Like its predecessors, SharePoint 2013 has a whole list of prerequisites to install. Not unexpected, but yet it’s a hoop we need to plan on jumping through. SharePoint 2013’s prereqs are:

  1. Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5 Release Candidate (RC)
  2. Windows Management Framework 3.0 Release Candidate (RC)
  3. Application Server Role, Web Server (IIS) Role
  4. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client
  5. Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
  6. Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
  7. Windows Identity Extensions
  8. Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client
  9. Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
  10. Windows Server AppFabric
  11. Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB2671763)

You should read and understand the TechNet article: Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2013 Preview. This will help you to prepare for your first install of SharePoint 2013.

Today I had a small issue on one of my Azure VMs as I was installing the prereqs. I received the error “There was an error installing the prerequisites” or something along those lines. I reviewed the logs at: %TEMP%\prerequisiteinstaller.<date>.<time>.log. I noticed that the 2008 R2 SQL Native Client downloaded successfully but didn’t install. This prevented the rest of the prereqs from installing.

This was easy enough fix. SQLNCLI.MSI is a part of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 Feature Pack. You can find the download here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26728. Once this was installed the prerequisite installer completed successfully.

Overall the install for 2013 is similar to the earlier versions. Happy pointing…