Now that SQL Server 2012 RTM is out, I have an update to my blog post SQL Server 2012 (“Denali”): Installing on a Virtual Machine, which was for CTP3.  Here is the version for the RTM:

The steps below are what I took to create a virtual machine to install all the products needed to create an environment where I can play with everything.  This environment included: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64, SQL Server 2012 Enterprise x64 RTM, Sharepoint 2010, PerformancePoint, Power View, PowerPivot, SSAS, SSIS, SSRS (Native Mode and SharePoint Mode), DQS, MDM, Report Builder, and SSDT:

1. The first thing I did was follow Jonathan Kehayias’s post Building a Completely Free Playground for SQL Server – (1 of 3) – Downloading the Software and Setting up a Windows Server 2008R2 VM Template to create a template, or base, VM using Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, 64-bit (you must use 64-bit for SharePoint 2010).  Use VirtualBox for your VM, since Microsoft Virtual PC does not support 64-bit.  Make sure to change the computer name to something other than the default, since the default name is usually hard to remember
2. Next I cloned the template VM from step 1 to create another VM and made it a domain controller.  Then I followed the post Step By Step Guide for Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller and DNS Server Setup (or check out this video) to set up the VM as a domain controller, which is required by SharePoint 2010 for these reasons:
1. A PowerPivot installation integrated with SharePoint requires the SSAS PowerPivot service account to be a domain user that can manage the installation through Central Administration
2. I have always found that it is significantly easier to setup all of the BI services if there is a separate domain account for each core group of services.  This makes it easy to manage the accounts and ensure that the services remain isolated from each other
3. Follow the steps in SQL Server 2012 (RC0) Business Intelligence Configuration.   A couple notes: When installing SharePoint (step #3), on the SharePoint install first choose the “Install software prerequisites”.  When he mentions to do “PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures” in step #3, instead wait to do this after installing PowerPivot (step #5)
4. After the SharePoint install, this error appeared when running the Sharepoint 2010 Central Administration: “This computer does not have the correct version of the Analysis Services OLE DB provider.  To support connections to PowerPivot data from this computer, download and install the SQL Server 2012 version of the provider: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29065 (Microsoft® Analysis Services OLE DB Provider for Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012)”.  When I installed this provider the error went away
5. Then go to Install Reporting Services SharePoint Mode as a Single Server Farm and start with “Install and Start the Reporting Services SharePoint Service” and complete that section and the following sections.  For details on how to create a report see Create SSRS Report with SharePoint 2010 Integrated Mode
6. I then used my Office 2010 64-bit image to install Excel 2010 and Office Shared Features (it installs the 32-bit version by default, so you must go to the x64 directory and run setup.exe from there)
7. Then I followed the post PowerPivot for Excel Installation to install the download Microsoft SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot for Microsoft Exce® 2010
8. I installed SSDT.  I had thought I installed this when I went thru the SQL Server 2012 installation process since it was an option on the Features Selection menu that I selected.  However, this does not install the full SSDT product (it’s missing the database project piece), but only a pointer to it that makes SSDT visible when you create a project in Visual Studio 2010.  So to fully install SSDT, follow Install SQL Server Data Tools.  Yes this is very confusing and I blogged about it at SSDT – Installation confusion
9. Install SSDT Power Tools
10. I then ran Windows Update and installed the many patches
11. Then I installed the SQL Server sample databases: Microsoft Contoso BI Demo Dataset for Retail Industry and Adventure Works for SQL Server 2012
12. Next up I installed Master Data Services (MDM), and then the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services Add-in For Microsoft Excel
13. Then I installed Data Quality Service (DQS) via the video How Do I: Install and Configure DQS
14. Next was installing the Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Performance Dashboard Reports
15. Then I installed Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Report Builder
16. Finally I created a business intelligence center site in SharePoint Server 2010, created and configured a PerformancePoint Services service application, and configured the unattended service account for PerformancePoint Services
17. Step #3 above installed SSRS in SharePoint Mode.  Note that you can have both SharePoint Mode and Native Mode installed.  To install Native Mode, see Create a Native Mode Report Server Database (Reporting Services)

More info:

How to Build a SQL Server 2012 Hyper-V Virtual Machine (KIWI build)

SQL Server BareMetal Workshop series – part 1: How to build an installation VHD file that includes all software needed to start with SQL Server 2012 Database and Business Intelligence

Build your own SQL2012 Demo Machine Part 1 – Preparation & Summary

Video walkthrough building single server #SQL2012 #MSBI Demo VM with #PowerView