Channel 9 has a great offering in free online courses for people who want to get up to speed with SharePoint 2010 development:

• Getting Started with SharePoint 2010
• SharePoint 2010 Developer Roadmap
• Visual Studio 2010 Tools per SharePoint 2010
• UI Enhancements
• List and Schemas
• LINQ to SharePoint
• Client Object Model
• Workflow
• Services Architecture
• Accessing External Data
• Enterprice Content Management
• Extending Search
• Performance Point Service
• Sandboxed Solutions
• SharePoint 2010 Security

Paul Andrew (Blog) has written several great articles for people who want to get up to speed with SharePoint 2010 development:

• Building Web Parts in SharePoint 2010
• What Developers need to know about SharePoint 2010
• Building Blocks for Web Part Development in SharePoint 2010
• Accessing SharePoint 2010 Data using the Server side API
• Accessing SharePoint 2010 Data using the Client side API
• Developing Business Processes with SharePoint 2010 Workflows
• Creating Silverlight User Interfaces for SharePoint 2010 Solutions
• Sandboxed Solutions for Web Parts in SharePoint 2010
• Creating Dialogs and Ribbon Controls in SharePoint 2010

Every month or so there's a new release of the MSDN Magazine. This is the best online magazine available. This month there's a nice article regarding BCS written by Kirk Evans (Blog).

The article is a nice introduction to BCS with the following examples:

• Architecture info
• Understanding external content types
• Creating an entity with Visual Studio 2010 (also with a WCF example!)
• Creating a list and taking it offline (also with example to connect to Outlook)

Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/nl-be/magazine/ee819133(en-us).aspx 
RSS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/nl-be/magazine/rss/default(en-us).aspx?z=z&iss=1

While developing on a SharePoint application you might get the following error:

The Web application at http://ss2010.itfactory.be could not be found. Verify that you have typed the URL correctly. If the URL should be serving existing content, the system administrator may need to add a new request URL mapping to the intended application.

Your first step in troubleshooting this kind of issue is to look at your output platform. Make sure you are not building in x86. It is required to build your project in x64 or Any CPU.

You can do this by right clicking on your solution, selecting Configuration Manager and changing the platform of your project(s).

Quote from Microsoft.com:

Language packs enable creation of sites and site collections in multiple languages without requiring separate installations of SharePoint Server 2010 Beta, Project Server 2010 Beta, and Search Server Express 2010 Beta.
Multiple language packs can be installed on the same server. Application of a Language Pack will not change the language of the installed Microsoft server product SKU, or the language of the administrative features.

Available packages:

• ServerLanguagePack_de-de.exe (German)
• ServerLanguagePack_en-us.exe (American English)
• ServerLanguagePack_es-es.exe (Spanish)
• ServerLanguagePack_fr-fr.exe (French)
• ServerLanguagePack_ja-jp.exe (Japanese)
• ServerLanguagePack_ru-ru.exe (Russian)
• ServerLanguagePack_zh-cn.exe (Chinese)

Download: download.microsoft.com

During the SharePoint Server 2010 beta configuration you might come across the following error:

System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Unrecognized attribute 'allowInsecureTransport'. Note that attribute names are case-sensitive.

This could be the case on:

• Windows 7 x64
• Windows 2008 R2 x64

So before configuring SharePoint you should install the following updates: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=23806

If you wanted to install WSS v3 / MOSS 2007 on your client OS you had to use all sorts of tricks and tools.
There was this tool from Bamboo Solutions.

But now you can simply install SharePoint Server 2010 on your client OS just by modifying a config file.

Requirements:

• Process Explorer (Download)
• SharePoint Server 2010 Beta installer (I used: en_sharepoint_server_2010_beta_x64_x16-19249.exe)
• Windows 7 x64 as client OS

Ok, let's start up the SharePoint installer and you'll get the following error when trying to install SharePoint:

It seems that SharePoint Server 2010 is only compatibly with Windows Server 2008 x64. But it's not.
Ok, start up Process Explorer while the installer splashscreen is running and you'll see the following:

So it seems that the installer was unpacked in C:\Program Files (x86)\MSECache\oserver2010. You can browse to that directory now.

• Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSECache\oserver2010
• Go to the Files folder
• Go to the Setup folder
• Open config.xml
• Add the following line before the closing </configuration> tag

<Setting Id="AllowWindowsClientInstall" Value="True"/>

Once you've modified the config file you'll be able to install SharePoint Server 2010 on you Windows 7 machine!

Enjoy

Well if you followed the previous parts you should have completed the SharePoint 2010 installation.
But now it's time for the configuration.

UPDATE: Read this first http://sharepointserver2010.be/Blog/post/Solving-installation-issue-Unrecognized-attribute-allowInsecureTransport.aspx

Go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products and start the Products Configuration Wizard.

After you start the wizard it will need to reboot some services.
This is ok so just press Yes.

We'll want to create a new farm.

Specify the database and the account. See part 4 for all the info regarding SQL.
Note that if you change the admin account of your machine this will break SharePoint.

Using Administrator is not done in a production environment!
You should use service accounts for that.

After that you can configure the passphrase. This is required for letting other servers join the farm.

Now you'll get a chance to configure the CA web application. I prefer using port 9000 for CA.

Then you'll get an overview and the configuration will start.

Well now the configuration is done. If you click finish this will open Central Administration. And now you're actually working with your first SharePoint 2010 site!

Now it's time to configure the first site collection:

1. Select Walk me through the settings
2. Press next
3. Check the first option to use the administrator service account. In a production environment we would have created a new service account.
4. After waiting about 15min. you can create your first site collection
    
   
    
5. After creating the site collection you'll get a small report
    
   
    
6. And the result...
    
   

Voila, that's it for configuring SharePoint 2010 Beta and creating your first site collection. Next article will be about installing other tools and software to start exploring SharePoint.

Note: The amount of SQL databases increased drastically since MOSS.

This is the moment we've all been waiting for...

Preparing the installation

We want to install the right tools and applications to make our life easier:

• Virtual Clone Drive (Download)
  
  This almost invisible application will be able to mount all your ISO files.
   
• Synergy (Download)
  
  Well when I'm working at home I use my desktop machine. On the right of my desktop machine I have my laptop (where I've installed 2008 R2). With Synergy you can use 1 keyboard + mouse for multiple machines. So I can easely work on both machines at the same time and the clipboard is also shared. 
  
  This has absolutely nothing to do with SharePoint...
   
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Download)
  
  You could install SharePoint 2010 using the integrated database. But this isn't as easy to manage as a regular SQL database. You can also use SQL Express, but keep in mind that you need to download the version with Management Studio. We'll need this tool to connect to the databases later on.

Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Ok, start up a stand alone installation.
I decided to install the trial of the Enterprise version (screenshots may differ from the Express version).

• When you start the installation, also activate Reporting Services.
  It might be interesting to integrate this with SharePoint 2010 later on.
  
  
   
• Be sure to include Management Tools.
  We'll need this to connect to the database.
  
  
   
• Configure the accounts like this:

  

•  Configure the instance. By installing a named instance you'll be able to access it (in code, via Management Studio, .. using .\SP2010)
  
  

• Enable mixed mode and enter a password.
  
  You'll be able to access SQL using SQL Authentication with user sa and the password you just entered.
  Comes in handy for development.
  
  Also be sure to add the current user as administrator.
  
  

• Now you'll also need to update SQL Server.
  For SQL Server 2008 SharePoint requires SP1 with the cumulative updates.
  
  Download SP1
  Download CU (you need the file 381569_intl_x64_zip.exe that actually contains SQLServer2008-KB970315-x64.exe)
  
  

Installing SharePoint 2010

You can download the SharePoint 2010 beta from MSDN. I decided to download the SharePoint Server 2010 version. FYI, Windows SharePoint Services has been replaced with SharePoint Foundation 2010.

If you don't have MSDN access you can download the beta here: http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/try-it/Pages/Trial.aspx

Ok, let's start.

1. Installing the prerequisites.
   
   Before we can install SharePoint 2010 we need to install some additional software.
   Select Install software prerequisites in the main menu.
   
   
   
   
    
2. Installing SharePoint
   
   Select Install SharePoint Server in the main menu. There you can select the installation type. Choose Server Farm. This gives you more flexibility than a Standalone install (uses Windows Internal Database).
   
   
    
3. Server Type
   
   Choose Complete. No need to use Stand-alone since we already installed SQL how we wanted.
   
   
    
4. Wait...
   
   
    
5. Done...
   
   

The SharePoint 2010 Beta installation is now complete.
When you press close the Configuration Wizard will start.

We'll see all about that in the next article...

If you followed the last 2 parts you'll be able to boot in Windows Server 2008 R2.
The only thing you need to do is to reboot your machine.

Then you'll see the following in Windows Boot Manager

• Windows 7
• SharePoint 2010 - VHD

Installing

Select SharePoint2010 - VHD and press Enter.
This will start the unattended Server 2008 R2 installation.

You'll see things like:

• Updating registry
• Installing services
• Installing devices
• ...

After that (and a reboot) you'll be able to configure the following:

• Country
• Regional settings
• Administrator password

Configuring

Now that the installation part is done you can start configuring.

1. Activation
   
   Since we're just testing it would be useless to activate Windows. That's why you should not enter a key or activate Windows.
   
   Should you have passed the 30 day limit you can still try:  cscript slmgr.vbs -rearm
   This will reset the activation period for another 30 days. Google this command for more info.
    
2. Machine name
   
   Change your machine name. Mine is called SANDE-SP2010
   You can do this via Start > Right click on 'Computer' > Properties > Change settings
    
3. Drivers
   
   If you are working with a virtual machine you have to install the correct integration components (VMWare / Virtual PC / Hyper-V, ...). But in this case you're working on your real machine. That's why you also need to install the drivers of your real machine. Find the correct drivers for 2008 R2 and install them (most of the time drivers for Vista / Windows 7 will also work).
    
4. Features
   
   Open Server Manager (the grey server icon next to start) to install some Features.
   Features are like small packages providing extra functionality. These will install things like Wifi, .NET, ...
   
   I installed the following features:
   
   .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features
   Desktop Experience
   Telnet Client
   Windows Server Backup Features
   Wireless LAN Service
   
   When you press next you'll automatically receive the request to install the Web Server Role (IIS).
   Enable everything except for IIS 6 compatibility.
   
   When you press next the installation will begin.
    
5. Windows Updates
   
   Even though Windows is not activated you can still update.
   Do this now...
    
6. Deactivate Internet Explorer Enhanced Security
   
   If you want to browse the net using your machine you should disable IE ESC.
   You can do this by going to: Server manager > Configure IE ESC > "Off" for both Administrators and Users

   

   

7. Power and performance
   
   Go to Control Panel > Hardware > Power Options. Make sure your machine is set to High Performance.
   
   I also like to change what Windows does when I close the lid (I'm working on a laptop). You can do this via the left menu Choose what closing the lid does.

Configuring the domain (Active Directory)

Later on we'll install SharePoint in Farm mode, requiring a domain. That's why we'll also install Active Directory.

1. Go to Server Manager > Roles
2. Press Add Roles
3. Check Active Directory Domain Services
4. Complete the installation

The role has been installed but now it needs to be configured.

1. Go to Server Manager > Roles > Active Directory Domain Services
2. Run the wizard
3. Choose Create new domain or forest
4. As a name you could use SP2010.local
5. Set the functional level to Windows Server 2008 R2
6. Make sure you also install DNS
   
   

   You might get a warning while installing DNS. Just press Yes.
   
   

Cleaning up

Well now you've completed the installation and configuration of Windows Server 2008 R2 on your own machine as dual boot. We're all set to prepare the SharePoint 2010 installation.

Before we go ahead it would be a good idea to take a backup of your current VHD. That way you can immediately start with a clean installation whenever you feel like it.