Server Core ← Shariq Sheikh

Server Core R2 DC promotion fails due to unavailable ADDS binaries

Feb

2011

I encountered an issue promoting a Server Core R2 to a domain controller. The DCPROMO on Server Core is handled via unattended mode with answer file. The error I received is below. It was due to Server Core’s inability to install/confirm ADDS binaries. C:UsersAdministrator>dcpromo /unattended:answer.txt Checking if Active Directory Domain Services binaries are installed… Failed ...

Can I install KMS on Server Core ?

Dec

2009

Server Core seems to be the perfect candidate for installing KMS. Key Management Service mediates your Volume Licensing with Microsoft Activation Services and acts as the man-in-the-middle for the activation for all your KMS clients that comprise of Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and R2. With Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, what ...

Getting started with Server Core is easier now in R2 1

Jun

2009

Perhaps, inspired by Guy’s utility ‘Server Core Configurator’. There is now a menu driven utility call SCONFIG.exe in R2 version of Server Core. This allows you to do all the initial configuration tasks, such as rename the computer, join to domain, set an new IP or DNS, or enabled the RDP etc. Previously you had ...

Hyper-V is just like a server core, with Hypervisor added

Apr

2009

Ever since Microsoft joined VMware in handing out their introductory type-1 hypervisor solutions (without management software) out for FREE, there is a fair share of confusion in IT community regarding the standalone Hyper-V. Hyper-V is a standalone product that will run on a bare-metal box and will need to be managed via Windows Server 2008 ...

Can a RODC also be a DHCP ? 4

Jun

2008

Sounds like a no-brainer, but there is catch. I installed DHCP role on my Server Core that I had previously set up as Read-only Domain Controller, using this command. start /w ocsetup DHCPServerCore And then I went ahead and set the service configuration to “auto” with this command, sc config dhcpserver start= auto (note the ...

Is there a GUI to manage Server Core ? 2

Jun

2008

Yes there is. Inevitable as it was, we the System Admins like to accomplish easy tasks from the tip of our fingers, and do things in a graphical click-ing environment. You might have heard of this utility, which came out few months back called ‘Server Core Configurator’ by Guy Teverovsky. I had been reading about ...

How to turn on Automatic Updates in Server Core

May

2008

Its pretty simple to turn the automatic updates in Server Core by using scregedit to modify the registry, simply type in this command : cscript c:\Windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /au 4 After that, you do have to stop and start the Windows Update service net stop wuauserv net start wuauserv The swtich /au 4 sets the time for ...

Remotley Administer Server Core from Vista or Windows Server 2008

May

2008

You can use Windows Remote Shell (WinRS) in Vista and Windows Server 2008 to remotely manage and administer Server Core. The WinRS client passes the commands to a WinRS listener on Server Core, which passes the commands to a prompt, captures the output and returns it to the WinRS client. To do this, you have ...

Install Server Roles and features on Server Core

May

2008

So In Windows Server 2008, there are roles such as AD Domain Services, DHCP, DNS, the roles services pertaining to roles such as AD Certificate Services, DFS, and finally there are optional features such as .NET Framework Services, Network Load Balancine (NLB), etc. With the exception of the Active Directory Domain Services role, you install ...

How to promote Server Core to be a RODC 1

Apr

2008

The Windows Server 2008 Server Core installation does support Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC). This support makes Server Core ideal for brance office scenarios. To make a Server Core part of your domain as RODC, you use the unattended answer file with the following text with your settings and passwords [DCInstall] InstallDNS=Yes ConfirmGC=Yes RebootOnCompletion=Yes ReplicaDomainDNSName=2008.lab ...

How to setup IP configuration of Windows Server 2008 Server Core 2

Apr

2008

In order to add your Server Core to a domain you must assign an IP and DNS server to the current IP Configuration and you do that using NETSH tool, otherwise using the answer file your setup will fail complaining about its inability to contact the source DC. Netsh.exe is a tool an administrator can use to ...

How to disable Windows Firewall in Windows Server 2008 Server Core 1

Apr

2008

So in Server Core the built-in Windows firewall comes on by default. You can choose to disable it completely to get all the networking components working by using this NETSH command, netsh firewall set opmode disable You can use the enable switch to turn it back on. However, completely disabling it may be a bad ...

How to enable RDP for Windows Server 2008 Server Core 1

Apr

2008

Even though the Server Core option of Windows Server 2008 does not have shell, you can still RDP (Terminal Services) into it by using RDC from a Windows Client. To do that, you have to first enable the RDP on Server Core by using the following cscript command. Cscript \windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /ar 0 In order to ...

How can I rename Windows Server 2008 Server Core 1

Apr

2008

Once again, with no GUI your Windows Server 2008 Server Core can easily be renamed using Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC), and here is how, wmic computersystem where name="%computername%" rename name="new-name" As result, you will get ‘Method execution successful’ message. However if your machine is domain-joined, you can use NETDOM to accomplish the same task. ...