, right click on “Users” and select “New”
3. Give it a name like sp Admin@t5s.corp
4. Click on “Next”
5. Provide a password you can remember, then set it to No Change and Never Expire
6. Click on “Next” then “Finish”
Provide the user with SQL Server Access (DBCreator and DBSecurity roles)
1. Open SQL server management studio
2. Open the (local) database
3. Click on the Security Folder
4. Right Click on the Logins folder and select new login
5. By login name, click on the “Search Button”
6. Locate your spAdmin user
7. Click “OK”
8. on the Login – New page, click on “Server Roles”
9. check dbcreator and securityadmin roles and click “OK”
10. Close Management Studio
Return to Active Directory User and Computers
1. Right click on your domain name and select “Delegate Control…”
2. Click “Next” once the wizard starts
3. Add the spAdmin user
4. on the next screen choose “Create a custom task to delegate”
5. Choose “This folder, existing objects in this folder…” option click “Next”
6. Leave “General” checked and then select “Replicating Directory Changes” in the list below
7. Click “Next” and “Finish”
Back to SharePoint config <–create a Snapshoot

Install the prerequisites

Log On as spAdmin
1. The “user” that is logged in will own the farm
2. Not critical for a sandbox but a good habit to get into
3. Make sure the DB Access is good
Start the SharePoint DVD
Grant the application authorization to run
<optional> click on the learn link and save the page for later review and click “Next”
Accept the License Terms
Review the final screen and make all prereq’s installed. Click “Finish”
Start the configuration Wizard
Choose “Create a new server farm”
Provide a name for the database and use the spAdmin account for the db access account
Click “next” <–Create a snapshot

Install SharePoint Server

Insert the MSDN Key and wait for validation then click “Continue”
Accept the Terms and “Continue”
Accept default locations and click “Install Now”
On the final screen, make sure the “Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard now” is checked. Then click on “Close”
1. If you installed SharePoint and Did not run the configuration wizard, it can be started as follows
  1. Click on Windows “Start”
  2. Click on “All Programs
  3. Click on “Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products”
  4. Click on “SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard”
Click on “Next” then “Yes” on the warning screen
Put in the name of the SQL Server instance : “(local)” will not work
Here you can change the database name or leave it SharePoint_Config
Put in the spAdmin user name and password
Click on “Next”
Provide a “strong” yet memorable 🙂 passphrase
Provide a port and security settings
1. For an “Admin” port number, you can accept the random generated number or provide your own between 1-65535. I like to use the Year plus 1 (20111) for example (this avoids the range of well know ports 0-1023)
2. Kerberos is recommended setting for security see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753173(WS.10).aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee806870.aspx
Click Next
Read the warning and Click Yes
Review the Completing the SharePoint Products… screen and click “Next”
Configurtation Successful is the screen you want. Click on “Finish”* <- create a snap shot
This brings up the Central Admin Configuration Wizard, Click on Start the Wizard
1. Service Account (for the Standalone use spAdmin, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262451.aspx for a wealth of worksheets and info)
2. Leave the default services checked and click on “Next”
3. Create a site (You can skip this and come back later)
  1. Provide a Title and Description
  2. Choose a template (for a minimum set up, choose Blank Site)
  3. Click on “OK” <- another great snapshot opportunity
  4. Click on “Finish”
4. You can re-run the wizard any time.

*If it fails at this point, you may have to remove the database (or roll back to a earlier snapshot) if it was created before re-running the wizard. Also, by the time you’re done, you will be very tired of typing out Strong Passwords and Pass phrases. I found that being consistent made this process a whole lot easier. Especially during the OMG, it freaking failed moments and it was roll back time. If there is one step to take that rises above the rest, snapshot often! It’s very similar to coding. You don’t learn the value of save and save often until you’ve spent all day working on the ultimate masterpiece only to have the computer completely FREEZE when you pressed run. Your only way out was CTRL – ALT -DEL or worse case, the power button…