I'm in need of creating a development environment for SharePoint 2007. I'm running Windows 7 RTM and have installed Windows Virtual PC (not Virtual PC 2007). I have a VM of Windows Server 2008 running with all available updates applied.
At this point, I know I need to install IIS 7, Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server (hoping to use 2008, not 2005 like every guide mentions), and finally SharePoint 2007. I've also seen mentions of installing Active Directory and DNS. I'd rather not install those unless I have to, simply because it's a development environment and I'd like to keep it as simplistic as possible.
What I've noticed is that the requirements are pretty specific when installing packages like IIS. I've also noticed that nearly every tutorial available uses the Server 2003, VS/SQL 2005 stack. I'd like to use the newest versions of everything if possible, but have yet to come across a solid guide.
Best Answer
This is the one I used which is all 2008. This one is a bit easier to follow though it is not Win2008-specific.
You will definitely want to be running AD. One of the biggest hassles is getting the service account permissions right. Assuming you are going to be using more than one server in production, you definitely want to be using domain accounts from the beginning.