When trying to install SQL Server 2008 R2 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Virtual Machine on Azure, you might come across the following error at the Setup Support Rules step:

This has to do with two manifest files that are corrupt.

If you have another working installation, you can copy the following two manifest files from the working server to the failing server:

• C:\Windows\winsxs\Manifests\amd64_microsoft.vc80.atl_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_none_8a1a02152edb659b.manifest
• C:\Windows\winsxs\Manifests\x86_microsoft.vc80.atl_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_none_d1c738ec43578ea1.manifest

If you don’t have another working installation, find and open the files mentioned above and paste the following xml in them:

• AMD64 Manifest:
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <!-- Copyright © 1981-2001 Microsoft Corporation -->
  <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
  <noInheritable/>
  <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.ATL" version="8.0.50727.4053" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"/>
  <file name="ATL80.dll" hash="99840dcc34e78af239d80841eba316c184e407cd" hashalg="SHA1"/>
  </assembly>
• X86 Manifest:
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <!-- Copyright © 1981-2001 Microsoft Corporation –>
  <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
  <noInheritable/>
  <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.ATL" version="8.0.50727.4053" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"/>
  <file name="ATL80.dll" hash="6d7ce37b5753aa3f8b6c2c8170011b000bbed2e9" hashalg="SHA1"/>
  </assembly>

Note: You probably need to change the permissions for those files to be able to overwrite them.
To do so, go to the file properties, Security tab, Advanced, Owner tab, Edit, Select the Administrators group and click three times OK until all windows are closed.
Reopen the properties for the file, Security tab, Edit, Select the Administrators group and select Full Control.

At a certain point in time when installing BizTalk, you will need to install some extra “components”. In the BizTalk installation wizard this is referred to as a prerequisite file.

This file can be downloaded automatically from within the wizard, but most likely you have some good reasons not to do that:

• You’re installing more than 1 BizTalk server and/or environment at the same time
• You do not want to wait for downloads to finish
• Internet access is not available on BizTalk servers
• etc …

There are a bunch of reasons why a seasoned BizTalk professional/administrator needs to have a backup copy of these files available just in case you might ever need them…

Below you can find a list of all BizTalk prerequisite files I have come across and where to find any further localized versions in case you might need them.

BizTalk 2013 beta

I haven’t found the BizTalk 2013 beta prerequisite CAB file links anywhere, but I’m sure this is overkill to this post… it’s better to download them within the wizard.

The beta is just for evaluation purposes anyway, so you would not install this on an actual server + the file is most likely subject to change due to it’s beta status.

BizTalk 2010

The following list is taken from the installation document for BizTalk 2010 found here.

BizTalk 2009

The following list is taken from the installation document for BizTalk 2009 found here.

BizTalk 2006 R2

The following list is taken from the installation document for BizTalk 2006 found here.

I hope this helps someone who needs the quick download!

Many of us at Codit already installed the WCF LOB SDK multiple times. And in the process we have learned to know the caveats that come with the installation:
- 32 bit vs 64 bit
- Adapter Pack installation (again, 32 bit vs 64 bit)
- Enterprise application installation

Now since BizTalk 2010, there is a great wizard added to the installation screen if you click “Install Microsoft BizTalk Adapters”:

The screen shows up like this once you go through the entire installation:

Please note that the above screenshot is from a production server where I don’t have Visual Studio installed, so I could not install the developer tools (hence the warning)

It is a very welcome change, because before BizTalk 2010, people did not know exactly what they needed to install and in which order.
Now the screen gives you a very handy wizard-style interface.

Now recently I had a strange error: on a 64-bit machine I went through the installation.
I was sure that everything was installed correctly and in the right order!

I checked all machine.config files (for framework 2.0 and 4.0, both 32-bit and 64-bit) and all had the necessary entries added.
However, there was no way I could see/add the WCF LOB Adapters in the BizTalk console:

I went through a lot of online searching until I accidently stumbled upon the BizTalk modify wizard:

It happens that the WCF Adapter components in BizTalk were not installed, so the WCF adapters were not showing up for a good reason!

When I checked both checkboxes (WCF for BizTalk Runtime and Administration Tools And Monitoring), installed it on both nodes and re-opened the BizTalk consoles, I could add the WCF adapters I needed.

I hope this helps at least someone!

BizTalk can be installed using command line such as this:

"Setup.exe /quiet /addlocal all /IGNOREDEPENDENCIES /INSTALLDIR D:\program files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 /s D:\Install\biztalk2010/configBiztalk2010.xml"

But we had an issue with the INSTALLDIR flag. Using the above path, the installation was failing with an error "Unable to load xml file: c:\users\insUser\AppData\Local\Temp\EBZ39051.tmp\1033\Autorun.xml"

After quite a lot of investigation the developer realised that the INSTALLDIR path with spaces in the name was the culprit. Using quotes around the path did not work either. Instead, the path should be its DOS short name. In order to do that, do the following:

1) Create the destination folder using the commande MKDIR on the destination drive
2) Get the DOS path using the command DIR /X from the destination drive
3) Run again using now the command such as in this example using the new path: "Setup.exe /quiet /addlocal all /IGNOREDEPENDENCIES /INSTALLDIR D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\ /s D:\Install\biztalk2010/configBiztalk2010.xml". It should work fine!

Vincent ROUET, CODit

Welcome to the first of many posts around BizTalk Server 2009 R2, the latest version of BizTalk Server that is scheduled for release later this year. 
As many times before, CODit is again part of the TAP (Technology Adoption Program).  In this serie, I will create a post for each new feature in this version.
This post will probably the less interesting one: installation and configuration :)

The 2009 R2 version can be installed on the latest available platform: Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2 and .Net 4.0.  Therefore, I decided to take the latest available releases for all these products and install them on my Virtual PC.
Windows Server 2008 R2.
First issue: the Windows Server 2008 R2 version will only be available in a x64 build.  While this makes perfectly sense (who configures a 32bit server nowadays?), it raised an issue for me.
I am using Virtual PC as the virtualization software on my development laptop.  But VPC does not support hosting x64 operating systems.  Microsoft makes this only available through Hyper-V.  But since I am testing on my laptop, I don't want to install Hyper-V, which would make me lose my 'stand-by'/'sleep' features.
Therefore, the only options left were VMWare or Sun VirtualBox.  I decided to take the last one. 
After the installation of Windows, it became clear that a lot of the Windows 7 UI features made it in the Windows 2008 R2 release, which is cool.

SQL Server 2008 R2.
For installation of SQL Server, I installed the November CTP release.  Installation went smoothly.  New features like StreamInsight and Master Data Services are not available through the standard setup wizard.  They need to be installed through a seperate MSI on the DVD. 

Visual Studio 2010.
Installing the 2010 RC version of Visual Studio went fine, during the deep-dive sessions we had in Redmond, we already had a chance to play with it, so nothing shocking here...

BizTalk Server 2009 R2.
In the setup features, there are no new features available at first sight:

I closely followed the installation of BizTalk Server and there was only one thing that looked new to me: we finally have a download/progressbar for the prerequisites cab.  I know of too many customers who just stopped the installation of one of the previous versions of BizTalk, while it was downloading the cab-file.  Finally we have visibility on this:

The configuration of BizTalk hasn't changed at all.  No new features or sub-features are available in the Configuration Wizard.  So, next thing after install will be to find out where the new features like the settings dashboard and trading partner management will be...

Part 2: the new and enhanced BizTalk mapper.