How to Install Windows Server 2008 Step by Step

Installing Windows Server 2008 is pretty straightforward and is very much like installing Windows Vista, but I thought I'd list the necessary steps here for additional information. For those of you who have never installed Vista before, the entire installation process is different than it used to be in previous Microsoft operating systems, and notably much easier to perform. Using Vista's installation routine is a major benefit, especially for a server OS. Administrators can partition the system's hard drives during setup. More importantly, they can install the necessary AHCI or RAID storage drivers from a CD/DVD or even a USB thumb drive. Thus, error-prone floppies can finally be sent to the garbage bin.
Note: Windows Server 2008 can also be installed as a Server Core installation, which is a cut-down version of Windows without the Windows Explorer GUI. Because you don’t have the Windows Explorer to provide the GUI interface that you are used to, you configure everything through the command line interface or remotely using a Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The Server Core can be used for dedicated machines with basic roles such as Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services, DNS Server, DHCP Server, file server, print server, Windows Media Server, IIS 7 web server and Windows Server Virtualization virtual server.
To use Windows Server 2008 you need to meet the following hardware requirements:

Component	Requirement
Processor	• Minimum: 1GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4GHz (x64 processor) • Recommended: 2GHz or faster Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
Memory	• Minimum: 512MB RAM • Recommended: 2GB RAM or greater • Maximum (32-bit systems): 4GB (Standard) or 64GB (Enterprise and Datacenter) • Maximum (64-bit systems): 32GB (Standard) or 2TB (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-based Systems)
Available Disk Space	• Minimum: 10GB • Recommended: 40GB or greater Note: Computers with more than 16GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files
Drive	DVD-ROM drive
Display and Peripherals	• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor • Keyboard • Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Upgrade notes:
I will not discuss the upgrade process in this article, but for your general knowledge, the upgrade paths available for Windows Server 2008 shown in the table below:

If you are currently running:	You can upgrade to:
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition

Follow this procedure to install Windows Server 2008:
1. Insert the appropriate Windows Server 2008 installation media into your DVD drive. If you don't have an installation DVD for Windows Server 2008, you can download one for free from Microsoft's Windows 2008 Server Trial website.
2. Reboot the computer.

3. When prompted for an installation language and other regional options, make your selection and press Next.

4. Next, press Install Now to begin the installation process.

5. Product activation is now also identical with that found in Windows Vista. Enter your Product ID in the next window, and if you want to automatically activate Windows the moment the installation finishes, click Next.

If you do not have the Product ID available right now, you can leave the box empty, and click Next. You will need to provide the Product ID later, after the server installation is over. Press No.


6. Because you did not provide the correct ID, the installation process cannot determine what kind of Windows Server 2008 license you own, and therefore you will be prompted to select your correct version in the next screen, assuming you are telling the truth and will provide the correct ID to prove your selection later on.

7. If you did provide the right Product ID, select the Full version of the right Windows version you're prompted, and click Next.

8. Read and accept the license terms by clicking to select the checkbox and pressing Next.

9. In the "Which type of installation do you want?" window, click the only available option – Custom (Advanced).

10. In the "Where do you want to install Windows?", if you're installing the server on a regular IDE hard disk, click to select the first disk, usually Disk 0, and click Next.

If you're installing on a hard disk that's connected to a SCSI controller, click Load Driver and insert the media provided by the controller's manufacturer.
If you're installing in a Virtual Machine environment, make sure you read the "Installing the Virtual SCSI Controller Driver for Virtual Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008"
If you must, you can also click Drive Options and manually create a partition on the destination hard disk.
11. The installation now begins, and you can go and have lunch. Copying the setup files from the DVD to the hard drive only takes about one minute. However, extracting and uncompressing the files takes a good deal longer. After 20 minutes, the operating system is installed. The exact time it takes to install server core depends upon your hardware specifications. Faster disks will perform much faster installs… Windows Server 2008 takes up approximately 10 GB of hard drive space.

The installation process will reboot your computer, so, if in step #10 you inserted a floppy disk (either real or virtual), make sure you remove it before going to lunch, as you'll find the server hanged without the ability to boot (you can bypass this by configuring the server to boot from a CD/DVD and then from the hard disk in the booting order on the server's BIOS)
12. Then the server reboots you'll be prompted with the new Windows Server 2008 type of login screen. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log in.

13. Click on Other User.

14. The default Administrator is blank, so just type Administrator and press Enter.

15. You will be prompted to change the user's password. You have no choice but to press Ok.

16. In the password changing dialog box, leave the default password blank (duh, read step #15…), and enter a new, complex, at-least-7-characters-long new password twice. A password like "topsecret" is not valid (it's not complex), but one like "T0pSecreT!" sure is. Make sure you remember it.

17. Someone thought it would be cool to nag you once more, so now you'll be prompted to accept the fact that the password had been changed. Press Ok.


18. Finally, the desktop appears and that's it, you're logged on and can begin working. You will be greeted by an assistant for the initial server configuration, and after performing some initial configuration tasks, you will be able to start working.
Next, for the initial configuration tasks please follow my other Windows Server 2008 articles found on the Related Windows Server 2008 Articles section below.

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Installing the Virtual SCSI Controller Driver for Virtual Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008

In Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, when you create a virtual machine that uses hard disks that are connected to the virtual SCSI controller you can get better performance than when using virtual IDE controller-connected hard disks. In Virtual Server, virtual SCSI controllers have major performance benefits over virtual IDE controllers, and because of that it is recommended to attach the Virtual Disks to one or more SCSI controllers to improve disk input/output (I/O) performance. The reason for this is because IDE is limited to one transaction at a time, regardless of whether the bus is physical or virtual. This means that a virtual machine with two virtual hard disks attached to the IDE adapter is limited to a single transaction for both disks. By contrast, a SCSI controllers allows for multiple simultaneous transactions, which provides better performance than disks attached to the IDE controllers.
However, without manually installing the virtual SCSI controller driver during the installation of the guest operating system, under Virtual Server 2005, the performance of emulated SCSI controllers is slower than that of emulated IDE controllers.  The reason for this is that the SCSI controller is a lot more complicated to emulate than the IDE controller.  However, this changes once you have Virtual Machine Additions installed, because the Virtual Machine Additions install an accelerated SCSI driver.  Once this driver is installed the performance of the emulated SCSI controllers is significantly faster than emulated IDE controllers.
You can install the virtual SCSI controller driver during the installation of the guest operating system by performing the following steps:
Note: Description and screenshots where made while installing Windows Server 2008 on Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, however the same instructions apply to the installation of Windows Vista. For Windows 2000/2003/XP you will need to press the F6 key during the text phase of the installation process, then press "S" to specify additional drivers, and then provide the driver floppy image.
1. Begin the installation by inserting the appropriate Windows Server 2008 installation media into your DVD drive.
2. Continue with the installation process, until you reach the point where you're prompted for the location of the system partition. Click on the Load Driver link.

3. Now you need to load the driver files as a virtual floppy image. The image's name is "SCSI Shunt Driver.vfd", and it is located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Virtual Machine Additions folder.
In the VMRC Plus Console Manager click on Media > Load Floppy Disk Image.

Navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Virtual Machine Additions folder and select the "SCSI Shunt Driver.vfd" driver.

If you want, you can do the same by right-clicking on the VM's name in the main VMRC Plus window, then selecting Settings.

Now navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Virtual Machine Additions folder and select the "SCSI Shunt Driver.vfd" driver.

Click Ok.
4. Back in the installation window, click on Browse.

5. Navigate to the virtual floppy drive's root folder, then expand the Vista subfolder.

Note: For other operating systems select the right subfolder.
Press Ok.
6. After a few seconds the driver's name will appear on the list. Click Next.

7. The driver will load.

8. In the "Where do you want to install Windows", if you're installing the server on a regular IDE hard disk, click to select the first disk, usually Disk 0, and click Next.

9. If you must, you can also click Drive Options and manually create a partition on the destination hard disk.
10. Continue the installation as usual, and when it's done the server will automatically reboot.
Don't forget to install the Virtual Machine Additions on the guest operating system right after you log on. VM Additions greatly improve the guest's performance.

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Microsoft Details Drastic Memory Improvements In Windows 8

When Windows 7 was released, Microsoft had set out to erase the bad rap Windows had gotten because of Windows Vista, which was notorious for being a memory hog. And now, with Windows 8, Microsoft is aiming to do the same thing – on devices with even lower system specs than Windows 7 required, especially because of the rise of tablet devices and SoC based devices that are distinguished by low power consumption. Using up RAM (random access memory) also saps power from the device. Therefore, if an operating system uses a lot of memory, then more physical RAM will have to be built into a device, and bam! – less battery life.

Windows 7 Memory Consumption

                           Windows 8 Memory Consumption                                    

The above graphs perfectly illustrate the new improvements in Windows 8, which include:
Memory Combination: When a program is called, it may allocate memory for future use – but if the user never invokes the function that requires that memory, then it pretty much goes to waste. If multiple applications are doing this, then there will be redundant copies of memory around the system, which is not good for memory efficiency. So what Windows 8 will do is scout for redundant copies, free them up, and keep a single copy. This process can save tens to hundreds of megabytes of memory.
Service Changes and Reductions: Windows has always had a lot of services running in the background that no one has ever really cared for – and so Microsoft has removed some of those, moved some to “manual start” and another group to “start on demand,” which a triggered by some action in the OS, say, perhaps, device arrival, and they execute these steps.
1.) Start.
2.) Do whatever it needs to do.
3.) Hang around, make sure its existence is completely useless before
4.) Going away.
Lazy initiation of the “desktop”: We all know that Microsoft is intending to bake the familiar appearance of the Windows “desktop” into Windows 8 via system application. So the OS components that you’ll find unique to the desktop application will not be initiated at startup because some people will stay completely inside the Metro UI, which saves memory.
Giving priorities efficiently: Let’s say you’re in Windows 7, opening Excel while you have a bunch of different apps open as well. Let’s also say that you also have antivirus software that checks the files you’re opening for your safety. Well, the specific memory that the antivirus software is allocating to check that one file will probably never be used again. If Windows 7 is low on memory, it may delete memory that helps Excel – even though the antivirus software is finished and doesn’t still need the memory. Windows 8 solves this issue by allowing any program to allocate memory as “low priority,” so you won’t lose important work even if the system is low on memory.

Article Source By  windows8center

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Windows Server 8 announced – the new name for Windows 8 Server

Windows Server 8 - the new name for Windows 8 Server

Microsoft officials showed off the first public glimpse of its coming Windows Server 8 operating system today at the WPC 2011 conference.
Windows Server 8 was announced as the server side complement to the Windows 8 client.
Both the Windows 8 client and server should be out in 2012, possibly in the first half of the year.
Microsoft say that Windows Server 8 will be key to building private clouds and they demoed the next version of their Hyper-V hypervisor.
Jeff Woolsey, the Principal Program Manager Lead for Windows Server Virtualization, said the new Hyper-V will support more than 16 virtual processors per machine.
The coming Hyper-V Replica feature provides asynchronous virtual machine replication. All users will need is Hyper-V and a network connection.
Users will then be able to schedule replication to happen immediately or later.
The new feature will allow users to do things such as replicate their mission-critical database to an offsite data vendor and Woolsey said that Microsoft will be vendor-agnostic with this.
They also plan to support multiple storage, datacenter and software/service providers.
Hopefully, Microsoft will share more about Windows Server 8 at its Build conference in mid-September.

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Windows 8 functionality breathes new life into an old OS

Windows 8

This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey.
With Apple and Amazon making headlines daily for their tablets, fans of Microsoft products might feel a little bit out of the loop.
Microsoft’s latest splash in the headlines was their Windows-powered Nokia Lumia smartphone, recently released in the UK to rave reviews from tech and consumer analysts alike. But other than Lumia’s limited release, things have been relatively quiet for the software giant.
Microsoft has been steadily introducing updates and patches to Windows 7 OS—most recent updates address key security issues that strengthen the operating system’s code from hackers—but fans already have their hopes heaped on the upcoming OS, Windows 8.
The OS is set to be released sometime in 2012, but already tech enthusiasts are waxing poetic on the possible new features offered by the Windows 8. But more realistically, people wonder how the OS will work with the latest hardware. Below is a brief overview of the more dramatic changes Windows 8 is expected to bring to compatible hardware.

Desktops and Laptops

Early reports indicate that Windows 8’s more groundbreaking features will be reserved for the tablet market, but we’ll save that discussion for later. As for Windows 8’s functionality with the classic desktop/laptop hardware, users can expect major changes compared to experiences on previous Windows operating systems.
Desktop/laptop users will probably notice first that the architects of Windows 8 created a completely revamped user interface called Metro. Metro is meant to be far more intuitive than past Windows UI, and it functions much in the same way of operating systems on Windows-powered smartphones.
On the home screen, for example, desktop users might be disoriented to discover that the standard Start-button desktop has been replaced with an entirely different display. This would be Metro, where all your programs and functions are laid out in a tile format whose contents are easily accessible by a double click. Think of these tiles like souped up folders on a desktop.
Desktop/laptop users will also notice that they can access Microsoft’s “App bar” to download interesting applications to their home screen, similar to downloading apps onto a smartphone. Apps can be run within their respective tiles simultaneously, allowing the user to engage in several functions at once without ever needing to close out of one tab in order to focus on another.
Users will also note the ease with which they can search content on their computers; the user need only type in the home screen in order to bring up the search menu, where you can search through apps, internet files, and plain old regular data files to find what you need.

Tablets

Users will feel much more at home using Windows 8 on a tablet, though exactly what tablet they will use is a subject open for debate right now. The Metro UI has touch features practically built for the ever expanding tablet market, though users can certainly utilize them on non-tablet touch screens.
The home screen is the same as the one explained above for desktops/laptops, but with a tablet the user will feel more at home sliding, arranging, and engaging with the dynamic tiles. Not merely passive icons as in other tablets and smartphones, the tiles in the Windows 8 UI will reflect constantly changing data, so the user doesn’t need to pull up another screen in order to get new information.
In fact the Metro UI is much more interactive than those on any other touch screen device. For example, the tiles will arrange themselves based on their necessity—rarely used or unnecessary tiles will stick to the background, while the more vital tiles present themselves for your constant interaction.
Windows 8 will also allow active apps on your home screen to share data with one another with little effort required on the user’s part. You can take and edit photos with one app, for example, and then share them with friends via email (or a social network!) without needing to toggle between the two.
Overall, it appears that Microsoft put the bulk of their efforts into designing a revolutionary operating system that works beautifully on a touch screen, and a little less intuitively on a desktop. Windows 8 may still be months and months away from wide release, but the early details have generated enough excitement to keep fans enthused until they can try it on their own.

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How to Enable or Disable Hibernation in Windows 8

Hibernation is enabled in Windows 8 by default but not shown in power menu. However, you might want to get easy access to in order to avoid shutting down your system and also save your work. If a PC is hibernated when turned on it will restore your opened programs as the previous state of system is saved on hard disk using hibernation file.
If you want to ACTUALLY enable or disable it on system level in Windows 8. Follow these steps. Else, skip to show Hibernate Option in Power Menu in Windows 8.

Launch Command Prompt as Administrator.
To Disable hibernation in Windows 8, type

powercfg /h OFF

To Enable hibernation in Windows 8, type

powercfg /h ON

Show Hibernate Option in Windows 8 Power Menu:
To show hibernation in power menu, open Classic Control Panel in Windows 8.
Go to Power Options.
Press or Click on “Choose what the power buttons do ” in left pane.
Select “Change settings that are currently unavailable”.
Check “Show Hibernate” which is unchecked by default.
Let us know in comments if you encounter any problem.

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How to Run or Open Command Prompt in Windows 8 as Administrator

Command Prompt is an essential tool in Windows OS to tweak and change system settings. It also exists in Windows 8. As Start Menu in Windows 8 has been changed, you might face difficult in finding it.
Launch Windows Explorer from Start Menu or Desktop.
Now, browse to any disk drive. In  this example, it is “C” drive.
Go to “File” Menu at top and hover at “Command Prompt” then select “Open Command Prompt as administrator”.
Alternatively, you can find it in Apps. To do so, press Windows Logo key + Q and select Apps. Command Prompt is listed under “A-C” section.
Right click on it and App Bar will appear at bottom. Go to “Advacned” and run it as Administrator.
You can also launch Command Prompt by browsing to the location C>Windows>System32. From here, you can also create a shortcut to desktop or pin it to Start menu or Taskbar.
If at any point, UAC asks for permission, proceed by choosing “Yes”.
Let us know in comments if there is any problem encountered.

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How to Sleep, Restart or Shutdown Windows 8

You just have installed Windows 8. After testing and playing with it, you are looking to Sleep, Restart, or Shut Down your Windows 8 PC. Bang! Where is the power menu in Windows 8. Don’t worry, Microsoft is trying to play a little “Hide & Seek” with you. The new Start Menu in Windows 8 does not contain power menu. Here is how to sleep, restart or shut down Windows 8.

Step 1:
Anywhere in Windows 8, move your mouse cursor or finger (touch) to bottom left corner and hover there for some time.
Windows 8 Charm Menu will open and it will look like this in Start Menu and Desktop respectively.
Now press or click on Settings and a pane will open on right side.
OR
Press Windows Logo Key + I to open Settings Charm
Step 2:
At the bottom, you can see “Power” with familiar icon. Click or press it and you can see options to Restart, Shutdown or Sleep.
You can also show Hibernate option in Windows 8 Power Menu.

Article Source By  windows8geek

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Where to download Windows 8 Preview?

Windows 8 Download is available on the Microsoft developer website. Using a different method than it did three years back, Microsoft has made a preview of Windows 8 accessible to anyone who takes the time to download the software. Everyone can download the preview of Windows 8. There are lots of forum posts, questions asked by users concerning where to download the Windows 8 preview.
Windows 8 Designer Preview, as Microsoft called the pre-beta build, was posted to a company website soon after 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, 13 September 2011
The download of Windows 8, which vary, from 2.8GB to 4.8GB in size, come with absolutely no restrictions, a company spokeswoman affirmed earlier in the day.
Microsoft offered customers their most-detailed look yet at the new operating system during a two-and-a-half-hour demonstration at its BUILD Windows conference, which opened Tuesday and extends through Friday.
When Microsoft first showed an similar developers preview of Windows seven in October 2008, the company restricted the early look to attendees at its Professional Developers Meeting (PDC), and told the general public to wait for a beta early the next year.
Within hours, the Windows 7 preview leaked to internet file-sharing sites.

Microsoft has made such leaks moot by offering Windows 8 itself.
On a new Windows Dev Center site, Microsoft provided links to three different versions of Windows 8.
The largest weighs in at 4.8GB and is a 64-bit edition that also includes developer tools such as a preview of Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Express and the SDK (software developers kit) for Metro-style applications.
Metro is Microsoft’s name for the Windows 8 tile-based user interface that borrows heavily from Windows Phone 7.
Two other editions, a 64-bit version (3.6GB) and a 32-bit version (2.8GB) of the operating system, can additionally be downloaded.
All are accessible as a disk image in .iso format that must be burned onto a DVD or USB flash drive for set up purposes.

The preview demands a Personal computer with 1GB of RAM (2GB for the 64-bit edition) and 16GB of hard drive space (20GB for 64-bit).

To install Windows 8 and the developers resources, users must overwrite the machine’s current operating system (XP, Vista or Windows 7) with a fresh install. The smaller sans-tools versions, however, can be installed while retaining the files, user accounts and settings on a Vista- or Windows 7-powered PC.
As it typically does when it releases early-look software, Microsoft warned casual users not to use Windows 8.
“The software is offered as is, and you bear the threat of using it,” said Microsoft on the download website. “It may well not be secure, operate properly or work the way the final version of the software will. It must not be used in a production environment.”

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Microsoft Upcoming Windows 8 Wallpapers

Windows 8 is an upcoming version of Windows from Microsoft Cooperation. Here you can find beautiful collection of Windows 8 wallpapers.

Windows 8 Desktop Wallpaper

Beta Windows 8 Wallpaper

Windows 8 Wallpaper

Clean Windows 8 Wallpaper

Unofficial Windows 8 Wallpaper

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