I thought of writing this blog before going to the vacation, so that we start a new series in coming year (2020).

There are many blogs that draft the steps involved in installation of Sitecore 9.2 instance. I have tried to jot down the tips and exceptions that helped me out during the installation.

Note: In case your machine is properly configured then you will find the SIA (Sitecore Installation Assistance) doing all tasks correctly for you but unfortunately my machine was not one of them 😛

Let’s follow below steps to install the Sitecore 9.2 on the local machine.

Before we start the installation of Sitecore, let’s brush up the prerequisites required.

1. Visual Studio 2017
2. SQL Server 2017
3. Management Studio
4. .Net Framework 4.7.2
5. SOLR 7.5+ (Preferred is the latest one – I installed 7.7.2)

Get all the above softwares installed on your system.

Step 1: Generate a self-signed certificate for SOLR to make it run over https.

Verify if the SOLR is running using the URL: http://localhost:8983/solr

In this step, we have to create the certificate and install it on the local machine and once you successfully complete this step, you should be able to access the SOLR dashboard over the https using URL: https://localhost:8983/solr

Refer the URL to complete this step: https://medium.com/redhotminute-australia/setting-up-solr-with-ssl-for-sitecore-9-acdf009edd93

You will need to create SOLR Service using NSSM to update the solr details in ps1 file.

Refer URL for Creating SOLR service: https://www.norconex.com/how-to-run-solr5-as-a-service-on-windows/

Step 2: Try installing the Sitecore 9.2 using SIA (Sitecore Installation Assistance)

In this step, we will try to install the Sitecore 9.2 using Sitecore Installation Assistance. It is very simple like a web installer.

Refer URL: https://tothecore.sk/2019/07/22/installing-sitecore-9-2-using-new-sitecore-install-assistant-sia/

Exception: I was not able to install it using this link as the prerequisites in 2^nd step of Installer were not happening. So I went to Step 3.

Step 3: Try installing the Sitecore 9.2 using SIF (Sitecore Installation Framework)

Continue with this step only if you are not able to install the Sitecore using Step 2.

In this step, we will use old method SIF for installation of the Sitecore.

Refer URL: https://tothecore.sk/2019/07/22/sitecore-9-2-initial-release-installation-guide-for-development-machine/

Read each step carefully and verify if you have all the prerequisites like Windows 10 as OS, IIS 10, and Windows PowerShell 5.1 etc.

Once you have installed all the prerequisites. It is a time to edit the ps1 file which will be used for the installation. Update SQL Server details and SOLR details.

Exception: While the PowerShell script was running, I got an error that SOLR is not supported with SSL/TLS. The resolution is we have to run below command and again run the script.

Command:

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

Now run the script again.

Exception: While the installation is almost about to finish, I got the error for rebuilding the indexes. It is not big deal though, you can login to Sitecore and rebuild the indexes but the main issue is you will not know the password of the Sitecore instance which you installed. If this is case with you then go to Step 4.

Step 4: Update the password of Sitecore\admin as ‘b’ using the below script in the SQL server.

Select the core database of your instance in SQL Server and click on New Query and run the below script.

Script:
UPDATE dbo.aspnet_Membership
SET [Password]=’qOvF8m8F2IcWMvfOBjJYHmfLABc=’, [PasswordSalt]=’OM5gu45RQuJ76itRvkSPFw==’,
[IsApproved] = ‘1’, [IsLockedOut] = ‘0’
WHERE UserId IN (SELECT UserId FROM dbo.aspnet_Users WHERE UserName = ‘sitecore\Admin’)

Step 5: Rebuilding indexes from Control Panel

In this step, we will rebuild the indexes manually if you were not able to do it while installing.

Refer URL: https://sitecore.stackexchange.com/questions/12746/while-installing-sitecore-9-the-solr-schema-is-not-updated/12753

Follow all 3 steps to rebuild the indexes.

The installation is successfully completed by now. Cheers 🙂

Thank you… Keep Learning.. Keep Sitecoring.. 🙂

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2020 in advance.. May the lord bless everyone with good health.. Have a joyful vacations!!