Up and Coming

  • Migration of my QA blogs

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Windows 2008 Server Core Setup using a GUI

During the last few months training Windows Server 2008 courses one thing has been consistent, most IT Administrators perform most tasks graphically, and generally shy away from the command prompt. This then really causes issues with Windows Server Core, this product is generally commented on as a Windows Server with no graphical user interface (GUI). Personally I do not like that description as it does have partial GUI support, some control panel applets are available, task manager can be used. Having said that most initial configuration has to be performed using the command line using tools like NETSH and SLMGR.VBS.


Fortunately there are many people in this would which try to solve problems for us to make life much easier for us, step in Guy Teverovsky. Guy is a Microsoft MVP. This tool provides a GUI interface for setting a Windows Server Core system. It allows configuration of the following settings:
  • Product Activation
  • Configuration of display resolution
  • Clock and time zone configuration
  • Remote Desktop configuration
  • Management of local user accounts (creation, deletion, group membership, passwords)
  • Firewall configuration
  • WinRM configuration
  • IP configuration
  • Computer name and domain/workgroup membership
  • Installation of Server Core features/roles

A great tool to get you going with Server Core nothing stopping you from implenting Server Core on your networks with ease anymore. The configuration tool can be downloaded from here.


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