This one is a summary of my own experience for Sitecore Experience Commerce 9.1 Initial Release (aka Sitecore XC 9.1.0) installation on my machine. I’ve had much experience in the following ones:

• Sitecore XC9 installation
• Sitecore XC9 Update 1 installation
• Sitecore XC9 Update 2 installation
• Sitecore XC9 Update 3 installation

so I decided to go only with:

• Installation Guide – On Premises (Thanks Sitecore team!)

I do hope that this blog post is helpful for your own journey as well.

Setup Prerequisites

Please refer to the Sitecore Experience Commerce 9 Compatibility Table for the software and version prerequisites:

• Windows 10
• Sitecore Experience Platform 9.1 Update 1
• Sitecore Experience Accelerator 1.8.1 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading)
• Sitecore Powershell Extensions 4.7.2
• .Net Core 2.1 Runtime (v2.1.3)
• Packages for On Premise 2019.04-3.0.163 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading)

Step-by-step guide

1. install the ones below if not yet 😀
   • a fresh Sitecore XP 9.1 Update 1 instance , let’s say storefront910.local and storefront910.xconnect.local (xConnect site)
2. rebuild the Link databases for the master and core databases if not yet:
   • on the Sitecore Launchpad, click Control Panel, and in the Database section, click Rebuild Link Databases
   •  select the master and core databases and then click Rebuild
   • 
3. rebuild the search indexes if not yet:
   • on the Sitecore Launchpad, click Control Panel, and in the Indexing section, click Indexing manager
   •  in the Indexing Manager dialog box, click Select all, and then click Rebuild
   • 
4. ensure that Experience Analytics is working properly

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   • Note: if there is any error
     • option 1: you will have to solve it before installing XC by opening the Sitecore log and then having a look at the error messages (normally, they’re certificate issues)
     • option 2: you may want to disable xDB and then fix the error later after installing XC successfully
5. (optional) once it’s configured for HTTPS/SSL so we should open \storefront910.identityserver.local\Config\production\Sitecore.IdentityServer.Host.xml and then add a new AllowCorsOriginsGroup to that file like this if not yet
   • 
   • DON’T FORGET to do IIS reset
6. create a new folder D:\sc910_com_install
7. download MSBuild Microsoft Visual Studio Web targets (available from Nuget) then extract the Web targets package, copy the \tools\VSToolsPath\Web\Microsoft.Web.XmlTransform.dll file into D:\sc910_com_install
8. download Sitecore Experience Accelerator 1.8.1 for Sitecore 9.1.1 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading) and put it into D:\sc910_com_install
9. (optional) download Sitecore Powershell Extensions 4.7.2 then put it into  D:\sc910_com_install
   • Note: if you go with Sitecore Powershell Extensions 5.0, you will probably see NO default Storefront site in Sitecore
10. download and unzip Packages for On Premise 2019.04-3.0.163 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading) then put it into D:\sc910_com_install
11. unzip D:\sc910_com_install\SIF.Sitecore.Commerce.2.0.19 and then rename D:\sc910_com_install\SIF.Sitecore.Commerce.2.0.19 to D:\sc910_com_install\SIF for a better practice
12. unzip the D:\sc910_com_install\Sitecore.BizFX.2.0.3.zip
13. unzip the D:\sc910_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.SDK.3.0.40.zip file then copy the D:\sc910_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.SDK.3.0.40\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.DB.dacpac file into D:\sc910_com_install
14. download sc910_com_install.ps1 and put it into D:\sc910_com_install\SIF then open it to correct the following parameters:
    • $Prefix
    • $ScInstallDirectory
    • $SiteHostHeaderName
    • $SqlServer
    • $SolrUrl
    • $SolrRoot
    • $SolrService
15. (optional) correct the SitecoreUserName and SitecoreUserPassword of your Sitecore XP 9.1.1 instance if you’re using others rather than the default ones
    • 
    • Note: also, you will have to perform 3.3. Update the deployment package with your custom values for Sitecore username and password (Page 19-20) in Sitecore Commerce 9.1 Initial Release Installation Guide
16. (optional) you can specify any local account (note: it will be created automatically if non-existent) to be set up for the various application pools that are created as part of the deployment at line 80-81 of sc910_com_install.ps1
    • 
17. (optional) open D:\sc910_com_install\SIF\Configuration\Commerce\Connect\Connect_MarketingAutomation.json to correct the name of Marketing Automation Service (the windows service)
    • 
18. (optional) you may get timeout exceptions so I suggest to edit D:\sc910_com_install\SIF\Modules\SitecoreUtilityTasks\SitecoreUtilityTasks.psm1 in order to increase the execution timeout
19. let’s install it
    • Note 1: somehow, it will be a blank page instead of default Storefront site’s home page if we create SOLR SXA cores before installing so DO NOT create them
    • Note 2: ensure that there is NO custom AllowedCorsOriginsGroup in D:\sc910_com_install\SIF\IdentityServer\Sitecore.Commerce.IdentityServer.Host.xml (they’re added automatically in prior installations)
      • 
    • launch PowerShell as an administrator
    • change directory to D:\sc910_com_install\SIF
    • execute .\sc910_com_install
    • 
    • hopefully there is nothing can stop the installation process now
    • 
20. open a browser then navigate to https://storefront910.local/, you would see the default page of Sitecore website. That’s because we don’t use the default host name sxa.storefront.com so we need to correct it via Sitecore
    • log into https://storefront910.local/sitecore/
    • access /sitecore/content/Sitecore/Storefront/Settings/Site Grouping/Storefront
    • update Host Name to storefront910.local and Database to master
    • 
    • (optional) not check the checkbox Cache Html and select Yes for Disable Browser Caching for a better practice
    • 
    • refresh https://storefront910.local/ and then add some products, you would see something like this
    • 
21. DO NOT forget to perform Post-Installation Steps
    • follow Post-Installation Steps (from Page 22) in Sitecore Commerce 9.1 Initial Release Installation Guide

The recommendation

We can remove the tasks completed from D:\sc910_com_install\SIF\Configuration\Commerce\Master_SingleServer.json and re-do Step 19 if there is something wrong (especially for Note: some known issues below) so that we are able to save a lot of time 😀

How to uninstall it?

• download sc910_com_uninstall.ps1 and put it into D:\sc910_com_install then open it to correct 07 parameters below:
  1. $ScInstallDirectory
  2. $Prefix
  3. $SolrService
  4. $PathToSolr
  5. $SqlServer
  6. $SqlAccount
  7. $SqlPassword
• launch PowerShell as an administrator
• change directory to  D:\sc910_com_install
• execute .\sc910_com_uninstall
  • 
• hopefully, it runs well and cleans everything up

Note: some known issues

1. Cannot create a file when that file already exists
   • 
   • my suggestion: ensure that the site bindings are unique (Ex: host name, port)
2. The service cannot accept control messages at this time
   • 
   • my suggestion 1: access IIS, start storefront910.local site and storefront910.local application pool manually (note: you may need to do it several times) if they’re in STOP status, somehow IIS cannot restart those ones after stopping them
   • my suggestion 2: have a look at the workaround Start-WebAppPool error when install Sitecore XC 9.1
3. The remote server returned an error : (400) Bad Request
   • 
   • my suggestion: try doing IIS Reset and then perform the current install step again
4. No catalog data available + Illegal recursion detected: GetModel

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   • my suggestion: have a look at https://sitecore.stackexchange.com/questions/15972/sitecore-commerce-storefront-not-showing-catalog-no-catalog-data-available-an
5. the layout for the requested document was not found

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   • log into https://storefront910.local/sitecore/
   • access /sitecore/Commerce/Commerce Control Panel/Storefront Settings/Storefronts/Storefront/Catalog Configuration
   • ensure to uncheck the checkbox Use Direct Navigation
   • 

Got issues?

Please send your issues (with screenshots if possible) to viet.hoang.sitecore@gmail.com so that I have a chance to understand your problem and be able to suggest the solution.

Happy Sitecore Commerce Installation!