Install SharePoint 2013 on a single server with SQL Server
APPLIES TO: 
2013 
2016 2019 Subscription Edition SharePoint in Microsoft 365
A single server installation consists of one server that runs both SQL Server and SharePoint 2013. You can install and configure SharePoint 2013 on a single server if you are hosting only a few sites for a limited number of users or if you want to create a trial or development environment. This configuration is also useful if you want to configure a farm to meet your needs first, and then add servers to the farm at a later stage.
Important
The steps in this article apply to SharePoint Foundation 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013.
Overview
When you install SharePoint 2013 on a single server, you can configure SharePoint 2013 to meet your specific needs. After you have completed setup and the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard, you will have installed binaries, configured security permissions, configured registry settings, configured the configuration database, configured the content database, and installed the SharePoint Central Administration web site. Next, you can choose to run the Farm Configuration Wizard to configure the farm, select the services that you want to use in the farm, and create the first site collection, or you can manually perform the farm configuration at your own pace.
Before you install SharePoint 2013 on a single server
Before you begin to install and configure SharePoint 2013, do the following:
Ensure that you are familiar with the operating-system guidelines described in Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 and Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 R2.
Ensure that you have met all hardware and software requirements. You must have a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. For server farms, you must also have a 64-bit version of SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1. For more information about these requirements, such as specific updates that you must install, see Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2013.
Ensure that you perform a clean installation of SharePoint 2013.
Ensure that you are prepared to set up the required accounts by using appropriate permissions. For detailed information, see Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Server.
Ensure the Max degree of parallelism is set to 1. For additional information about max degree of parallelism see, Configure the max degree of parallelism Server Configuration Optionand Degree of Parallelism.
Note
The Distributed Cache service gives you a complete social computing experience. For more information about the Distributed Cache service, see Overview of microblog features, feeds, and the Distributed Cache service in SharePoint Server, Manage the Distributed Cache service in SharePoint Server, Plan for feeds and the Distributed Cache service in SharePoint Server, and What's new in authentication for SharePoint Server 2013
Note
As a security best practice, we recommend that you install SharePoint 2013 by using least-privilege administration.
Install SharePoint 2013 on a single server
To install and configure SharePoint 2013 on a single server, you will follow these steps:
Run the Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool, which installs all prerequisites to use SharePoint 2013.
Run Setup, which installs binaries, configures security permissions, and edits registry settings for SharePoint 2013.
Run SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard, which installs and configures the configuration database, installs and configures the content database, and installs the SharePoint Central Administration web site.
Configure browser settings.
Run the Farm Configuration Wizard, which configures the farm, creates the first site collection, and selects the services that you want to use in the farm.
Perform post-installation steps.
Important
To complete the following procedures, the account that you use must be a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you are installing SharePoint 2013. For information about user accounts, see Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Server.
Run the Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool
Because the prerequisite installer downloads components from the Microsoft Download Center, you must have Internet access on the computer on which you are running the installer. Use the following procedure to install software prerequisites for SharePoint 2013.
To run the Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is the Setup user account. For information about the Setup user account, see Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Server.
In the folder where you downloaded the SharePoint 2013 software, locate and then run prerequisiteinstaller.exe.
On the Welcome to the Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool page, click Next.
On the License Terms for software products page, review the terms, select the I accept the terms of the License Agreement(s) check box, and then click Next.
On the Installation Complete page, click Finish.
After you complete the Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool, you must also install the following:
[KB 2759112][KB 2765317]
Run Setup
The following procedure installs binaries, configures security permissions, and edits registry settings for SharePoint 2013. At the end of Setup, you can choose to start the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard, which is described later in this section.
To run Setup
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is the Setup user account. For information about the Setup user account, see Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Server.
On the SharePoint Server 2013 Start page, click Install SharePoint Server.
On the Enter Your Product Key page, enter your product key, and then click Continue.
On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, review the terms, select the I accept the terms of this agreement check box, and then click Continue.
On the Server Type tab, click Complete.
The stand-alone option is used to install a single server that has a built-in database.
Optional: To install SharePoint 2013 at a custom location, or to store search index files at a custom location, click the File Location tab, and then either type the custom location or click Browse to find the custom location.
Note
If you intend to use this computer as a search server, we recommend that you store the search index files on a separate storage volume or partition. Any other search data that needs to be stored, is stored in the same location as the search index files. You can only set this location at installation time.
Click Install Now.
When Setup finishes, a dialog prompts you to complete the configuration of your server. Ensure that the Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard now check box is selected.
Click Close to start the configuration wizard.
Note
If Setup fails, check log files in the Temp folder of the user account you used to run Setup. Ensure that you are logged in using the same user account and then type %temp% in the location bar in Windows Explorer. If the path in Windows Explorer resolves to a location that ends in a "1" or "2", you have to navigate up one level to view the log files. The log file name is SharePoint Server Setup (< time stamp>).
Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard
Use the following procedure to install and configure the configuration database and the content database, and to install the SharePoint Central Administration website.
To run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is the Setup user account. For information about the Setup user account, see Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Server.
If you have closed the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard, you can access it by clicking Start, point to All Programs, click SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Products Configuration Wizard. If the User Account Control dialog appears, click Continue.
On the Welcome to SharePoint Products page, click Next.
In the dialog that notifies you that some services might have to be restarted during configuration, click Yes.
On the Connect to a server farm page, click Create a new server farm, and then click Next.
On the Specify Configuration Database Settings page, do the following:
In the Database server box, type the name of the computer that is running SQL Server.
In the Database name box, type a name for your configuration database or use the default database name. The default name is SharePoint_Config.
In the Username box, type the user name of the server farm account. Ensure that you type the user name in the format DOMAIN\user name.
[!SECURITY NOTE] The server farm account is used to create and access your configuration database. It also acts as the application pool identity account for the SharePoint Central Administration application pool, and it is the account under which the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer service runs. The SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard adds this account to the SQL Server Login accounts, the SQL Server dbcreator server role, and the SQL Server securityadmin server role. The user account that you specify as the service account has to be a domain user account. However, it does not have to be a member of any specific security group on your front-end web servers or your database servers. We recommend that you follow the principle of least-privilege and specify a user account that is not a member of the Administrators group on your front-end web servers or your database servers.
In the Password box, type the user password.
Click Next.
On the Specify Farm Security Settings page, type a passphrase, and then click Next.
Although a passphrase resembles a password, it is usually longer to improve security. It is used to encrypt credentials of accounts that are registered in SharePoint 2013. For example, the SharePoint 2013 system account that you provide when you run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard. Ensure that you remember the passphrase, because you must use it every time that you add a server to the farm.
Ensure that the passphrase meets the following criteria:
Contains at least eight characters
Contains at least three of the following four character groups:
English uppercase characters (from A through Z)
English lowercase characters (from a through z)
Numerals (from 0 through 9)
Nonalphabetic characters (such as !, $, #, %)
On the Configure SharePoint Central Administration Web Application page, do the following:
Either select the Specify port number check box and type the port number that you want the SharePoint Central Administration web application to use, or leave the Specify port number check box cleared if you want to use the default port number.
Click either NTLM or Negotiate (Kerberos).
Click Next.
After you complete the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard page, review your configuration settings to verify that they are correct, and then click Next.
Note
The Advanced Settings option is not available in SharePoint Foundation 2013.
On the Configuration Successful page, click Finish. When the wizard closes, setup opens the web browser and connects to Central Administration.
If the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard fails, check the PSCDiagnostics log files, which are located on the drive on which SharePoint 2013 is installed, in the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\LOGS folder.
If you are prompted for your user name and password, you might have to add the SharePoint Central Administration web site to the list of trusted sites and configure user authentication settings in Internet Explorer. You might also want to disable the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security settings. If you see a proxy server error message, you might have to configure proxy server settings so that local addresses bypass the proxy server. Instructions for configuring proxy server settings are provided in the following section. For more information about how to configure browser and proxy settings, see Configure browser settings.
Configure browser settings
After you run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard, you should confirm that SharePoint 2013 works correctly by configuring additional settings in Internet Explorer.
If you are not using Internet Explorer, you might have to configure additional settings for your browser. For information about supported browsers, see Plan browser support in SharePoint 2013.
To confirm that you have configured browser settings correctly, log on to the server by using an account that has local administrative credentials. Next, connect to the SharePoint Central Administration web site. If you are prompted for your user name and password when you connect, perform the following procedures:
Add the SharePoint Central Administration website to the list of trusted sites
Disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security settings
If you receive a proxy server error message, perform the following procedure:
- Configure proxy server settings to bypass the proxy server for local addresses
To add the SharePoint Central Administration website to the list of trusted sites
- Verify that the user account that completes this procedure has the following credentials:
- The user account is a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you are performing the procedure.
In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
On the Security tab, in the Select a zone to view or change security settings area, click Trusted Sites, and then click Sites.
Clear the Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone check box.
In the Add this web site to the zone box, type the URL to your site, and then click Add.
Click Close to close the Trusted Sites dialog.
Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog.
To disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security settings
- Verify that the user account that completes this procedure has the following credentials:
- The user account is a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you are performing the procedure.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
In Server Manager, select the root of Server Manager.
In the Security Information section, click Configure IE ESC.
The Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration dialog appears.
In the Administrators section, click Off to disable the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security settings, and then click OK.
To configure proxy server settings to bypass the proxy server for local addresses
- Verify that the user account that completes this procedure has the following credentials:
- The user account is a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you are performing the procedure.
In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
On the Connections tab, in the Local Area Network (LAN) settings area, click LAN Settings.
In the Automatic configuration area, clear the Automatically detect settings check box.
In the Proxy Server area, select the Use a proxy server for your LAN check box.
Type the address of the proxy server in the Address box.
Type the port number of the proxy server in the Port box.
Select the Bypass proxy server for local addresses check box.
Click OK to close the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog.
Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog.
Run the Farm Configuration Wizard
You have now completed setup and the initial configuration of SharePoint 2013. You have created the SharePoint Central Administration web site. You can now create your farm and sites, and you can select services by using the Farm Configuration Wizard.
To run the Farm Configuration Wizard
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is the Setup user account. For information about the Setup user account, see Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Server.
On the SharePoint Central Administration home page, on the Quick Launch, click Configuration Wizards, and then click Launch the Farm Configuration Wizard.
On the Help Make SharePoint Better page, click one of the following options, and then click OK:
Yes, I am willing to participate (Recommended.)
No, I don't want to participate.
On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, next to Yes, walk me through the configuration of my farm using this wizard, click Start the Wizard.
On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, in the Service Account section, click the service account option that you want to use to configure your services.
[!SECURITY NOTE] For security reasons, we recommend that you use a different account from the farm administrator account to configure services in the farm. > If you decide to use an existing managed account — that is, an account of which SharePoint 2013 is aware — make sure that you click that option before you continue.
In the Services section, review the services that you want to use in the farm, and then click Next.
Note
If you are using Office Online, see Office Web Apps (SharePoint 2013).
On the Create Site Collection page, do the following:
In the Title and Description section, in the Title box, type the name of your new site.
Optional: In the Description box, type a description of what the site contains.
In the Web Site Address section, select a URL path for the site.
In the Template Selection section, in the Select a template list, select the template that you want to use for the top-level site in the site collection.
Note
To view a template or a description of a template, click any template in the Select a template list.
Click OK.
On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, review the summary of the farm configuration, and then click Finish.
Post-installation steps
After you install and configure SharePoint 2013, your browser window opens to the Central Administration web site of your new SharePoint site. Although you can start adding content to the site or customizing the site, we recommend that you first perform the following administrative tasks.
Configure usage and health data collection You can configure usage and health data collection in your server farm. The system writes usage and health data to the logging folder and to the logging database. For more information, see Configure usage and health data collection in SharePoint Server.
Configure diagnostic logging You can configure diagnostic logging that might be required after initial installation or upgrade. The default settings are sufficient for most situations. Depending upon the business needs and life-cycle of the farm, you might want to change these settings. For more information, see Configure diagnostic logging in SharePoint Server.
Configure incoming e-mail You can configure incoming e-mail so that SharePoint sites accept and archive incoming e-mail. You can also configure incoming e-mail so that SharePoint sites can archive e-mail discussions as they occur, save e-mailed documents, and show e-mailed meetings on site calendars. In addition, you can configure the SharePoint Directory Management Service to provide support for e-mail distribution list creation and administration. For more information, see Configure incoming email for a SharePoint Server farm.
Configure outgoing email You can configure outgoing email so that your Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server sends email alerts to site users and notifications to site administrators. You can configure both the "From" email address and the "Reply" email address that appear in outgoing alerts. For more information, see Configure outgoing email for a SharePoint Server farm.
Configure Search settings You can configure Search settings to crawl the content in SharePoint 2013.