What is Windows Server 2008 Core Version?
A server core installation is a striped down version of Windows Server 2008. A server core installation does not provide the typical Microsoft Windows desktop graphical user interface. Instead, a command line prompt interface is supplied to configure and manage the server. There are a few benefits to using a server core versus a full installation of server including having fewer roles to manage, fewer running applications to be attacked and a server core requires much less free space on the HDD than a full installation of Windows Server 2008. A server core installation provies only a minimal environment that supports specific server roles including the following: Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS), Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), DHCP Server, DNS Server, File Services, Hyper-V, Print Services, Streaming Media Services and Web Server (IIS). More information about Windows Server 2008 core installation can be found here.
Minimum Requirements for Windows Server 2008
-Processor:1GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4GHz (x64 processor) Note: 2GHz or faster is recommended
-RAM:512MB Note: 2GB or more is recommended
-HDD Space:10GB Note: 40GB or more is recommended
-Drives:DVD-ROM
-Display:800x600 screen resolution
Installing Windows Server 2008 Core Version
Place the Windows Server 2008 installation disc into the disc drive of your computer and boot to it. Once loaded, the initial Windows Server 2008 install screen will display. It will ask for the preferred language and keyboard layout. Most likely the defaults will be just fine so click the Next button to proceed.
A simple "Install Now' screen is presented next. Before pressing the Install Now button,
the What to know before installing Windows
or Repair Your Computer can be clicked. Choosing one of these options
will provide the user with some general information about the installation an troubleshooting options.
Now, the specific version of the operating system that is going to be installed is selected here. The full versions of
Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter are available as well as the core installation of those three. Choose
one of the server core installations and click on the Next button to continue.
The next screen presents the Microsoft software license terms. This "should" always be read, but it is especially important to read
it when installing a server because a company doesn't need any trouble with software licenses.
This screen allows the user to either use this installation as an upgrade from an older version of Server, or to do a clean installation of Server 2008. However, it is not possible to do an upgrade with a Server 2008 Core installation so choose the "Custom (Advanced)" option.
After choosing the "Custom (Advanced)" option, the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen appears. This screen shows the HDDs that are installed on the computer as well as the partitions that are on each of the HDDs. Choose which HDD to install Server 2008 on (most likely Disk 0) and click the Next button. As this installation was done on a new virtual machine, there is only one HDD with unallocated space available.
Windows Server 2008 now has all the information from the user that it needs to complete the installation. Simply wait for Windows to finish
installing. NOTE: As this is an installation of the server core, the installation process will be shorter than if the full version of
server was being installed. This is due to the fact that the core installation only installs a minimal envrionment.
Once Windows finishes installing, it will restart and then finish configuring the installation.
Once the initial login screen appears, Windows Server 2008 core version has finished installing. After pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL, a prompt asking for
a username and a password is presented.
During the installation process, no user accounts were created. An administrator account needs to be created so simply enter administrator
into the username field. Do not enter a password and hit the Enter key to continue. A message will prompt the user asking for the password to be
changed (or in this case the password needs to be declared) before the login can be completed. Click on the OK button to continue.
A screen will appear where the password for that particular account will be set or changed. Administrator is still filled in the username field, so simply
enter a password in the new password field, confirm that password in the confirm password field and hit the Enter key to continue. A
confirmation screen will appear saying that the password was successfully set. Once that is done, Windows, again, has all of the information it needs
to finish configuring the installation.
After Windows finishes configuring the desktop for the user that is logging in, the only part of the desktop that is available in the core version of
Server 2008 is a command prompt.
How to Install a Server Role
Windows Server 2008 Core is now fully unstalled. However, if one of the server roles mentioned above needs to be used, it must be installed first. In order to use the Active Directory role, the DCPROMO wizard needs to be run.
Sources Used:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb414778.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/47a23a74-e13c-46de-8d30-ad0afb1eaffc.aspx
http://www.petri.co.il/installing-active-directory-windows-server-2008-core.htm
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee441263(v=ws.10).aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947034
