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Slipstreamed Version of SharePoint 2010 SP2 Released

• By Kurt Mackie
• 05/05/2014

A slipstreamed version of SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 2 that supports Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 was released by Microsoft last week.

The slipstreamed version of SharePoint 2010 SP2 is now available via the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center or the Microsoft Developer Network, according to Microsoft's announcement by Stefan Goβner, a SharePoint senior escalation engineer at Microsoft. The timing of this release may seem a bit surprising, since SP2 for SharePoint 2010 was released back in July. However, the slipstreamed version apparently only became available 10 months later, on May 1.

Organizations may prefer the slipstreamed version if they are newly installing Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 since they can bundle up SharePoint 2010 SP2 and various updates and patches in the ISO. In addition, Goβner indicated that Microsoft only supports the use of the slipstreamed SharePoint 2010 SP2 version when installing it on Windows Server 2012 R2.

Performing an in-place upgrade of Windows Server isn't a supported approach by Microsoft if organizations want to use SharePoint 2010 SP2 specifically on the Windows Server 2012 R2 version.

"You need to perform a fresh installation of SharePoint 2010 SP2 slipstream on top of Windows Server 2012 R," Goβner clarified.

Using the slipstreamed version also requires having the "February 2014 CU [cumulative update] or later installed on top of the [SharePoint 2010] SP2 slipstream installations," he added. Microsoft MVP Todd Klindt suggested that the February 2014 CU could be either slipstreamed onto the Windows Server ISO or it could be installed after installing the ISO.

"If you do install this [SharePoint 2010 SP2] on Windows Server 2012 R2 you must either slipstream the February 2014 CU into the new ISO or immediately install the February 2014 CU after installation," Klindt wrote in a blog post. "The new ISO will install on Windows Server 2012 R2, but it's not supported on it, if that makes sense."