Managing devices on Server 2008 Core Edition

Windows Server 2008 Core Edition doesn't have any interfaces to speak of locally, so how do you manage hardware on the server? It's possible and easily done on the Core installation.

Like many other configurations in Windows, you need to enable firewall access. You can turn off the firewall for this task.

The next step is to enable access to the universal plug and play (UPnP) driver. You need group policy access to follow this step, so this can either be a domain-based group policy setting, or you can do it locally. My previous tip outlines accessing the group policy remotely.

The UPnP driver is located in the group policy at Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | System | Device Installation. Figure A shows this value being configured to an enabled state.



Once remote administration and UPnP is enabled in the local firewall profile, the server's hardware can be remotely managed with device manager. You can do this within the Computer Management snap-in by right-clicking the root of the tree and selecting Connect To Another Computer to connect to the Windows Core server.

Browse to the Device Manager section, and you are viewing the Core server's hardware inventory. Figure B shows the remote device manager.



The remote device manager does not allow corrections to the server, as it is read-only. For most situations using Windows Server 2008 Core Edition, the driver update could be performed by a running executable or command-line installation of the driver. Further, most situations using Core installation would not be dealing with a complex hardware inventory, as their placement will generally be purpose-built.

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How to Configure the VPN Server?

To continue to configure the VPN server as required, follow these steps.

How to Configure the Remote Access Server as a Router

For the remote access server to forward traffic properly inside your network, you must configure it as a router with either static routes or routing protocols, so that all of the locations in the intranet are reachable from the remote access server.

To configure the server as a router:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Routing and Remote Access.
2. Right-click the server name, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click to select Router under Enable this computer as a.
4. Click LAN and demand-dial routing, and then click OK to close the Properties dialog box.

Source: support.microsoft.com/kb/323441

Small Business Server 2003 Defaults

Maintaining a fully fledged IT support services can extremely be a daunting task for many small business owners Poor IT management can affect any size of business especially when your business operations hinge on network availability. Without the availability of proper technical support resources, small businesses have a high risk of failure.

In a default Small Business Server 2003 installation, groups and user assignments are setup in “defaults” mode, which can cause catastrophic issues if handled incorrectly. The best method to deal with this is to change all of the default groups and assignments and start with your own customized groups and security.

By default, Small Business Server 2003 is setup with a few groups for security based on a small business environment. The administrator, by default, is made a member of the domain power users security group. The domain power users security group is nested inside another group called SBS Remote Operators. SBS Remote Operators are defined by local and domain group policy to deny logon locally. Try to log in to the console, and you will be informed that your administrator has denied your access to log in interactively to the server.

The solution is to remove the administrator from the SBS remote operators group as well as domain power users groups. The administrator only needs to be in the domain administrators and enterprise administrators for your domain. Second, browse to group policy locally and on domain policy and make sure that deny logon locally is disabled.

Accidentally assigning the administrator to either the domain power users or any remote desktop groups ( SBS Remote Operators and Terminal Server Users) will cause major problems. If the administrator cannot log on locally, then services will not start and reinstallation will be imminent.

By default, the administrator has remote desktop authority, so no further setup is needed.

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Windows Server 2003 - Mail Server Installation

Have a look at Windows server 2003 mail server installation.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zP77XWv-Hw

How to remove component from Windows Server 2008 R2 server core installation?

The Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool can permanently remove components from the file system, which means the role or feature can never be installed on the OS unless you perform a full OS reinstallation. Only remove components if you're sure you'll never need them. Goto the %windir%\servicing\packages folder. Take a note of the component you want to remove (it has a .mum extension) and copy the file name (without the .mum extension) Click to expand. At an elevated command prompt, run the command dism /online /remove-package /packagename:

Note that it's generally not recommended that you remove components, because you can't reverse this operation. This function is there for specific situations, such as trying to run on a flash drive, embedded device, or other system without much disk space.

Source:windowsitpro

ADMT 3.1 Doesn't Install on Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft has confirmed that an integration issue exists between the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) version 3.1 and the next iteration of the Windows Server platform. Specifically, ADMT 3.1 can fail to install on Windows Server 2008 R2, informing the customer that it has been tailored to the previous version of Windows Server, namely plain-vanilla Windows Server 2008.

Indeed, Microsoft lists only Windows Server 2008 as the sole operating system supported for ADMT 3.1, but at the same time the Redmond company did promise that backward compatibility would not be a problem when it comes down to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008. However, Fournerat explained that the problem was in fact related to a specific scenario.

“This issue also occurs with Windows 2008 machines that previously had ADMT installed, and then upgraded to Windows 2008 R2. ADMT will no longer function correctly and returns the same error as detailed above. Microsoft is aware of the issue and diligently working on a resolution. Please stay tuned for further details and updates,” Fournerat added.

The Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 is designed to streamline the object migration and task restructuring process associated with an Active Directory Domain Service (AD DS) environment, according to the Redmond company. Administrators are able for example to transition local user profiles (security translation) concomitantly with inter-forest migrations. “You can use ADMT v3.1 to migrate users, groups, and computers between AD DS domains in different forests (inter-forest migration) or between AD DS domains in the same forest (intra-forest migration),” Microsoft added.

Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 is available for download here.

How to Install Windows 2000 after Windows XP

Install Windows 2000

1. Use a Win98/Me Startup disk (with CD support) to boot your computer. If you don't have one, you can download the files to make a boot disk at www.bootdisk.com
2.Insert your Windows 2000 CD into the CD Rom drive.
3.At the A: prompt type X:'I386'WINNT.EXE where X: is your CD-ROM drive.
4.Proceed with the install. Install Windows 2000 to a different partition than XP is installed in.
5.Complete the Windows install. Allow the computer to boot into Windows 2000.

Note: You may also want to read this thorough guide on how to Install Windows 2000 Server

Repairing the Windows XP Boot Loader

Note: Some users have reported that Step 1 is not necessary, but in testing I found that it was. Since the C: drive is FAT32, you can use a 98/Me boot disk and skip Step 1, if you wish, but you may find that you need to do it anyway.

Boot your computer with the Windows XP CD. When prompted to Setup or Repair, choose Repair. In the Recovery Console, enter the following commands.

1.FIXBOOT, answer Yes
2.CD '
3.ATTRIB -H NTLDR
4.ATTRIB -S NTLDR
5.ATTRIB -R NTLDR
6.ATTRIB -H NTDETECT.COM
7.ATTRIB -S NTDETECT.COM
8.ATTRIB -R NTDETECT.COM
9.COPY X:'I386'NTLDR C:'
10.COPY X:'I386'NTDETECT.COM C:'

In Steps 9 and 10, X is the letter of your CD-Rom drive.