Step-by-Step SCOM 2025 Installation Guide

If you are planning to install the latest operations manager in your setup, this SCOM 2025 installation guide is for you. Operations Manager 2025 is the latest release by Microsoft, and this product is still a part of the System Center 2025 suite.

Most organizations use SCOM to monitor health, capacity, and usage across applications, workloads, and infrastructure. In easy words, operations manager is software that helps you monitor services, devices, and operations for many computers from a single console.

If you are running SCOM 2022 in your setup, a few reasons to upgrade to SCOM 2025 include support for Windows Server 2025, the latest Edge and Chrome browser versions, and OpenSSL 3.1 to 3.3.

This guide covers the steps for a basic installation of Operations Manager 2025. The concept is to perform a limited deployment of SCOM, only utilizing as few servers as possible, but enough to demonstrate the roles and capabilities of SCOM.

New Features in SCOM 2025

Operations Manager 2025 introduces the following new features.

1. Support for Windows Server 2025: Operations Manager 2025 now fully supports Windows Server 2025.
2. Support for OpenSSL 3.1 to 3.3: OpenSSL offers cryptographic tools and functionalities to secure data and communications.
3. Latest versions of Chrome and Edge browsers supported: Operations Manager 2025 supports the latest browsers, including Microsoft Edge version 121 and later and Google Chrome version 121 and later.

Download SCOM 2025

If you are an MSDN subscriber (Visual Studio Subscriptions) or have access to the Microsoft VLSC portal, you should see the download option for SCOM 2025. You can also download System Center Operations Manager 2025 from the Microsoft evaluation center.

Planning for SCOM deployment

You must plan properly before deploying SCOM in your environment, which includes considering various roles, security configuration, guidance for an optimal SQL Server configuration, and other factors.

You can install Operations Manager in a simple or distributed configuration in your environment. Both approaches will require proper planning and evaluation of hardware for component installation.

• Single Server Deployment
• Distributed Deployment

In a single server deployment, you deploy Operations Manager in a single-server management group when you want to use it for evaluation, testing, and management pack development, usually in a lab, development, or non-production environment.

Whereas with distributed deployment, you distribute the SCOM features and services across multiple servers to allow for scalability. Most organizations use this deployment method, which encompasses all Operations Manager server roles. Refer to the following article for more information on distributed deployment of operations manager.

System Requirements

Before you begin your deployment, you should read the release notes and ensure that your server meets the minimum system requirements for Operations Manager. Every role has different requirements, so one post cannot cover them all.

If this is your first time installing SCOM 2025 in your setup, please take a moment to review the following points:

• Capacity limits for Operations Manager 2025
• SCOM upgrade sequence
• Hardware requirements
• Operating system requirements for different roles
• Active directory and DNS requirements
• SQL Server requirements for SCOM
• Firewall configuration
• Capacity and Storage information

Lab Setup for Single Server Deployment of SCOM

In my lab, I will use Windows Server 2022 as the base operating system for Operations Manager 2025 installation. SCOM 2025 also supports Windows Server 2025 for all its roles, so you can use it as well.

I will be installing SQL Server 2022 with the latest cumulative update as the base standard for all database and SQL reporting services. SCOM version 2025 supports the installation of SQL Server versions 2022, 2019, and 2017.

When installing the SQL Server, ensure you configure the SQL Server collation to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. For single-server deployment, you can install the SQL server on the first management server in the group. You will have to manually download and install reporting services for SQL Server 2022.

All management servers and the web console server must have the OLE DB and ODBC SQL Server Drivers installed. If you fail to install them, you’ll see them reported during the SCOM installation.

I will be setting up Operations Manager version 2025 on a single server, which has the roles mentioned below:

• Management server
• Operations console
• Web console
• Reporting server

Setup accounts for Operations Manager

When you’re installing SCOM for the first time, you will be prompted for three accounts:

• The management server action account.
• The System Center Configuration service and System Center Data Access service account.
• Data Warehouse Write account.

If you’re going to evaluate SCOM 2025 in your lab to test its features and functionalities, you can use just one account for everything. The setup and daily operations of Operations Manager require you to provide credentials for multiple accounts. If you’re installing MS Operations Manager 2025 for your organization, you must create separate accounts.

You should create service accounts for installing and managing SCOM, and set their passwords to never expire. I recommend reading the MS documentation for creating service accounts for SCOM.

SCOM 2025 Installation Guide

Alright, now that we have all the setup ready, let’s go through the steps for installing SCOM 2025. Make sure you have installed the latest Windows Updates on the operating systems, and you have the SCOM installation media with you.

Installing Prerequisites

In this step, I am going to install the IIS prerequisites combined for both the management server and web console. On the Windows Server, launch PowerShell as an administrator and execute the following command.

Add-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45,Web-Static-Content,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Dir-Browsing,Web-Http-Errors,Web-Http-Logging,Web-Request-Monitor,Web-Filtering,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-Metabase,Web-Asp-Net,Web-Windows-Auth -Restart

After installing the above prerequisites, reboot your server once.

Install SQL Server for SCOM 2025

The Operations Manager relies on Microsoft SQL Server to support its operational, data warehouse, and ACS audit databases. In this step, I will quickly show you how to install the SQL server for operations manager.

Mount the SQL Server media. Right-click on the setup.exe and select run as administrator. On the initial setup screen, click Installation on the left pane. On the right pane, click New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation.

Complete the SQL server some basic checks. On the Feature Selection page, select the following instance features:

• Database Engine Services
• Full-Text and Semantic Extractions for Search

Click Next to continue.

On the Instance configuration, choose a default instance or a named instance. For my lab, I am going with the default instance, MSSQLSERVER. Click Next.

On the server configuration screen, you specify the service accounts for running the services. If you are configuring this for your organization, make sure you use a separate account for each SQL Server service. For lab deployment, you can use a single service account. Just make sure that you set SQL Server Agent service startup type to Automatic.

This is important. Once you have defined the service accounts, navigate to the Collation tab and confirm that you have set the collation to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. Click Next to continue.

On the Database Engine Configuration page, select SQL Server Administrators. The user accounts that you add here will have unrestricted access to the database engine. To add the current user as a SQL Server administrator, click Add Current User.

By default, SQL operates in a mixed-mode authentication configuration. However, Operations Manager only utilizes Windows authentication to communicate with SQL Server. 

Click Next.

On the Ready to Install page, review your configuration for once and click Install.

The SQL Server 2022 installation begins now. Wait for the installation to complete. Once installed, reboot your server.

Install Cumulative Update for SQL Server

After you install SQL Server 2022, you must install the latest cumulative update available. At the time of writing this, Microsoft has released Cumulative Update Package 16 for SQL Server 2022, KB5048033. In your case, please download the latest CU applicable for your SQL Server version and install it.

To install the cumulative update package for SQL Server 2022, run the cumulative update executable. Accept the license terms of the cumulative update, and on the Select features screen, click Next.

On the Ready to Update page, click Update. The cumulative update has been installed, but it requires a server restart. Click OK and reboot the server.

Install SQL Server Reporting Services

SQL Server for SCOM 2025 installation does not include reporting services, which are now a separate component. Therefore, you must download the reporting services separately and install it manually on the server.

As I have installed SQL Server 2022 for Operations Manager, I will now install reporting services 2022. You can download the installer from the Microsoft Evaluation Center or mount your SQL Server media and install the reporting services from there.

On the Welcome screen, click Install Reporting Services.

Enter the SQL Server Reporting Services product key and accept the license terms. On the installation page, make sure you select the option ‘Install Reporting Services only‘ and click Next. The reporting services installation begins now.

Configure Reporting Services for Operations Manager

After you install reporting services for SQL Server 2022, you must configure the reporting services and create a report database. You must manually complete this step, which is a one-time configuration. Click Configure Report Server.

On the Report Server Configuration Connection window, click Connect.

In the Report Server Configuration Manager window, click Service Account from the left pane and select Use another account. Specify an account to run the report server service. Click Apply. Under the Results section,

In the left pane, select Database. Here you can create a new database. Click Change Database and now select Create a new report server database. Click Next.

Specify the account to connect to the database server. Click Test Connection to see if the account can connect to the database server. Click Next.

By default, the name of the database is ReportServer, and the temp database name is ReportServerTemp. Click Next.

Specify the credentials to connect to the report server database. Click Next.

This completes the steps to create a new report server database. Close the Report Server Database Configuration wizard.

In the left pane, select Database, and here you see the Report Server database that we just created.

Click on the ‘Web Service URL‘ and then select the ‘Report Server web service URL‘. If the reporting services configuration is correct, this link should open in the default browser and display something similar to the screenshot below.

That completes the procedure for configuring the reporting services for the SCOM 2025 installation.

Extract System Center Operations Manager

After installing the prerequisites, SQL Server and reporting services, it’s time to install SCOM 2025 on our server. First, mount the Operations Manager 2025 media and run the SCOM 2025 application. Run the Operations Manager Setup Wizard and extract the setup files for installation.

Choose the destination drive to extract the installation files. On the Ready to Extract page, click Extract. All the files required for SCOM installation are extracted to the specified folder. Click Finish to close the extraction wizard.

Install Operations Manager 2025

Go to the folder where you extracted the SCOM 2025 installation files. Run the setup.exe, and on the setup screen, click Install.

Select the features to install. In the below screenshot, as you can see, I have selected all the features for installation as this is a single server SCOM deployment. Click Next.

Specify the installation location for SCOM. By default, SCOM installs in C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center\Operations Manager folder. To change the installation location, you can click Browse and specify a new path. Click Next.

The operations manager setup now does a prerequisite check to determine if any prerequisites are missing. The screen will list any missing prerequisites. If you see “All prerequisites have passed“, it means you can continue with SCOM installation. Click Next.

On the Configuration screen, select the option “Create first management server in a new management group” and specify the management group name. Click Next.

Accept the SCOM license terms and click Next. In the next step, configure the operational database. The account must have sufficient permissions on the database instance. Click Next.

In this step, you must configure the data warehouse database. The account must have sufficient permissions on the database instance. Click Next.

The system automatically populates the SQL server instance for reporting services. Click Next.

Choose an IIS website to be used for the web console. Click Next.

Select the authentication mode that you want to use with the web console. In the example below, I chose the option ‘Use mixed authentication.’ With this auth method, the user will have to provide a username and password to gain access to the web console. Click Next.

In this step, you have to configure operations manager accounts for multiple services. To make it simple, I have specified an account, “omadmin” for all services. Enter the username and password and click Next.

On the Diagnostic and Usage Data screen, click Next.

Review the Operations Manager 2025 installation summary and click Install.

The Operations Manager 2025 installation begins now. The installation goes through a series of steps and configures different components. The below screenshot confirms that SCOM 2025 installation is complete. Close the operations manager setup window.

Activate SCOM 2025

You’ll notice that Operations Manager version 2025 doesn’t activate after installation. This is due to the lack of a product key entry option during the installation process. Not to worry, there is a simple way to make your product fully functional. Refer to the following guide on how to activate the SCOM 2025 installation.

Check the version of Operations Manager

To check the installed SCOM version, click Start and launch the Operations Manager console. On the menu bar, click Help > About. The pop-up window shows the installed SCOM version and console version.

In the below example, the installed version of Operations Manager is 2025, and the console version is 10.25.10132.0.