Convert W2003 Server into a Workstation

[swannema]

For you 2003 users out there. A very good article to read.

http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/

"The purpose of creating this guide is to make it short, simple, and to the point! This is the only guide you will find on the Internet that has gone into so much depth. The sections above do not have to be taken in any particular order, but for the full Workstation experience it's recommended you do it step-by-step!

I won't go into too much detail here, besides who loves reading too much? Not many people I bet, so I will go straight to the point in these sections, allowing a quick and easy configuration of your Server to convert it to act like a Workstation!"

[pointreyes]

I like the neowin guide better.

I left the link to neowin on this thread: http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showth...378#post459378

But here it is again if you want two guides to use: http://www.neowin.net/articles.php?a...ge=1&pagenum=1

[pointreyes]

I made this a sticky thread since this is one of the more common topics, at this time, in this OS Zone.

[realdieu]

Thank you. I was just thinking about doing this...

Originally posted by swannema
For you 2003 users out there. A very good article to read.

http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/

"The purpose of creating this guide is to make it short, simple, and to the point! This is the only guide you will find on the Internet that has gone into so much depth. The sections above do not have to be taken in any particular order, but for the full Workstation experience it's recommended you do it step-by-step!

I won't go into too much detail here, besides who loves reading too much? Not many people I bet, so I will go straight to the point in these sections, allowing a quick and easy configuration of your Server to convert it to act like a Workstation!"

[SubZero]

For whatever reason... Do NOT install the intel application accelerator on 2k3. I was so stupid to try it and I needed to put restore from an image. Even safe mode or others options didn't get my system running again.

[switch_abx]

When installing W2K3 as Workstation, does it have the same home calling symptoms as XP has?

[pointreyes]

Originally posted by Switch
When installing W2K3 as Workstation, does it have the same home calling symptoms as XP has?

Actually installing w2k3 Server as a Workstation is a misnomer-it's still a server OS-it just acts like a workstation in the sense of playing games and using other 3D type stuff. You still cannot install workstation software like DriveImage, PartitionMagic, O&O Defrag Workstation, etc. As for the 'home calling' symptoms I suspect you are talking about connecting to MS for reporting errors and PA? Or do you mean something else. AFAIK, it appears that w2k3 would do the same as XP.

[switch_abx]

Well, actually, the home calling is not su much the problem. One can disable it with many utilities.

Does it go throught the same registration process as XP? You get a key, I think, from MS to permanently activate. Same with W2K3?

[pointreyes]

It's just like XP Pro; however, you do get 60 days instead of 30 days before you have to activate it. I never have had to register the software-just activate it.

[David Habermehl]

Originally posted by pointreyes: ... You still cannot install workstation software like DriveImage, PartitionMagic, O&O Defrag Workstation, etc ...

Can I instead run PM8 from its Rescue Disks? Can I run Norton Ghost 2003 from its Rescue Disks? Or is an NTFS partition on which Win2K3 has been installed fundamentally different from, say, an XP NTFS partition? Apologies if those are dumb questions :-)

[pointreyes]

Originally posted by David Habermehl
Can I instead run PM8 from its Rescue Disks? Can I run Norton Ghost 2003 from its Rescue Disks? Or is an NTFS partition on which Win2K3 has been installed fundamentally different from, say, an XP NTFS partition? Apologies if those are dumb questions :-)

Not dumb at all. You can run PM8 from it's rescue disks but only if you don't have the Server OS partition active. Using a dual boot system, you can resize partitions from another OS on the hard drive. Using a multi-boot system, you must use the rescue disks and ensure that the primary partition that the server resides on is not active.

DriveImage 2002 does not have a problem with w2k3 server residing on the box; however, the seriously poorly designed piece of junk, lousy undersupplied, useless, worthless, DriveImage 7 will not work on a multi-boot system as nearly as good as DriveImage 2002. I'm anxious for TrueImage to come out with a solution on the ICH5R because, as you can tell, I throughly hate DI7.

[realdieu]

Most importantly, do you see any performance differences between XP and 2003?

[pointreyes]

Originally posted by realdieu
Most importantly, do you see any performance differences between XP and 2003?

I don't see an increase but it would be hard for me to judge it since I'm using 2003 as a desktop and as a server. I have the 9800 Pro and the LeadTek TV2000XP Dlx on it along with running Active Directory and ISA. I have something like 70+ processes running in the background. Comparing that to XP's usual 45 processes makes it a little harder to determine. However, it appears that normally the benches are close to each other (I have both OSes on this box - as multi-boot, not dual boot) which would denote that the server is actually a little faster considering it has to handle more load.

[CJ]

Originally posted by pointreyes
DriveImage 2002 does not have a problem with w2k3 server residing on the box; however, the seriously poorly designed piece of junk, lousy undersupplied, useless, worthless, DriveImage 7 will not work on a multi-boot system as nearly as good as DriveImage 2002. I'm anxious for TrueImage to come out with a solution on the ICH5R because, as you can tell, I throughly hate DI7.

Slightly OT here, but I just switched to TrueImage from DI7, because DI leaves 15MB of crap running all the time, as opposed to TI, with nothing loaded unless its actually doing an image.

Do you have any info/leads or anything on the next version of TI? I'm really hoping they add a verify option to the next release.

Thanks,
CJ

[SubZero]

For one reason or another, maybe not supported by benchmarks, 2k3 feels much smoother and faster.

I didn't get pm8 running on our 2k AS systems properly because I think it stupidly assumes we are using dynamic disks! Another theory is that Powerquest needs to make more money with their v2i server version.