If you try and install Search Server Express on Windows Server 2008 R2 you will get the following compatibility error:
It wasn’t till I tweeted about the error that I managed to solve the problem. With thanks to ToddKlindt pointing me in the right direction mentioning that Office SharePoint SP2 needed to be slipstreamed I managed to fix the problem. I had guessed that was the case but I was looking in the wrong direction, I was looking for a Service Pack for Search Server not for Share Point.
So the answer was to Slipstream Office SharePoint 2007 Server SP2 in to the Setup of Search Server.
To do this I needed to:
- Extract the SearchServer.exe file
- Create a folder in your C:\ called Search
- copy the SearchServer.exe to C:\Search
- run the following command from a run command: C:\Search\SearchServer.exe /Extract:C:\Search\SearchSP2\
- Download officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us.exe from here
- Extract the Service Pack files
- Copy the Service pack file to C:\Search
- run the following command: C:\Search\officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us.exe /Extract:C:\Search\SearchSP2\Updates\
Once you have done that you can copy the C:\Search\SearchSP2 to a network location or CD and install Search Server Express from there.
I have not tested it but I am guessing that it is a similar process for Search Server 2008 too.