When you install PowerPivot for SharePoint, you need to have the right version and edition of SharePoint. Moreover, SharePoint needs to have been installed in a particular manner in order for PowerPivot for SharePoint to install properly. This article tells you what happens if you get any of these pieces wrong and how to recover from it.

PowerPivot for SharePoint is a SQL Server Analysis Services feature that has a dependency on SharePoint 2010. SQL Server Setup will only install it on a computer that already has an installation of SharePoint 2010. The  version and edition of SharePoint is important. Of all the versions and editions that are available, only a few of them have the features that PowerPivot needs to make its features work.  Specifically, PowerPivot for SharePoint requires SharePoint 2010 enterprise or enterprise evaluation. These are the editions that have Excel Services, Secure Store Services, and Claims to Windows Token Services.  PowerPivot will not run on other editions, namely standard or SharePoint 2010 Foundation (which is the free version). 

If you try to install PowerPivot for SharePoint on a computer that is running an earlier version of SharePoint, or is running the standard or SharePoint 2010 Foundation, SQL Server Setup will tell you that you have the wrong version or edition. At that point, you cannot move forward with the installation. You either need to pick a different feature to install, or cancel Setup and then rerun it on a computer that has the right version of SharePoint.

Now, let's suppose you have the enterprise edition of SharePoint, but when you installed it, you chose the default setup option which is to perform a 'Basic' installation that uses SQL Server Express as a built-in database server (possibly, you followed the instructions on this page to install SharePoint:  http: //technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263202.aspx). Technically, you've met the version and edition requirements (and therefore have all the necessary features), but because you picked a basic installation, you are actually missing functionality that is deemed necessary for PowerPivot for SharePoint. Specifically, the built-in database server is limited in the size of the databases that it will host and the amount of RAM and processors that it can use. 

If you used the built-in database server for your SharePoint server, SQL Server Setup will block a PowerPivot for SharePoint installation with this setup rule: "Setup cannot install SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint on a standalone SharePoint server. To continue, install Sharepoint Server 2010 with the "Farm", "Complete" option and re-run SQL Server Setup.





SQL Server Setup will block installation and there is no way to move forward until you reconfigure the farm to use one of the 64-bit production editions of SQL Server relational database engine (standard or enterprise) in one of the versions supported by SharePoint 2010 (SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2).  If you have a SQL Server instance that meets this criteria, you can use Central Administration to choose that database server, and then move all the databases to that server (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512725.aspx).