[xper]

Windows Server 2008 to Workstation

Suggestions are welcome.

[Noise]

Awesome work, as usual, Xper.

Minor Issue: I noticed clicking on the page link to goto the next section gave a 404 error, clicking the descriptive link for the next page worked.

I realize this is a work in progress, just an FYI.

Edit. I just realized this issue only shows up on Page 4.

This post has been edited by Nois3: 22 March 2008 - 09:43 PM

[hoak]

I have a suggestion that will help the web version maintain its value as suppliment to the PDF (when that becomes available): In your game and application compatibility sections it might be worthwhile to allow signed members to update, and link those sections to the forum -- but if that's too riskey it would still be very valuable to link through to the forum regarding specific application or game configuration, performance and comparability issues.

For example the current known compatible games list "Less FPS" as an issue, without indicating less frames per second compared to what OS -- Vista, XP, Server 2003? If this were less FPS then say Vista, I'm sure someone will find out why and we'll be able to do something about it, if it's less then XP that wouldn't be much of a surprise or even a real issue if the game is still turning a better frame rate then on Vista...

User updating and linking to the forum would add a nice level of utility to the document that would keep it current and help maintain it as 'the single qualified source as a registry of information' about S2K8 as a Workstation's application and game compatibility and performance.

Handsome work as always!

This post has been edited by hoak: 18 April 2008 - 11:54 PM

[Jay_85]

I would like to know that is an internet connection required to install the “Desktop Experience”, “Aero Themes” & other necessary components to convert Server’08 into Workstation? Or they’re present in the installation disk itself?

Thanks

[limsy]

No words could describe my THANKS... *bow*

[solema]

XPer, I have to give you major kudos! That guide you made is the single most comprehensive "2K8 as Workstation" guide I've seen anywhere on the Internet. I've seen plenty of other guides, but ALL of them are missing some sort of key information, except yours. A major example: The audio tuning for 2K8. That "SystemResponsiveness" registry tweak is CRITICAL for sound performance in 2K8, yet most of the other online guides don't mention it at all!

Your guide is precisely what is needed for less experienced users to get their 2K8 workstation running great. I've already bookmarked it and I plan to pass the link to all my friends who are looking to get 2K8 running as a workstation. None of my friends know as much about computers as I do, but with your awesome guide I don't have to configure all of their machines myself! You've saved me AT LEAST 16 hours of my life I would have spent configuring friends' machines! If I could, I'd buy you a beer!

[shahed26]

solema, on Apr 30 2008, 03:32 PM, said:

XPer, I have to give you major kudos! That guide you made is the single most comprehensive "2K8 as Workstation" guide I've seen anywhere on the Internet. I've seen plenty of other guides, but ALL of them are missing some sort of key information, except yours. A major example: The audio tuning for 2K8. That "SystemResponsiveness" registry tweak is CRITICAL for sound performance in 2K8, yet most of the other online guides don't mention it at all!

Your guide is precisely what is needed for less experienced users to get their 2K8 workstation running great. I've already bookmarked it and I plan to pass the link to all my friends who are looking to get 2K8 running as a workstation. None of my friends know as much about computers as I do, but with your awesome guide I don't have to configure all of their machines myself! You've saved me AT LEAST 16 hours of my life I would have spent configuring friends' machines! If I could, I'd buy you a beer!

Y

[shahed26]

solema, on Apr 30 2008, 03:32 PM, said:

XPer, I have to give you major kudos! That guide you made is the single most comprehensive "2K8 as Workstation" guide I've seen anywhere on the Internet. I've seen plenty of other guides, but ALL of them are missing some sort of key information, except yours. A major example: The audio tuning for 2K8. That "SystemResponsiveness" registry tweak is CRITICAL for sound performance in 2K8, yet most of the other online guides don't mention it at all!

Your guide is precisely what is needed for less experienced users to get their 2K8 workstation running great. I've already bookmarked it and I plan to pass the link to all my friends who are looking to get 2K8 running as a workstation. None of my friends know as much about computers as I do, but with your awesome guide I don't have to configure all of their machines myself! You've saved me AT LEAST 16 hours of my life I would have spent configuring friends' machines! If I could, I'd buy you a beer!

i got BDA function working fully on server 08. i have 2 different tv card, and they all work even with 3rd part tv application ( i use dvbviewer pro), they scan all channels and display with awesome clarity compare to vista (with the right codecs, mine is cyberlink with dxva ON). i can also view HD channels.
Will be writing a guide soon.... stay tuned

This post has been edited by shahed26: 01 May 2008 - 11:48 AM

[meowing]

The only problem is the current Server 2008 install look different from those screenshots. What server version did you pick? What server version should we pick for this guide to work out right? Enterprise, Standard, or Web ?

It also asks for a Product Activation code.

And I noticed that setting your location to your home country ruins the rest of the OS ignoring the fact that you want it to be English. I'd recommend for people to set it all to US or UK if you want your downloaders and installers to remain in English.

[aspenjim]

Is it possible to allow WS2008 to hibernate or go into standby? I use hyper-v alot (for testing my unattended builds), but don't need the workstation running 24/7/365. It would be nice to enable the wake on lan feature so I could access a sleeping/hibernating PC remotely.

TIA

[oskingen]

aspenjim, on Sep 5 2008, 07:51 AM, said:

Is it possible to allow WS2008 to hibernate or go into standby? I use hyper-v alot (for testing my unattended builds), but don't need the workstation running 24/7/365. It would be nice to enable the wake on lan feature so I could access a sleeping/hibernating PC remotely.

TIA

A server doesn't sleep or hibernate.

[bboy_sonik]

hoak said:

keep it current and help maintain it as 'the single qualified source as a registry of information' about S2K8 as a Workstation's application and game compatibility and performance.

'Qualified'? There is another site dedicated to the Windows 2008 Workstation project, which is more complete and more active than this forum section... I know MSFN came first by a long shot, but... there are many missing and incomplete things on the guide/forums here.

Jay_85 said:

I would like to know that is an internet connection required to install the “Desktop Experience”, “Aero Themes” & other necessary components to convert Server’08 into Workstation? Or they’re present in the installation disk itself?

No internet connection required. DVD isn't required to be inserted either. Simply check the features in Server Manager and they install by themselves.

solema said:

That "SystemResponsiveness" registry tweak is CRITICAL for sound performance in 2K8, yet most of the other online guides don't mention it at all!

By "all other guides" I assume you mean the only other one actually worth mentioning, win2008workstation, and yes this is true that it isn't featured in the guide. But not everyone needs this tweak, my PC doesn't. But my older and slower one did. I think it only applies to soundcards that don't support hardware acceleration.

hannubys said:

A server doesn't sleep or hibernate.

Mine does. Please do some research before just making up your own words. Hyper-V disables Sleep/Hibernate functions. It is unknown whether this is a technical thing, or whether it is deliberate, or whether Server 2008 SP2 will fix this. There is however a work around:

1) Set the Hyper-V service startup type from Automatic to Manual either via services.msc or the following registry value...
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\hvboot]
Change "Start" entry to dword 3 value

2) Reboot. Sleep and Hibernate should work now, but Hyper-V is turned off. If you want to start Hyper-V, 'Start' the service via services.msc, or run the following command under CMD [command prompt]:

net start hvboot

3) Power management will then be disabled so no sleep/hibernate, but Hyper-V should work. You'll need to reboot if you want to put your PC to sleep apparently, but I don't see why you couldn't just stop the Hyper-V service again and it'll work? There may be something that Hyper-V breaks until reboot that prevents it, even if you stop the service...

This is untested, I just stole it from a site on Google cache that is down right now. I'm going to install Hyper-V and give it a go =)

P.S. Make sure you have BIOS Virtualization enabled for ultra-fast Hyper-V!

[durex]

What would be super useful is if someone threw together something that explained how to slipstream these changes directly into a Win2008 image. I maintain 10 workstations that I need to rebuild every 9-12 months and it would be super helpful if I had an image that had all of these changes enabled/configured by default.