Install SharePoint 2010 Server Farm Setup without Active Directory on Windows Server 2008

How to install SharePoint 2010 Server Farm Setup without Active Directory on Windows Server 2008?

In SharePoint 2010, there are two types of installations: Farm  and Standalone. If you want to install SP 2010 on a single machine, it will not allow you to install farm set up out of the box as by default it requires Active Directory which means your machine needs to join a domain where Microsoft Active Directory has been already setup. To workaround this problem for Windows Server 2008 machine, you could do the following:

1. Install SQL Server 2008 R2 Development/Enterprise edition.

2.  Install SharePoint 2010 Installation using Farm Setup.

3. Before proceeding to launch the SP2010 Configuration Wizard, open the SP2010 PowerShell and run this command:

New-SPConfigurationDatabase

After that, you will get the following window:

Enter a Database Name (i.e SharePoint_Config_Db)

Next:

Enter a Database Server: (Your Database server name, if the database is hosted on the same machine, type in your machine name)

After that you will get a login prompt to enter your Farm Credentials:

Important Thing to note here, while entering your username in the credentials window, use this format : [Your machine Name]\[User Name]

(i.e TeamRadiant\Morshed)

You will be prompted to enter password again in the PowerShell. Type in your password again. That’s it. You are done!!

Now, run the SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard, where you will get the following window:

 You will see your newly created Database Name appearing here.

After getting this window, click “Next” and your wizard will complete all the necessary actions to complete your farm setup. After that, you can launch the “Central Admin” site and you will be presented with the wizard which you may choose to run or you may configure it manually without running wizard.