I recently spun up a MicroStrategy VM to be used as a demo/training box. In doing so it seemed natural to throw it on a Windows Server 2012. MicroStrategy 9 is shiny and new, Windows Server 2012 is shiny and new, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, I’m posting about it. There’s the first clue.

1st Issue: Configure IIS Properly

The first issue was that IIS was not fully configured for MSTR to run properly. The installation was complaining about missing IIS features. To head this off, configure 2012′s IIS as such:

First time configuring the server I missed the following IIS components: “ASP” and “IIS Management Scripts and Tools”.

2nd Issue: She’s installed, captain, but she won’t start.

Yes, Scotty, we need more power. I get it.

After MSTR installation, several MSTR services will not start. You’ll see something like this in the event viewer:

The MicroStrategy Intelligence Server service depends on the following service:
ProtectedStorage. This service might not be installed.

This service is no longer available Windows Server 2012 (or Windows 8).  See this post for some additional information. I guess Protected Storage is anything but.

Okay, that’s great. Now what?

The Fix:

There are a lot of posts on the inter-tubez describing several unsavory solutions, including running MSTR as an application, or hacking the registry, etc etc. You can skip all of that. MSTR HotFix #3 will take care of all of this for you. Simply install it, and you’re good to go.

One thing to note is that the hotfix #3 IS commutative. You can skip installation of hotfixes #1 and #2. Don’t believe me? Read the readme.

Now I’m  rockin’ a Windows Server 2012 VM with SQL 2012 and MSTR 9.3. Do you smell that new software smell? I do.

Cheers!
Jim

Originally posted here: http://foocompelsyou.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/mstr-9-win-svr-2012-a-match-made-for-hotfixin/