SharePoint 2013 Preview : Stand alone server set up : Facts and Fallacies

 

There have been so many Myths around “SharePoint 2013 Preview Stand alone installation” and its issues… Of course lots of work around to overcome the issues are revolving around in the web, Before you try them please read below :

Following is the main issue which you may encounter while installing the SharePoint 2013 preview in “Stand Alone” mode in a Work Group environment or in a Domain Controller:

ErrorCode:SubStatus:
Service running under Network Service account in workgroup environment is not supported

Don’t work around this issue by creating Configuration Database through PowerShell by excluding the Distribution Cache service…. Even though your server will be up and running but you will loose lot of functions (Especially User Profiles and My Sites) around distribution cache and also will see lots of unexpected behavior in service application such as User profile, Search Etc.

I have installed the SharePoint 2013 Preview in a stand alone server connected to my domain running in a different server and i don't have any issues and everything went well.

So the Moral of the story is, Not only the complete farm set up (Which is obvious), Don’t install the SharePoint 2013 Preview in a Work Group environment or in a Domain controller even in Stand alone server set up which is not supported.

Product group is updating the documentation and will be updated in a week or so.