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How do I… Install and configure Windows Server 2008 core?
Date: December 3rd, 2007
Author: Steven Warren
Category: How do I, Operating systems
Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Installation, Server, Figure M Let, Figure S Let, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Servers, Operating
Systems, Software, Hardware, Steven Warren
Special Reports » See more posts on: Windows Server 2008
With the imminent launch of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 coming on February 27, 2008, I want to show you a feature I am fond of in this
new operating system. With Windows Server 2008, you have the option of performing a Windows Server Core installation, which provides you
with the minimum set of tools to run Windows.
You are provided with a kernel and a command line to manage the server. It is slim and bare bones and allows you to configure Windows
concisely. This type of installation is perfect for a datacenter. I am really excited about this feature.
This blog post is also available as a TechRepublic gallery and TechRepublic download.
Installation
When you first run through the installation of Windows Server 2008, you have two options for installation. They are:
The following eight screen shots (Figures A-H) walk you through the installation of Windows Server Core which took approximately ten minutes to install.
Figure A
Figure B
Figure C
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Figure D
Figure E
Figure F
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Figure G
Figure H
After the installation, the main window for your new installation appears and you are ready to login as shown in Figure I. The initial login is Administrator and
blank password (Figure J). You are required to change the password and set an Administrator password on initial login.
Figure I
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Figure J
Now that you are logged in (Figure K), you are ready to configure the date, time, and time zone. In the command line type the following: controltimedate.cpl
and set the options accordingly (Figure L).
Figure K
Figure L
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If you need to configure and change the keyboard layout and settings, type the following in the command window: control intl.cpl (Figure M).
Figure M
Let’s move on and change the server name. The default name is a bunch of random letters and numbers and I would like to change the name to a local standard.
You can view the current hostname by typing the following:
c:windowssystem32hostname
Now let’s use the name ssw-svr15. We will perform this option in the command line (Figure O) by typing the following:
Figure N
After choosing to proceed, the task completes successfully. You now need to reboot the server using the shutdown command. For the proper syntax, type:
shutdown /?
After reviewing the syntax, (Figure N) I will type the following: shutdown /r (switch for shutting down and restarting the computer) /t 10 (wait 10 seconds to
shutdown and restart) /c “Changed Server Name” (add comment of max 512 characters). They total syntax will look as follows:
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shutdown /r /T 10 /C "Changed Server Name"
Figure O
Let’s now configure our networking so we can join this server to a domain. In order to see what interface you have to configure, (Figure P) type
Figure P
The Local Area Connection that we are going to configure has an index value of two. Let’s proceed and configure TCP/IP for this connection. (Figure Q) Type
the following command to set the TCP/IP information:
netsh interface ipv4 set address name="2" source=static address=192.168.1.199 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1
Figure Q
Figure R
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If you type ipconfig /all, you will see the newly added information (Figure S).
Figure S
Let’s join it to a domain! In order to perform this function, we will take advantage of the netdom.exe. (Figure T) The syntax is as follows:
Note: Do not forget to reboot the server using the following command:
Figure T
As a final step, we should not forget to activate the server (Figure U) by typing the following:
slmgr.vbs -ato
Figure U
This doesn’t even scratch the surface of what you can do with a Windows Server Core installation but it begins to show you how powerful command line is with a
small Windows kernel. With the popularity of virtualization and server consolidation, having the ability to virtualize a server core installation and attach a single
role will become very popular with the datacenter. My next test will be to try to install Virtual Server on my server core installation. Wish me luck!
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