Reporting Services 2005 option is disabled (greyed out) when trying to install on Windows 2008

One of the requirements for Dynamics CRM is installing SQL Server Reporting Services. If you are going to use Reporting Services 2005 on top of Windows Server 2008, when running SQL Server Setup you could face with an annoying problem: Reporting Services option is disabled, greyed out and hence cannot be installed.




After some research, I came up with this kb article which describes exactly the services that must be all installed on Windows 2008 before running SQL Server setup. They correspond to Web Server Role.



It is important to note that ALL the services that says the KB article must be installed. For instance, I left Http Redirection service out and then Reporting Services option was greyed out. Only after I installed all services, Reporting Services 2005 were able to be selected for installing.



Here I am pasting a transcription from the KB article that explains the process and the services to install prior to running SQL Server Reporting Services 2005 installation:





1.Log on to Windows Server 2008.

2.Configure a server role and enable ASP.NET and IIS. To do this, follow these steps:

•Click Start, and then click Server Manager.

•In Server Manager, right-click Manage Roles, and then click Add roles. The Add Roles Wizard starts.

•In the Add Roles Wizard, click Select Server Roles.

•On the Select Server Roles page, click to select the Web Server (IIS) check box, and then click Next.



Note Because of role dependency, the File Server check box is automatically selected when you click to select the Web Server (IIS) check box.

•On the Role Services page, expand Common HTTP Features, and then click to select the following check boxes:

■Static Content

■Default Document

■Directory Browsing

■HTTP Errors

■HTTP Redirection

•Expand Application Development, and then click to select the ASP.NET check box.



Note If you are prompted to add required role services, click OK.

•Expand Security, and then click to select the Windows Authentication check box.

•Expand Management Tools, expand IIS 6 Management Capability, and then click to select the following check boxes:

■IIS Metabase Compatibility

■IIS 6 WMI Compatibility

■IIS 6 Scripting Tools

■IIS 6 Management Console

•Click Next, and then click Install.

Note If you do not enable all these features, the Reporting Services option does not appear in the Feature Selection dialog box of the SQL Server Setup program.

3.Verify that the World Wide Web Publishing service is started. If the World Wide Web Publishing service is not started, configure the service to start automatically. To do this, follow these steps:

•In Control Panel, click System and Maintenance.

•Click Administrative Tools.

•Double-click Services.

•In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

•Right-click World Wide Web Publishing Service, and then click Properties.

•In the World Wide Web Publishing Service Properties dialog box, select Automatic in the Startup type list.

•Click Apply, click Start, and then click OK

Bear in mind also that you must start the World Wide Web Publishing service if you want to install the default configuration of Reporting Services. Otherwise, the SQL Server Setup program only installs Reporting Services and does not configure Reporting Services.





Hope it helps and saves some time to somebody else