Windows Server 2012: Installing and Configuring Servers

• Planning for a server installation
• Installing Server Core
• Optimising resource utilisation using Feature on Demand
• Migrating roles from previous versions of Windows Server
• Deploying roles on servers
• Converting Server Core to and from full GUI
• Configuring services
• Configuring local storage

Chapter 1: Installing Windows Server 2012

Applies To: Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

System Requirement

• Processor: Minimum 1.4 GHz 64-bit
• RAM: Minimum 512MB
• Disk: Minimum 32GB

Before You Start Setup

Disconnect UPS devices. Setup automatically attempts to detect devices that are connected to serial ports, and UPS equipment can cause issues with the detection process.

Backup your servers. Your backup should include all data and configuration information that is necessary for the computer to function. When you perform the backup, be sure to include the boot and system partitions and the system state data. Another way to backup configuration information is to create a backup set for Automated System Recovery.

Disable your virus protection software. It can make installation much slower by scanning every file that is copied locally to your computer.

Provide mass storage drivers. If your manufacturer has supplied a separate driver file, save the file to a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive in either the root directory of the media or the amd64 folder. To provide the driver during Setup, on the disk selection page, click Load Driver (or press F6). You can browse to locate the driver or have Setup search the media.

Be aware that Windows Firewall is on by default. Server applications that must receive unsolicited inbound connections will fail until you create inbound firewall rules to allow them.

Supported Upgrade Path

If you are running:	You can upgrade to these editions:
Windows Server 2008 Standard with SP2 or Windows Server 2008 Enterprise with SP2	Windows Server 2012 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter with SP2	Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Web Server 2008	Windows Server 2012 Standard
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1	Windows Server 2012 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter with SP1	Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Web Server 2008 R2	Windows Server 2012 Standard

Windows Server Installation Option

Create a feature file or side-by-side store

• To create a feature file store
• 1. Create a shared folder on a server on your network. For example, \\network\share\sxs.
  2. Verify that you have the correct permissions assigned to the feature store. The source path or file share must grant Read permissions either to the Everyone group (not recommended for security reasons), or to the computer accounts (DOMAIN\SERVERNAME$) of servers on which you plan to install features by using this feature store; granting user account access is not sufficient.

     You can access file sharing and permissions settings by doing either of the following on the Windows desktop.

     • Right-click the shared folder, click Properties, and then change allowed users and their access rights to the folder on the Security tab.
     • Right-click the shared folder, point to Share with, and then click Specific people.

Method of removing feature files