Nowadays, you should use SIA (e.g Sitecore Install Assistant) to install Sitecore 9.3.0 super friendly and easily. Personally, I wanted to keep playing around with Windows PowerShell console so I have a good chance to dive deeper into the problem of the install operation if any.

This one is a summary of my own experience for Sitecore Experience Platform 9.3 Initial Release (aka Sitecore XP 9.3.0) installation on my machine. I’ve had many versions of Sitecore XP 9.0 + Sitecore XP 9.1 + Sitecore XP 9.2 so I decided to go with the following install guide:

• Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation (Thanks Sitecore team!)
  • Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading

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

Note: since Sitecore 9.3, by default, we have been able to use our own install directory rather than the default one

Setup Prerequisites

• Windows 10
• Windows PowerShell version 5.1 or later
• Sitecore License must have xDB enabled
• MS SQL Server 2016 SP2 or later
• .Net Framework 4.7.2 or later
• .NET Core 2.1.12 Windows Hosting Module
• Web Deploy 3.6
• URL Rewrite 2.1
• SOLR 8.1.1
• Red Hat OpenJDK 8 (64-bit)
• Sitecore Install Framework (SIF) 2.2.0
• Packages for XP Single
  • Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading
• ensure to enable the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol version 1.2

Step by step guide

1. (optional) if you have never installed Sitecore 9 before, you will probably want to:
   • open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
   • execute Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser Unrestricted
   • 
2. (optional) install Sitecore Install Framework (SIF) if not yet
   • refer to 4.1.1. Install the SIF Module using MyGet (Page 15) in Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation
   • open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
   • use the following commands to install the latest version of SIF
     1. Register-PSRepository -Name SitecoreGallery -SourceLocation https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-powershell/api/v2
     2. Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework
3. (optional) if you already installed previous SIF versions, you would have upgraded it to a new version 2.2.0
   • open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
   • you should use the following command to get all the the current SIF versions
     • Get-Module -Name SitecoreInstallFramework -ListAvailable
   • option 1: use the following command to update to the latest version of SIF
     • Update-Module SitecoreInstallFramework -force
   • option 2: use the following commands to remove the currents and then install the latest version of SIF
     • Uninstall-Module SitecoreInstallFramework -AllVersions
     • Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework
4. enable Contained Database Authentication if not yet
   • refer to 2.7. Enable Contained Database Authentication (Page 09) in Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation
   • 
   • Note: you can download the query above here
5. create a new folder D:\sc930_install
6. download and unzip Package for XP Single (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading)
   • copy / paste the following ones to D:\sc930_install
     1. Sitecore 9.3.0 rev. 003498 (OnPrem)_single.scwdp.zip
     2. Sitecore 9.3.0 rev. 003498 (OnPrem)_xp0xconnect.scwdp.zip
     3. Sitecore.IdentityServer 4.0.0 rev. 00257 (OnPrem)_identityserver.scwdp.zip
   • unzip XP0 Configuration files 9.3.0 rev. 003498.zip and copy / paste all files to D:\sc930_install
   • 
7. let’s install the prerequisites
   • open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
   • change directory to D:\sc930_install
   • execute Install-SitecoreConfiguration -Path .\prerequisites.json
   • 
8. install SOLR 8.1.1 if not yet
   • adjust appropriate values by editing D:\sc930_install\Solr-SingleDeveloper.json such as SolrPort, SolrInstallRoot if necessary
   • 
   • open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
   • change directory to D:\sc930_install
   • execute Install-SitecoreConfiguration -Path .\Solr-SingleDeveloper.json
   • 
9. copy / paste your Sitecore licence file license.xml to D:\sc930_install
10. adjust appropriate values by editing D:\sc930_install\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 such as:
    • $Prefix
    • $SitecoreAdminPassword
    • $SCInstallRoot
    • $SitePhysicalRoot
      • note 1: NEW PARAMETER so we have been able to use our own install directory rather than the default one
      • note 2: DON’T use double backslash \\ in the folder path (for instance D:\\websites) otherwise you may get the following error Failed to start service ‘Sitecore Marketing Automation Engine
      • 
    • $SolrUrl
    • $SolrRoot
    • $SqlServer
    • $SqlAdminUser
    • $SqlAdminPassword
    • 
11. open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
    • (optional) if you have various SIF versions on your machine, you will probably have to run 2.2.0 version of SIF by executing Import-Module SitecoreInstallFramework -Force -RequiredVersion 2.2.0
    • change directory to D:\sc930_install
    • execute .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1
    • 
12. hopefully there is nothing can stop the installation process and then note Sitecore Admin Password + SSL enabled as well
    • 
13.  open a browser:
    • navigate to https://sc930.local/ to see the Sitecore default page
    • navigate to https://sc930.local/sitecore and then be redirected to https://sc930.identityserver.local/ (log into it by using account admin / Sitecore Admin Password)
    • 
14. DON’T FORGET to rebuild the search indexes and the Link database
    • refer to 5.5. Rebuild the search indexes and the Link database (Page 21) in Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation
    • 

 

How to uninstall it?

• open D:\sc930_install\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 and uncomment the line 80 + comment out the line 77 then save it
• 
• open Windows PowerShell (run as administrator)
• change directory to D:\sc930_install
• execute .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1
• 

• hopefully, it runs well and cleans everything up

 

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 9.3.0 Installation!