Ready for SharePoint 2016?
As we get closer to the August release of SharePoint 2016 Preview I wanted to create a local virtual machine and try things out. Below are steps with dozens of screenshots. Now I’m ready for the big day to install.
Ideally matching the latest generation of all Microsoft products will give a more integrated experience. Often in the past I’ve seen where features are disabled or less than optimal if another software layer is older. For example, SharePoint 2013 Business Intelligence has many features which only work with SQL 2012. Yes, you can run older SQL 2008R2 but some features will be missing.
Here’s counting down to the SP2013 release … cheers! 
References
- http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com
- http://virtualbox.org
- https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/
Prepare ISO and VHD
Windows Server – Technical Preview
Rename PC
Server Manager – AD and GUI
Promote Domain
Create Service Accounts
Install SQL 2016
Great stuff, Jeff! I’m planning on getting started with SP2016 in Azure. I’ve got a JSON deployment template that deploys three domain-joined Windows Server 2012 Datacenter servers here: https://github.com/skaggej/azure/blob/master/deploy-dc-with-2-domain-joined-servers.json. It takes about 30-45 minutes to run, but when it’s all done, I just need to log on to the DC to create the users, install SQL, and install SP. My AutoSPInstaller script is already ready to go, with the hopes that it already work for SP2016. Exciting times!
I think I am with Eric and will shortly check out his JSON Config templates. One of the reasons is, I am replacing my ailing dev ‘beast’ laptop with one of the latest slim line profile: i7 5th gen laptops which have just been released on the market. Almost all of these profile machines only support max memory of 16GB DRAM. So it is unlikely I will be able to host SharePoint in my local windows 10 Hyper-v client. Incidentally is the ‘min’ server spec per mini role / all roles published? Finally, AutoSPInstaller currently only supports SP2013 so this will be need to be updated to remove the now deprecated UPS and the other changes.