Installing WSS3.0 on Windows 7 64 bit

Question

I've installed WSS3.0 in Windows 7 64 bit. I am not able to open Central Administration. I get HTTP 500 Internal Server Error when I try to open Central Admin page.

Answer 1

You're not allowed to install WSS 3.0 on Windows 7 (this ability is added only from SharePoint 2010)

Please, read this MSDN article:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=EF93E453-75F1-45DF-8C6F-4565E8549C2A&displaylang=en

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003;Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2;Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86);Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86);Windows Server 2008

You should use virtual machine or smth like this.

Answer 2

WSS 3.0 (SharePoint 2007) does not support installation on client operating systems. You need to install it on Windows Server 2003 or 2008.

EDIT: Bamboo solutions does have a setup helper that allows you to install WSS 3.0 on Vista or Windows 7 but I don't know what limitations there are or how well it may work. YMMV.

http://community.bamboosolutions.com/blogs/bambooteamblog/archive/2008/05/21/how-to-install-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-sp1-on-vista-x64-x86.aspx

Answer 3

As stated earlier WSS3 will not work on anything but a server edition of Windows (2003/2008). If you're looking to play with SharePoint on your desktop I'd suggest grabbing your favorite virtual platform, setting up a Server OS there and installing SharePoint; or the new SharePoint Foundation 2010 will install on Windows 7.