Working with SharePoint 2010 Projects on Visual Studio Without Installing at the SharePoint Server

Reference: working-with-sharepoint-2010-projects-on-visual-studio-without-installing-the-server


Error: "A SharePoint server is not installed on this computer. A SharePoint server must be installed to work with SharePoint projects."

Step 1: from server machine/production server run regedit and export the folder (14.0):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Shared Tools > Web Server Extensions > 14.0

Step 2: On your local development machine, import the regedit file that you exported before or you can just only double click on exported regedit file. Then it will create a "Web Server Extensions" folder and the 14 hive registry for you.

Step 3: You will now be able to create a SharePoint Project in Visual Studio 2010.

On the VS 2010, build the solution (so that you generate .pdb files) and then right click on the project in the Solution Explorer and choose "Package". This will generate a .wsp file. Import this .wsp file to your SharePoint sites to see the result.

Note: To be able to work on SharePoint development for sure you will be need to add some sharepoint server assemblies to your project which will be not on your development machine like Microsoft.Sharepoint.dll. I suggest you to copy those assemblies from your server machine (production server) and add them as references to your projects.


All SharePoint Server 2010 assemblies can be found under:

C:Program Files > Common Files > Microsoft Shared > Web Server Extensions > 14 > ISAPI

Disadvantages:

This approach remind me the old version of SharePoint (WSS 3.0). The developer need to have almost 10 steps to see the result of the codes. Except, you didn't have to edit your web config manually each time you created a webpart.

The best solutions is to install the VS 2010 at Hyper V server where your SharePoint Apps reside.