How do I... Install and configure Windows Server Core?

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Install Windows Server 2008 Server Core

Login

After the installation, the main window for your new installation appears and you are ready to login as shown.

Login

The initial login is Administrator and blank password.

Login

You are required to change the password and set an Administrator password on initial login.

Configuration

Now that you are logged in you are ready to configure the date, time, and time zone. In the command line type the following: controltimedate.cpl

Configuration

And set the options accordingly.

Configuration

If you need to configure and change the keyboard layout and settings, type the following in the command window: control intl.cpl

Configuration

Let's move on and change the server name. The default name is a bunch of random letters and numbers and I would like to change the name to a local standard. You can view the current hostname by typing the following:
c:\windows\system32\hostnameNow let's use the name ssw-svr15. We will perform this option in the command line by typing the following:
c:\windows\system32\netdom renamecomputer ¿mputernameò0/NewName:ssw-svr15

Configuration

After choosing to proceed, the task completes successfully. You now need to reboot the server using the shutdown command. For the proper syntax, type:
shutdown /?After reviewing the syntax, I will type the following: shutdown /r (switch for shutting down and restarting the computer) /t 10 (wait 10 seconds to shutdown and restart) /c "Changed Server Name" (add comment of max 512 characters). They total syntax will look as follows:
shutdown /r /T 10 /C "Changed Server Name"

Configuration

Let's now configure our networking so we can join this server to a domain. In order to see what interface you have to configure, type:
netsh interface ipv4 show interface

Configuration

The Local Area Connection that we are going to configure has an index value of two. Let's proceed and configure TCP/IP for this connection. Type the following command to set the TCP/IP information:
netsh interface ipv4 set address name="2" source=static address=192.168.1.199 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1

Configuration

Follow the same example to configure DNS:
netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="2" address=192.168.1.1 index=1

Configuration

If you type ipconfig /all, you will see the newly added information.

Configuration

Let's join it to a domain! In order to perform this function, we will take advantage of the netdom.exe. The syntax is as follows:
netdom join ssw-svr15 /domain:watchtower /userd:Administrator /passwordD:Password01

Note: Do not forget to reboot the server using the following command:
shutdown /r /T 10 /C "Added to domain"

Configuration

As a final step, we should not forget to activate the server by typing the following:
slmgr.vbs -ato

This doesn't even scratch the surface of what you can do with a Windows Server Core installation but it begins to show you how powerful command line is with a small Windows kernel. With the popularity of virtualization and server consolidation, having the ability to virtualize a server core installation and attach a single role will become very popular with the datacenter. My next test will be to try to install Virtual Server on my server core installation. Wish me luck!