I was asked to build an application using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and due to the complexity on the application, I had to develop alot of new modules and pages using Visual Studio 2008. So I had to have a SharePoint environment on my Laptop. I find it hard to work on a Virtual Machine with windows server 2003, so I had to install the SharePoint directly on my laptop without using the Virtual machine.

And since I am having a windows Vista, that was quiet difficult to install SharePoint like any other software. So we had to find an ultimate solution to do this. And finally, thanks for bamboosolutions.com, it provided me with the solution to install SharePoint: How to Install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 on Vista

That article was so helpful and I was able to install the complete SharePoint on windows Vista, using the Setup Helper file WssVista.

Now I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7. That was scary move. Following the same steps to install SharePoint on Windows 7 was a good choice, but it failed at some point.

When I run the Setup Helper, it will install the SharePoint successfully, but when the SharePoint configuration starts,it always stops at step 2 and gives a fatal error and a System.IO.FileNotFound exception occurs and the installation fails.

I checked the configuration several times and finally I found the problem in the Firewall of the windows. After disabling the firewall, I was able to install the SharePoint on Windows 7 now.

So by stopping the firewall, and following the steps of the bamboosolutions.com site, SharePoint can be installed not only on Vista, but on Windows 7 as well.