Mike Walsh, you apparently moved the below to a Sharepoint 2010 forum because of a webpart compatibility question I had. OK, but what about the other questions? Should I be posting this somewhere else? Several things..... I want to learn how to setup Sharepoint and deploy (a) the above mention webparts and (b) reports which use MS Reporting Services. Reports depend on data stored in MS SQL Server. I want to learn how to do this by installing to a virtual Windows 2008 R2 server (running on a Linux host). The Win 2008 server is up and running just fine. And btw, this server is running on my small home network behind my Verizon Fios router. It will never be public. I'm simply trying to learn some basics about the technology. I should also note that once I learn the above, I want to setup an environment that will let me run/demo the reports and webparts to prospective clients using a public website that is hosted on a virtual Win 2003 server. 1. Do I have to install Active Directory? If yes, can you point me to a good introduction article about AD? I want the simpliest, most minimal environment possible and still be able to get SP installed. 2. My MSDN subscrition gives me a lot of choices. What do I need to install? (again, minimally) I see I have the following (and maybe more): en_office_sharepoint_designer_2007.... en_office_sharepoint_server_2007... en_sharepoint_server_2007... en_sharepoint_services_3.0_tools_visual_studio_extensions.. 3. In building the server out, is there an install sequence I have to follow? If so, what? TIA. Karl Karl Thompson

(I did not move "the below". I edited out questions 2 and 3 and moved what remained to the SP 2010 forum) 1. Your initial question said very clearly that you were asking about SP 2010. Here you seemed to have edited that out of the first section of your post. 2. The main problem is that now that that (webparts working in SP 2010?) section has been moved out,we are still left with the unclear text that followed it in tha first post. What you should have done was re-phrased the rest of the text to make them a purely SP 2007 question (i.e one that in its entirity fits here). My guess is that in brief what you want (and again ignoring SP 2010 which is off-topic here) is 1. What is the best way to install MOSS 2007. 2. Do I need to have an AD domain. 3. Which of the MSDN subscription downloads should I use. Answers to that would be - Use the MOSS 2007 download. If you have only a single server available to you then run the basic installation that will install a resticted (4GB size) free version of SQL Server for it to use. If you have 2 servers then first install SQL Server 2005 (or 2008) on that and then run the Advanced installation of MOSS 2007 (not then the single server option) and tell it to use that already installed SQL Server copy. - With MOSS 2007 it's advisable that the MOSS server(s) are part of a domain - certainly in the 2 server scenario. (With WSS 3.0 then you can get away with a single server non-domain installation). Note the restrcited use (basically testing only not development) of MSDN copies. Note too that if you want to use the same server as a domain controller and MOSS (not typically a good idea) you *must* install it as a domain controller before you install MOSS. SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters

Ok, I understand that MOSS 2007 is Office Sharepoint Server 2007. But can you clarify something? As mentioned, I have these files: en_office_sharepoint_server_2007_standard_and_enterprise_edition_with_service_pack_1_x86_x64_dvd_x14-40187 en_sharepoint_server_2007_with_sp2_x64_dvd_x16-57201 How does "Office SharePoint Server 2007" differ from just "SharePoint Server 2007"? As I can't find anything about this using Google, I'm assuming that when SP2 was release that Microsoft changed the naming convention of the iso files and dropped "Office", but otherwise the product is the same, just a different release. Correct? Thanks. Karl Thompson

I would imagine you are correct. I doubt if *Microsoft* have dropped the Office. It's much more likely to be a Microsoft employee who got the name wrong. (KB articles; White papers; even official support answers are littered with incorrect names of SharePoint products ...). I would check the description if there is one but certainly my assumption would be that the SharePoint Server 2007 with SP2 would be the best one to use. SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters