Windows 2008 R2 Server + SharePoint 2007 = KB962935

The title says it all, if you are trying to install MOSS 2007 on a Windows 2008 R2 server you are greeted with a fatal dialog box which says “You must install Office SharePoint Server 2007 – Please read Microsoft Knowledge Base article: 962935 with the most recent service pack

And after visiting the knowledge base article 962935 found here, to your surprise the workaround mentioned there applies only if you are upgrading from Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1 to R2. But we have a fresh installation of Windows 2008 R2 and we never upgraded from a prior edition didn’t we or did we, well that doesn’t matter here as we already have a problem in front of us.

So whats the error and how do we get past it and have a MOSS 2007 farm up and running on our newly installed Windows 2008 R2 Server.

Solution: We need MOSS 2007 installer with latest service pack integrated in it.

At the time of writing the latest Service Pack for MOSS 2007 is SP2 and a standalone installer with integrated SP1 is available for download. So we got an answer for one problem which lead us to another problem. How do we acquire MOSS 2007 installer integrated with SP2 ??

Solution: Slip streaming MOSS SP2 & WSS SP2 in MOSS installer [Yes we need SP2 of both MOSS & WSS].

I guess a lot of us have done slip streaming of Service Packs in OS Setup or any other setups, so we do not have to install those Service Packs manually after we have completed the installation.

Things you will need:

After you have downloaded the above files or you already have those we can start the slip streaming process:

  1. Create a folder that will hold our slip streamed installer. In my case I’ll call it C:\SP2007x64
  2. Extract the install media/setup into the SP2007x64 folder by executing/running the following command

    OfficeServer.exe /extract:C:\SP2007x64
    [Note: There is no space after /extract switch].

  3. After the binaries are extracted, and if you have used the officeserverwithsp1.exe then go to the Updates folder and delete everything from it

  4. Now we will extract both the Service Packs to the C:\SP2007x64\Updates folder in similar way we extracted the OfficeServer.exe
  • officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x86-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:c:\SP2007x64\Updates
  • wssv3sp2-kb953338-x86-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:c:\SP2007x64\Updates

  1. After the Service Packs are extracted, browse to the updates folder in my case C:\SP2007x64\Updates it will be filled with multiple msp files.

    As you are already in the Updates folder delete the wsssetup.dll as having both the srvsetup.dll & wsssetup.dll is not supported. Else only WSS SP2 will be installed.

    So this is important delete wsssetup.dll from Updates folder.


  2. So far so good, lets try to run setup now C:\SP2007x64\setup.exe If you
    have followed me correctly, you should already know no more KB962935 fatal dialog

    Box and you are ready to deploy MOSS 2007 on your Windows 2008 R2 Server. J


Hope the above has helped you.

Note:- You can use the above mentioned steps for installing MOSS 2007 on you Windows 7 machine too, tho it is not recommended to install MOSS on a client machine. And if you are wondering that the above screenshots are from a Windows 7 machine then you are wrong.

I have installed the Desktop Experience Feature on my Windows 2008 R2 box, enabled the Themes service and changed the theme to Windows 7 under Personalization [A jiffy guide on how to enable Windows 7 theme on your Windows 2008 R2 Server].

Update :- Microsoft has released the MOSS 2007 setup with SP2 integrated. Follow the following links for downloading the same

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version 32-Bit

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version 64-Bit