I earlier created this SharePoint 2013 Virtual machine on Win Server 2012 way back in Jan 2014 and have been updating it hence. 3 Years and thousands of downloads later I have received numerous requests for a similar SharePoint 2016 VM. I finally got the time to create one for everyone’s benefit. Following are the details of this SharePoint 2016 evaluation VM and how to download it:
- The VM was created using the VMWare Player version 6.0.3 which can be downloaded as a free download from the VMWare site. You can use the latest version of the free tool to launch it. Once you have downloaded it, you can also convert it into other formats to open it with another virtualization tool of your choice.
- It was created using the 180 day evaluation versions Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2016 and the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial license (Feb 2018 CU). If you’d like to, you can enter your own keys to activate the trial/ evaluation versions. These 180 day evaluation versions should be good through Sep 8th, 2018
Jan 29, 2018. - It consists of 4 hard drives, a VMWare virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file and other supporting VMWare files. All the files and hard drives are part of 12 self-extracting compressed files. The total size of the compressed files is 11GB (with the total size of the extracted files at about 28 GB). These self-extracting(executable) archive can be downloaded from the download link mentioned below.
- The VM has 16 GB RAM allocated to it by default (controlled by the settings in the “.vmx” file or via the virtual machine settings in the VMWare player). You can reduce or increase the RAM to suite your needs, although, 12 GB is the minimum required and 16 GB is what I will recommend for this VM.
- It has the Classic Shell start menu installed from http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ so you can get the old Windows start menu in addition to the new Windows “Start screen”. This also results in Windows booting up to the desktop instead of the new Windows start screen. Although, if you’d like to, you can get to the Start screen by clicking the Shift+Windows button combination. You can also configure Classic Shell so Windows boots up to the start screen instead, if you so desire.
- It has the gmsp2016.dev as the Active Directory domain and has the apps service configured to use the apps.gmsp2016.dev app domain.
- Once you start the VM, Windows will auto login to the SP_Admin account. This “gmsp2016\sp_admin” account was the account used to install SharePoint and should be used to access central admin. All accounts in the VM share the same password which is part of the ReadMe file accompanying the downloads.
- The virtual machine additionally has the following accounts created and used for various services:
- SP_Farm: The farm account
- SP_CacheSuperReader: The object cache read access account
- SP_CacheSuperUser: The object cache full access account
- SP_ExcelUser: Account used for excel services (not yet configured on the VM)
- SP_PeffPointUser: Account used for performance point services (not yet configured on the VM)
- SP_PortalAppPool: Account for the content web application pools
- SP_ProfilesAppPool: Web app pool for the MySites web application (not yet configured on the VM)
- SP_ProfileSync: The user profile synchronization account
- SP_SearchContent: The default content access account for the Search Service Application
- SP_SearchService: Account to run the SharePoint Search “Windows Service
- SP_Services: Service Applications App Pool account
- SP_VisioUser: Account used for Visio services (not yet configured on this VM)
- SQL_Admin: Used to Install the SQL Server
- SQL_Services: SQL service account for the MSSQLServer & SQLServerAgent services
You can read more on different accounts for SharePoint in the following articles: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263445(v=office.15).aspx & http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=39
- If the VM does not start after you have downloaded it, ensure that the number of files you have downloaded, the total size of the archived files and the total size of the extracted files matches what’s specified above.
Finally, all the files, including the ReadMe.txt are uploaded to the Google Drive folder at the following link: https://sp2016vm.page.link/download
You can download the files, using one of the following options:
- Add the folder to your Google Drive and then use the Google Drive Desktop Client to sync the files to your local computer (highly recommended) OR
- Download the files directly by using the browser “Save target as…” functionality (not really recommended and should be used if for some odd reason #1 does not work for you) OR
- There might be some download managers as well that might allow you to specify a google drive URL and download all files from their but I am not aware of any at the moment
Instructions for extracting the VM: You will need to download all the .rar and .exe files to your machine and then run the “SP2016.part01.exe” executable to unpack the virtual machine hard drives. After ensuring that you have the latest version of the VMWare Player installed, you can then double-click the “SP2016.vmx” file to run the virtual machine.
Instructions to activate the licenses: Here’s how you can activate the licenses for:
- For the OS (Windows Server 2012 R2): You can view the instructions in the comments for my previous blog here or in the corresponding TechNet article here
- For SQL Server 2016: Unfortunately there’s no way to rearm a SQL Server Evaluation license. You will have to convert it to a retail license. The way to do that is to:
- Run the SQL Server setup
- Click on the maintenance tab
- Click on “Edition upgrade”
- Follow the steps till you reach the product key screen and enter your product key (usually pre-filled if a licensed installation media is used)
- You can read a good set of instructions for converting your eval license to a full license here: http://www.mssqlgirl.com/upgrading-from-sql-server-2012-evaluation-edition.html
- For SharePoint Server 2016:
- Browse to Central Admin –> Upgrade and Migration –> Convert farm license type
- On the Convert License Type page, in the Enter the Product Key box, type the new product key and then click OK.
- Verify that the license is upgraded by going back to the page
- Please note that the SharePoint 2016 trial is only available as an Standard trial. Consequently only Standard features are available by default. The good thing however is that you can easily upgrade your farm license type by entering the Enterprise License Key.
Please do not forget to refer the comments from my previous post if you run into any issues or have questions. The comments contain lots of information on the different environments in which people are using the similar SharePoint 2013 VM, any issues they’ve run into and solutions to those issues.
I hope you will find the VM useful. If you did, or if you have any questions or feedback, I will encourage you to leave a comment below OR reach out through my twitter handle: @mahajang!
Happy SharePointing! 🙂
Gaurav Mahajan 
Thank you for uploading VM SP 2016. I think you forgot to upload Readme.txt file in your google drive. Can you please upload?
Ejaz
Thank you for letting me know. I have added the ReadMe to the drive. Please do let me know if you run into any issues accessing it.
Thanks!
Hi Gaurav, Thank you for quick response. Actually I was able to download the file but i could not able to locate the password for (gmsp2016\sp_admin) account. Hence I can not login to the VM.
Do you think it is possible for you to update the ReadMe.txt file with password for above account?
My most sincere apologies again and a huge Thanks for reporting the issue. I have added the updated ReadMe to the drive. Please do let me know if you run into any issues
Thank you!
Hi Gaurav, Sorry i am still unable to find the password for (gmsp2016\sp_admin) account. Can you please check if you have uploaded the updated version of ReadMe.txt File.
This is what is says in the ReadMe.txt file:
“This “gmsp2016\sp_admin” account was the account used to install SharePoint and should be used to access central admin. All accounts in the VM share the same password which is part of the ReadMe file accompanying the downloads.”
Ha! Sorry again for the troubles. I am pretty sure I updated it yesterday but agree that even I was not able to see the updated readme file when I checked this morning. I have updated it now though and you should be good to go. The password for your easy reference is: pass@word1
Thanks!
Thanks, your VM 2013 is great and i will try the new one.
Thanks Karl! Will look forward to your feedback once you’ve tried it!
VM 2016 also great!
Thanks for the feedback Karl!
Sorry, nope…
Hi,
First, I want to send my huge thanks for this valuable effort. I just downloaded SP2016 VM and need to investigate database audit table structures so I want to connect directly databases via sqlserver management studio but I can not find any user/password. Also Windows Authentication is not working. Any help please.
Hi Faruk
Thank you for your kind words and my apologies for the issues you are facing. Could you please let me know when you downloaded the VM? The licenses on the VM are likely expired unless you activated your own licenses. If the licenses are active, you will want to run MMS using the “Run as administrator” option. Hope that helps but please let me know if I can further assistance.
Thanks!
I just finished downloading today apx: 13:00 and opened the VM. I did not noticed any expiration issue but, I do a shot with run as admin, tomarrow. Thanks.
If you downloaded it today then the licenses are already expired (they expired on Jan29). I intend to create a new version in the next 2 weeks and will surely update you after I do that
Thanjs
Hi Gaurav,
Thank you very much for uploading the VM SP 2016.
I want to make a wiki by using Sharepoint for some time now, but because I have almost no experience in running server applications I did not know where to start. It would not surprise you that I was extremely happy last week when I found your blog where you took the time to configure a virtual machine as a server. This means I’m one step closer to making a working wiki application.
I installed the last version you posted on this blog and I was not able to get the server online because most licenses were expired. This was to be expected because on the top of this blog is stated that the current license version is active till 29 January 2018 and it is currently 19 February 2018.
Am I correct that the license is not active anymore? If so, are you going to post a new version, with active licenses, in the near future?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Dean
Thank you for your kind words. I apologize for the inconvenience to you due to the expired VM. Yes, I am working on a new VM and am targeting for it to be available in the next 2 weeks. I’ll surely let you know as soon as the VM is uploaded ready to be shared.
Thanks again!
Hi Gaurav,
First of all, thank you for your speedy reply!
I am very grateful for the new version you are working on.
I will wait patiently until I receive a message that you are done.
Thank you for all your efforts.
Hello Gaurav,
I am surprised to find that you had already created SP2016 VM. I downloaded the last iteration of your SP2013VM which was expiring in Feb 2018 and then I followed the ping back to see this page.
I know you are already working on new SP2016 VM but just wanted to stop by and say thank you for all the hard work and help you have offering to all of us.
Thank you for your compliments enaybee! That’s truly very nice of you to take the time to provide such wonderful feedback. It keeps me going 🙂
The 2016 VM is now uploaded. Please do let me know if you run into any issues.
Thanks again!
Pingback: SharePoint Server 2016 Virtual Machine Download – March 2018 | Gaurav Mahajan
Thanks for this, although I am still using SharePoint 2013?
Is there plans for VM for SharePoint 2013?
Yes, Sorry for the delay. You should see it come through in the next day or two.
Pingback: SharePoint Server 2016 Virtual Machine Download – It sounds like a SharePoint
Hi, nice job! Is this VM easy to get started with Access Web App (which now is shutdown by MS)?
Thanks for your complements! Yes, you will need to provision the Access Service Application though.
Hey Gaurav,
the VM Player says the virtual machine is configured to run with 8 cpus but the host has only 4 cpus. I have downloaded the latest VMware Player 14.1
Hi
You can change the number of allocated CPUs through the VM Settings (Player -> Manage -> Virtual Machine Settings -> Processor)
Thanks!
Dear Gauray,
while I try to run the SP Vm I get this error message:
”
This virtual machine is configured to run with 8 CPUs, but the host has only 4 CPUs. This virtual machine cannot be powered on.
”
How may I manage it?
Thank you in advance
Hi Marco
You will need to go to the Virtual Machine settings and change the number if CPUS from 8 to 4. Please do let me know if you know how to access the settings or if you need my help.
Thanks!
Hi Gaurav Mahaja, after compiling all the rar files, I tried to run vmx files from the folder. It prompts for “Internal error”. No any other error messages. I still have XP vmx which run perfectly on my machine. I need your assistance as soon as possible. Thanks alot buddy.
Hi Ugesh
What version if VMWare player are you using? Also, how much free HD space do you have on the disc hosting the VM? How much RAM and CPU do you have on your host? Thanks!
Hi Gaurav Mahajan, I manage to fix the issue. It was the VMware version 6.0.3 and it was able to run fine. Thanks for that. I wanted to know is there possible u can I make this as a server and get other users login as a client to use the application. Server Client method?
Great! This is a server with its own AD. You can have other users login as long as they use the domain accounts provided by this AD. You can obviously create additional and as many accounts as needed. Please note though that this VM and all software on it for trial only.
Great work. Your great effort is helping me since 2013 VM. It saves me lot of time. Thanks much.
Thanks for your very nice comments Ashish! Glad I could be if any help! 🙂
Can you upgrade to enterprise edition since standard edition missed many features?
Yes, you will need to enter the Enterprize license key
Hi, I need to test the connection on a OOS with SP2016. So could you please inform me how to set this up in this vm structure? I got a OOS iso. And I installed your sp2016 environment.
Please advice 😉
Hi Fred
I am assuming you mean Office Online Server when you say OOS. The installation and configuration for Office Online Server is documented here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeonlineserver/deploy-office-online-server
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeonlineserver/configure-office-online-server-for-sharepoint-server-2016/configure-office-online-server-for-sharepoint-server-2016
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/9e10903f-9311-4926-8bbb-89a275f5ded1/how-to-install-office-online-server-for-sharepoint-2016?forum=SP2016
You will want to create a new Win Server 2012 R2 VM and join it to the same domain as the SharePoint server. You will then need to follow the steps in the links above to install and configure Office Online Server
Thanks and hope that helps!
Hi, correct, I’m busy on testing the Office online server 😉
Setting it up is not the issues
But I’m lacking experience working with VMWare. I work normally with Hyper-V
So, when i startup the VM grouped logo(?), everything works fine. Therefore, is it possible to get the OOS also in that startup?
Thanks for the added detail. Just to list the steps in detail, here’s what will need to be done:
1. Set up a new Win Server VM with the latest server updates
2. Update the DNS settings in the VM to point to the SharePoint VM IP (which also acts as a DNS and domain server). At this point all traffic should start flowing through the SharePoint VM
3. Join the new VM to the sp2016gm.dev domain
4. Install Office Online Server
5. Connect it to the Sharepoint instance
6. At any time, remember to start the SharePoint VM first (since it is also the DNS server) and then the Office Online Server VM.
I am not sure what steps you have completed from the above but at least wanted to let you know what’s involved. Hope that helps.
Hi Gaurav, it works fine for me now, but… i need to test it with a normal user account. So i did not see this on the AD, and therefore i made an ew user. But it is connected as domain user. does it needs to be connected to another group?
Hi! What you created is correct. I don’t believe I added everyone to the site visitors group so the domain will need to be granted permissions to your sharepoint site.
Hello,
Not sure if this problem is related to this tutorial.
I can access SharePoint resources with IE (using the preinstalled version that came with the VM) but can’t access using any other browser.
For example, accessing “http://intranet.sp2016gm.dev/SitePages/Home.aspx” with IE opens SharePoint UI, but the same link on Chrome does not work (I’ve installed the latest version of Chrome inside the VM).
Anyway to fix this and why is this happening, SharePoint does not provide any support outside IE?
Thank you for your work!
Hi!
Thanks for stopping by! This is very strange – there is no reason why the SharePoint should not work with other browsers. I am using copies of the same VM for multiple projects and I primarily use chrome on those VMs. I am assuming you are signing-in to the VM using the sp_admin login? You may want to investigate using the browser tools in Chrome (F12 and then Console/ Sources/ Network tabs) to see what’s going on.
Thanks!
Yes, I can only access, with Chrome/Firefox, to the resource “sp2016:99” for Central Administration settings and “localhost:80” for “intranet.sp2016gm.dev/SitePages” resources. However if I try to access by typing “https://intranet.sp2016gm.dev/” on the address bar it won’t let me, saying connection refused with ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED.
My goal was to create a SharePoint site, use Bridge connection to connect the VM to the network and access the site from other computers within the Network using Chrome or Firefox.
Hi! Sorry for the late reply. The sharepoint environment is not configured for ssl. So https will not work if that’s what you are trying. Also, I am assuming you are still trying from the local VM (which is what you should do for the first tests)
Hi Gaurav,
Greetings!!
The evaluation version is expired. Can you please try to upload latest VM.
Hi Chiranjeevi! Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I intend to upload a new VM but am swamped right now. I should be able to upload one in the next month or so though. My apologies and thanks again!
Hello Gaurav,
When I start central admin, it does not start at all. When I checked event viewer I found SQL error.
“A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 – The remote computer refused the network connection.)”
So i tried to run SSMS as administrator but not able to connect SQL sever using Windows authentication and gives above mentioned error.
Hope you can help me here.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Govind
Thanks for stopping by and reaching out.
The VM has likely expired. I will need to build a new one. Unfortunately it won’t happen at least until the next 3 weeks. I willupdate this post as soon as I do that.
Thanks!
Is there any news about new VM build?
Thank You
Hi. Sorry, I’ve been very busy but working on it. It will likely a few weeks
Hi Gaurav,
I am sure you are busy but just wanted to drop in and ask if you got a chance to work on the new SP 2016 VM. Thanks.
Hi! Very sorry, still working on it. Will be a few weeks though
Hi Gaurav,
Greetings for the day!!
Is there any update about new VM build?
Hi Chiranjeevi
Sorry I’ve been busy with a few other things but it is high on my list. I will surely post an update as soon as I create one.
My apologies for the wait
Gaurav
Hi Gaurav,
Greetings for the day!!
do you have any update about new VM build?
Can a 2019 version be built?
Hi Randy
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I plan to build it but currently don’t have an ETA yet due to my other commitments unfortunately.
Thanks!
Hi Gaurav,
Don’t wanna bother you too much but just wanted to ask if you got around to creating a new version of this VM. Please let us know when possible. Thanks.
Hi enaybee
No problem at all and yes, I do plan to build the vm in the next few months but currently don’t have an ETA due to my other commitments unfortunately. My most sincere apologies.
Thanks!
Hi, A small question. I needed to convert the vm’s to be able to run this on a Hyper-V server.
But do not know how to convert the nvram, vmmsd, vmx amd vmxf files. Please advice
Hi Fred
The process to convert the VMWare VMs to Hyper-V is a little involved. Here’s a good resource that shows some methods to do that: https://www.nakivo.com/blog/how-to-convert-vmware-vm-to-hyper-v/
Please let me know if I can be if further help.
Hi Gauray, I converted the VMWare VMs to Hyper-V, but got an AD-error on start up. I tried to enter the ‘directory services restore mode’, but here a local admin account is needed.
Does the machine have a local admin account?
Sure. The “administrator” account is a local admin account
Hi GauravI get an error when clicking te intranet home home button on internet explorer, is this due to expired software?
best regards
Hi! Yes, this is because the licenses are expired. Thanks!
Will you upload a new VM any time soon?
best regards
Yes, I plan on doing that but don’t currently have a timeline unfortunately.
Gaurav i am currently undertaking a brand new installation of Sharepoint 2019 on a Windows Server 2016 .The pre-requisites installation completes without an error, but the sharepoint product configuration fails on “faulting module kernel…dll MSIEXEC.EXE”(apologise for not having full error gist). Any thoughts? do you have a VM with a trial version of the above with Windows server 2016. Any help appreciated.
P:S i am an administrator on the Virtual machine which is a VMware hosted Windows server 2016 VM.
Thanks
Sudharshan
email:rooms.sk@gmail.com
Hi Sudharshan!
So sorry this is a truly odd error and I am not sure how to help here. The only thing I would suggest is to check Windows Event Viewer for any related issues (installer service or other related issues). You likely also have checked all the pre-requisites but I’d say verify them once more just in case.
Thanks!
Thanks Gaurav, that response was really fast. The event viewer does not show any error except for the generic error that i reported in the previous posting. i ran the pre-requisites (Sharepoint 2019) several times it reported running successfully. The only other issue i ran into was a Sharepoint 2016 installation on a Win server 2016 wherein app fabric 1.1 never allowed us to complete the installation. That issue was resolved at our end with a few clean up tips. i am re-installing SP 2016/Win 2016 to then migrate to SP 2019. hopefully this will resolve. Once again nice blog and thank you.
Sounds great! Also check to make sure that the installer service is running. Good luck and sorry I couldn’t be of much help!
Can we expect 2019 VM anythime soon?
Sorry, I have a few other commitments that have taken over. I am looking at the Dec-Jan time-frame for building the new VMs. Thank you!
Hi Gaurav Mahajan,
First of all thank you for sharing this virtual machine, it works perfectly and I had no problem starting it.
However with Chrome I cannot access a: mysites.sp2016gm.dev the error returned is: does not allow connection.
I tried to clear the cache, I did ipconfig / flushdns, I lowered the internet security level and a lot of other stuff too.
Can you help me please.
Best regards
Hi macgile
Thanks for stopping by and downloading the vm
Sorry, all software on this VM is expired. I haven’t had time to create a new one for a while now. You can try to activate these using the steps in the post above (under the “Instructions to activate the licenses” heading). I am not sure if they’ll work on expired licenses but will certainly encourage you to try.
Thank you!
I have already reactivated everything.
In IE it works fine, but with chrome and Edge it does not work the browser gets the error: intranet.sp2016gm.dev does not allow connection.
The home centrale administration works on all browsers.
That is very strange. The only thing I can think of is to open the browser as an Administrator. Thanks!