Installing Win2008 info

[crisnee]

I received several pms asking me to start a topic about installing W2008 (as I'd mentioned installing it in a recent post). So here it is. If this is not appropriate for some reason feel free to remove it, move it, ignore it or whatever.

It includes where I got the OS (free evaluation up to 240 days), a few delays I ran into and how you can avoid them (by reading this) and a few implementations that ease things along and get the OS out of the way. It should save anyone inexperienced in these matters quite some time.

I've had no problems with the OS in the week I've had it running. It's clean and quick but annoying if you don't set it up to your liking. It's Vista Spartan in Server clothing. Just to be clear I used the W2008 Sp1 64bit version on an Asus Intel Dual Core 5200 4 gb PC with a 640 gb Hd which also houses Vista Premium 64bit and Win7. I use WS2008 just for music playback software which is housed on a 2gb ramdisk.

If you need to set-up partitions there's a great free partition manager/resizer. (http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html ) If you're using 64bit OS you'll have to buy their pro version. Still worth it I think as it works very well, cleanly and efficiently, and there's a significant discount available. It cost me less than $20.

Where to Download WS2008. it's a 2gb file (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=b6e99d4c-a40e-4fd2-a0f7-32212b520f50 )
                           
Logging In the first time completely flummoxed me. You're confronted with a user-name and password screen. You're thinking, but I don't have one. Then, if you've gone through this kind of thing before the standard procedure comes to mind. admin, admin; nope. nothing, nothing; nope, admin, nothing; nope. Admin, nothing; nope! Now you're getting a bit worried, or I was. I tried what I thought were all the standard methods and then some, but nada.  I found help (http://www.elmajdal.net/Win2k8/How_To_Log_On_To_Windows_Server_2008.aspx ). However, if I remember right you may not have to go there, it's Administrator (the whole word—I'd never seen that used before) then nothing > enter. phfew. That took much too long to do basically nothing. That's why I made y'all read all this, so you could feel a bit of my pain.
                                                 
So after all that you get a screen that seems pretty much devoid of character and icons. That's because it is. Go to the start menu and you'll find the few necessities you'll need. Control panel, administrative tools, text editor, Computer.

Things work pretty much as they do in Vista, just at a spartan level. It ain't pretty but if you work at it a bit it'll be plenty functional.

First thing I did was Turn off UAC.
Start Menu>Search Box>Msconfig.exe>Tools>Scroll down list to Disable UAC, Highlight it >Launch>OK. You'll have to reboot to enable the change.

I did the following because I will not be using this as a server and it is not going on line. For me it's a partition set up solely for music software. The music data is on other partitions and disks. If you plan to use it as a server I'd think seriously before I made some of the following changes.
                                                                              
Disable screen saver (or set to long time), and definitely disable log-in at time-out option.
Right click desktop>personalization>screen saver

Change User setup so that you don't need a password to log-in/boot-up. It becomes really annoying because W2008 forces you to use a strong password (a mix of upper and lower case letters plus numbers) especially if you're like me and need to find reading glasses every time. The easy way. Create another user profile and don't give it a password.
Startmenu>Searchbox type “user” (don't include quotes) select user accounts>manage another account. It's self explanatory from there.

If you don't want to add an account you'll have to find the answer yourself. A good book for dealing with typical Vista and thus W2008 annoyances is oddly enough named “Windows Vista Annoyances,” by David A Karp, O'Reilly Press.

Enable standard vga and 16bit colors (uses less resources but you also lose sleep/hibernation)

Disable audio devices leaving only your audiophile device. Also disable other devices like network adapters and whatever else you won't be using.

I won't get into the services and ram disk stuff as that's been documented all over.

That should get you started. Any questions, don't ask me cause it's new to me too (ok, if you can't understand my instructions you can ask).
Chris

[manisandher]

I'm currently using the same trial version and it installed and works a treat.

However, at some point (within 240 days) you're going to have to install a licensed version. I've found sourcing a full retail licensed version an absolute nightmare!

If you're tempted to buy one from eBay or the likes, be VERY careful - there are loads of counterfeit ones out there. Read this beforehand: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270649012104&ih=017&category=41882&ssPageName=mem_guide:1&rd=1

Also, check out www.howtotell.com, which is Microsoft's own website.

I bought one from the eBay seller, oo00_gagga_gizmos_00oo, which turned out to be fake. It was obvious within 2 seconds of receiving it through the post. I'm currently having big problems getting my money back from PayPal. The main issue is that because it's counterfeit, I'm not permitted to simply return it to the seller for a refund. I need to get an expert to verify that it's counterfeit (even though it's obvious), which isn't that easy to do. Oh, and they've given me 3 days in which to do this... and I'm working in Malaysia for the rest of the week!

Anyway, having done loads of research, in the UK a kosher OEM w2008 (non-R2) will cost you ~€500. A kosher non-OEM W2008 (non-R2) will cost you ~€1000. I've ordered the latter because apparently, OEM software is linked to your HW - there are rumours that MS does not allow mobo changes, etc. In any event, if you find either version for substantially less than these prices, it's probably a fake, and the product key may not work.

If you do find kosher versions for less than these prices, then let everyone here know.

Mani.

[Telstar]

Considering that Vista retails for less than 100€ in a shop and it's 100% original, what's the benefit of using 2008 server?

We can disable the graphics anyway in Vista....

[crisnee]

However, at some point (within 240 days) you're going to have to install a licensed version. I've found sourcing a full retail licensed version an absolute nightmare!

If you're tempted to buy one from eBay or the likes, be VERY careful - there are loads of counterfeit ones out there. Read this beforehand: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270649012104&ih=017&category=41882&ssPageName=mem_guide:1&rd=1

Mani, I'm glad you mentioned that. I did briefly in my other post, but forgot to here. I haven't gone through the lengths you have trying to find out how to buy a key, but the task does seem daunting, and possibly expensive.

Something else I forgot to mention. After you download W2008 and you click on it, you extract it to an iso file (I think that's how it got to that state--I forget the details, but whatever, you end up with an .iso). I burned it to a DVD and installed it from there (I booted from the dvd).

As for why use it versus Vista. It seems more stable, probably because aside from it's server aspects which I won't be using, it's stripped down. Some claim the sound is better. I have no opinion on that yet. But stable, reliable, especially where it concerns XX is a big deal in my opinion. I've had so much trouble keeping XX running for any length of time in Vista, but no problems in W2008. I find it hard to stay in the mood to listen to music when I have to fumble around with the player (XX) constantly. I listen to the J.R. player a lot just because it works reliably even if it's sound might be slightly lacking. By the way I think apparent SQ has a lot to do with factors besides hardware/software. Mood, state of mind, and biological/physical state being huge among them.

Chris

[PeterSt]

Thanks for the effort of writing this all down Chris.

By the way I think apparent SQ has a lot to do with factors besides hardware/software. Mood, state of mind, and biological/physical state being huge among them.

Don't underestimate what might be really happening here. To my findings it works largely the other way around;
My mood is rather the same always, but will be destroyed when it "doesn't sound". I get annoyed in not being able to find something which I can play throuhgout. But I learned that it's always "the system" doing that to you. Ok, in my case.
What *is* important to mood stuff though, is what you select in the first place. For example, my mood could be "happy Jamaica" and next want to play some reggae and skip Bob Marley. Well, not much good sounding reggae out there ... The studio's must be like the roads there. Haha.

Peter

[Josef]

As for why use it versus Vista. It seems more stable, probably because aside from it's server aspects which I won't be using, it's stripped down.

Chris - 'more stable' etc....this is a myth.

Server 2008 is identical to Vista SP1, just configured differently (as you correctly suspected: 'it's stripped down').
In fact, MS released Server 2008 at same day they released Vista SP1 and they even called it Server 2008 SP1 (!) which confused a lot of people - See here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/iainmcdonald/archive/2008/02/15/windows-server-2008-is-called-sp1-adventures-in-doing-things-right.aspx

Don't waste your money on 2008 - get much cheaper Vista, use vLite to strip the cr*p out and you are 99.99% there - spend the saved cash on some nice music & wine ......  (btw the remaining 0.01% you won't need or can get by couple registry tweaks).

 

[crisnee]

Josef,

Thanks for the info, I suspected as much and wasn't planning to spend much if anything on it. I was pretty much just experimenting as I have Vista already although not a "Real OS disk" just that which is part of the recover cd (a rather annoying fairly recent turn of events, not getting an OS disk with one's purchase).

I'm trying to determine if there really is a significant worsening of sound re Win7 versus Vista (I have the Win7 family pack and a bunch of pcs) and thought going the Win2008 route would be the simplest way to determine it--don't ask just think Vista, Win08 similarity. I've heard Vlite mentioned here several times, where does one get it?  And any tricks or things to watch out for when dealing with it?

Chris

[praphan]

I won't get into the services and ram disk stuff as that's been documented all over.

That should get you started. Any questions, don't ask me cause it's new to me too (ok, if you can't understand my instructions you can ask).
Chris

Hi Chris,
I had Win2008 set up successful and would like to disable some of the services. I need to have internet access though since I will control XXHE by Logmein VNC. Can you please give me a clue on what services need to be there and cannot be disable.
Thanks
Praphan

[crisnee]

Hi Praphan,

Sorry I've been a little slow in responding. You need the same services pretty much that you need in Vista. I forget exactly which they are, I'm not on the Win2008 computer and will not be on it for a few days, but there've been several fairly recent posts detailing the minimum services needed for Vista. Searching should find them for you.

By the way, you can still disable a lot of the web related services, even though you will be using the internet. Go into the services service, high light a particular service for info as to its function.

Also if you like you can pm me and I can send you a detailed spreadsheet of services for Vista with recommendations about whether and why to disable them or keep them enabled. It's a tech-data sheet (I didn't create it) aimed at security for admins (but it's useful for anybody).

Chris