How to: Upgrade Reporting Services on Windows Vista

New: 15 September 2007

If you are upgrading Windows XP to Windows Vista on a computer that has an installation of Reporting Services, you can continue to use Reporting Services after the operating system upgrade is complete. However, differences between the two operating systems will require that you take corrective action before Reporting Services can be used.

  • During upgrade, ASP.NET and the World Wide Publishing service are turned off. Although you are upgrading a computer that has both technologies enabled and started, both become unavailable during the upgrade process. You will have to reset these features after upgrade is complete.
  • Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 uses application pools. New application pools are created for you when you upgrade a Windows XP computer that has IIS and Web applications installed. Because Reporting Services runs as a legacy application in IIS 7.0, the new application pool settings will not be valid for Reporting Services. You must modify the settings after upgrade is finished.
  • Administrator permissions are not automatically available to local administrators if you are using the User Account Control (UAC) feature of Windows Vista. If you previously accessed and managed a report server by using the built-in permissions granted to local administrators, you must now create explicit role assignments for your account.

Prerequisites

  • To run SQL Server 2005 on Windows Vista, you must install Service Pack 2 (SP2). For more information about how to download and install SP2, see How to obtain the latest SQL Server 2005 Service Pack on the Microsoft Web site. Upgrade steps will vary slightly depending on whether you apply SP2 before or after you upgrade the operating system. If you are applying SP2 after upgrading to Windows Vista, see Upgrade Tips for Applying SP2 After Windows Vista in this topic for more information.
  • SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services has specific upgrade requirements. The SP1 installation must be configured. You cannot upgrade a files-only installation that has never been configured. For more information, see Considerations for Upgrading Express Edition with Advanced Services in this topic.

To upgrade a computer that has Reporting Services to Windows Vista

  1. Start with Windows XP SP2 and an instance of Reporting Services that is configured for operation.

  2. Apply SQL Server 2005 SP2 to Reporting Services.

  3. Backup the encryption keys and the report server database. To back up the keys, use the Reporting Services Configuration tool. To back up the database, use SQL Server Management Studio. For instructions, see Backup and Restore Operations for a Reporting Services Installation.

  4. Upgrade Windows XP SP2 to Windows Vista.

  5. Log on to Windows Vista, enable ASP.NET and start IIS:

    1. Click Start.
    2. Click Control Panel.
    3. Click Programs.
    4. In Programs and Features, click Turn Windows features on or off.
    5. Click Continue. Wait for the list of features to appear.
    6. Open Internet Information Services.
    7. Open World Wide Web Services.
    8. Open Application Development Features.
    9. Select ASP.NET.
    10. Click OK.
    11. In Control Panel, click System and Maintenance.
    12. Click Administrative Tools. You might have to scroll down the panel until you see it.
    13. Double-click Services.
    14. Click Continue.
    15. Right-click World Wide Web Publishing, and select Properties.
    16. In Startup Type, click Automatic.
    17. Click Apply.
    18. Click Start.
    19. Click OK to close the window.
  6. Verify that the services for Reporting Services and the Database Engine are started. If you stopped them during Setup, start them now.

  7. Create a new application pool for the report server and Report Manager:

    1. Start the Reporting Services Configuration tool. To open the tool, click Start, click All Programs, click SQL Server 2005, click Configuration Tools, and then click Reporting Services Configuration.
    2. Click Continue.
    3. In the Instance Selection dialog box, select the report server instance and then click Connect.
    4. Click Web Service Identity.
    5. Notice the value that is set for ASP.NET service identity. If the IWAM_<machinename> account is used, you will have to work around errors that will occur when you click Apply on this page. If the ASP.NET service identity is set to NetworkService, you can apply changes without encountering the error.
    6. Click New to create a new application pool for the report server.
      Although we recommend that you create a new application pool, you can select an existing application pool if Managed Pipeline Mode is set to Classic and the identity is not IWAM_<machinename>. To use a predefined application pool, select Classic .NET AppPool.
    7. In Application Pool Name, type ReportServer.
    8. Specify an account. If you are using a built-in account, select NetworkService. Otherwise, specify a least-privilege domain user account.
    9. Click OK.
    10. For Report Manager, click the down arrow and select the ReportServer application pool that you just created.
    11. Click Apply.
    12. Click Refresh above the navigation pane. When the page is refreshed, verify the application pool you created is selected for both the report server and Report Manager.
      If an error occurs when you click Apply, repeat the selection and click Apply again. Clicking Apply two times should resolve the issue. In some cases, you might have difficulty setting the Report Manager application pool after successfully setting the Report Server application pool (specifically, the Apply button will not enable when you select an application pool for Report Manager). If this occurs, you should refresh the page and re-select the application pool for the report server. Even if the report server application pool is selected correctly, you should reselect it again. Doing so enables the Apply button so that you can complete the application pool selection for Report Manager.
      If you continue to get the error, the selection might not be valid. Check the application pool settings in IIS Manager to verify that it uses Classic mode, V2.0, and either NetworkService, another built-in account, or least privilege domain user account.
  8. Add the report server and Report Manager URL to trusted sites if you want to open report server or Report Manager in a browser window on the local computer:

    1. Open a browser window and type the default report server URL (http://<servername>/reportserver) or Report Manager URL (http://<servername>/reports).
    2. Click Tools.
    3. Click Internet Options.
    4. Click Security.
    5. Click Trusted Sites.
    6. Click Sites.
    7. Add http://<servername>. If you are not using HTTPS for the default site, clear the check box Require server certification (https:) for all sites in this zone.
    8. Click OK.
  9. Create role assignments that explicitly grant you access with full permissions:

    1. Open a browser window with Run as administrator permissions. Point to Start, click All Programs, right-click Internet Explorer, and select Run as administrator.
    2. Start Report Manager. By default, the Report Manager URL is http://<servername>/reports (or http://<servername>/reports$sqlexpress if you are using SQL Server Express with Advanced Services).
    3. On the Home page, click Properties.
    4. Click New Role Assignment.
    5. Type a Windows user account in this format: <domain>\<user>.
    6. Select Content Manager.
    7. Click OK.
    8. Click Site Settings in the upper corner of the Home page.
    9. Click Configure Site-wide security.
    10. Click New Role Assignment.
    11. Type a Windows user account in this format: <domain>\<user>.
    12. Select System Administrator.
    13. Click OK.
    14. Close Report Manager.
  10. Re-open Report Manager in Internet Explorer, without using Run as administrator.

On Windows Vista, users who administer a report server should have explicit role assignments defined on the report server. On Windows XP, members of the local Administrator group automatically had full permissions on a report server (the equivalent of System Administrator and Content Manager roles). On Windows Vista, the built-in Administrator security principle no longer has automatic access to report server content. If you previously accessed a report server through the built-in Administrator security principle, you must now explicitly assign a Windows user account to specific roles. For more information, see Considerations for Running SQL Server 2005 on Windows Vista.

Upgrade Tips for Applying SP2 After Upgrading to Windows Vista

If you upgraded the operating system to Windows Vista before applying SP2 to Reporting Services, you must apply SP2 to the report server before you can run it on Windows Vista.

  1. Start with Windows XP and Reporting Services SP1 configured for operation.
  2. Upgrade to Windows Vista.
  3. Enable ASP.NET and start the World Wide Web Publishing Service. For instructions, see the previous section.
  4. Apply SQL Server 2005 SP2 to Reporting Services.
  5. If you did not restart the computer after applying SP2, and you are using the Express Edition with Advanced Services, you must reset IIS. To reset IIS, do the following:
    1. Click the Start button, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
    2. Click Continue.
    3. Type IISRESET, and press Enter.
  6. If you stopped the services during upgrade, restart them now.

Continue with steps in the previous section to configure application pools, create role assignments, and add the Web site to Trusted Sites.

Considerations for Upgrading Express Edition with Advanced Services

You cannot upgrade a files-only installation of Express Edition with Advanced Services. It is not supported. For this deployment scenario, you should uninstall the SP1 version, and then install a new instance of the SP2 version.

If you attempt to upgrade a files-only report server instance in Express Edition with Advanced Services from SP1 to SP2, you will receive numerous upgrade blockers, some of which have no reliable workarounds. Examples of upgrade blocker messages that you will encounter include the following:

  • The Reporting Services “ReportManager” virtual directory was not found under the default Web site.
  • The Reporting Services “ReportManager” virtual directory is not configured for Windows integrated authentication.
  • The Reporting Services “ReportManager” virtual directory is configured to use non-default application mappings.

To resolve these errors, uninstall the report server instance and then install the SP2 version of Express Edition with Advanced Services. For more information, go to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services Service Pack 2 on the Microsoft Web site.

Using Business Intelligence Development Studio on Windows Vista

If you installed Business Intelligence Development Studio on Windows Vista, you will encounter compatibility issues with the Visual Studio 2005 environment when you use the design tools.

If you want to open an existing project or solution, or publish items from Report Designer or Model Designer to a report server, you must open Business Intelligence Development Studio with elevated permissions:

  1. Click the Start button, click All Programs, click SQL Server 2005, right-click Business Intelligence Development Studio, and then click Run as administrator.
  2. Click Continue.
  3. Click Run Program.

You should now be able to deploy reports and other items to a report server. If you do not have sufficient permissions, you will encounter issues such as the following:

  • Access Denied errors when you try to open an existing project.
  • Login failure errors when you configure a data source connection to a shared data source.
  • When using the Report Server Wizard to create a report, you will get a login failure error when the Wizard attempts to connect to the external data source that provides data to the report.

SQL Server Management Studio users must use Run as administrator permissions to create logins for users who administer databases on the server. For more information about elevated permission requirements for Management Studio, see How to: Connect to SQL Server from Windows Vista.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Install 32-bit Reporting Services on a 64-bit Computer
How to: Install 32-bit Reporting Services on Windows Vista

Reference

Version and Edition Upgrades
Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2005

Concepts

Considerations for Running SQL Server 2005 on Windows Vista

Other Resources

Reporting Services Installation How-to Topics
Reporting Services Configuration How-to Topics

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance