This article lists the steps I used to setup Windows Server 2008 (WS2008) Standard Edition as a workstation operating system on two different laptops.

First, if you plan to use WS2008 and Hyper-V to run virtual machines on a laptop, you’ll get best results if your laptop meets these criteria:

• Processor that supports hardware virtualization (required for Hyper-V)
• At least 4GB memory (8GB if you want to run multiple virtual machines simultaneously)
• Fast internal hard disk (I’m using a 320GB 7200 RPM SATA drive)

I should also mention that I’m using WS2008 for running virtual machines in Hyper-V, and also for email, web-browsing, word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations. That’s it. Since Hyper-V performance is of primary importance to me, I don’t install the Vista-like Desktop Experience feature or tweak processor scheduling to improve media playback.

Now, here are the specific step to install WS2008.

1. If you’re replacing an existing operating system that you’ve already been using, then backup anything you want to save to an external drive. The folders I backed-up include:

a. C:\Users\{your username}

b. Project folders

2. Gather drivers for your laptop. Vista x64 drivers should work just fine.

3. Run the Windows installation

a. Create 2 partitions

    i. A 40GB partition called RECOVERY, for backups
    ii. All the rest goes to another partition SYSTEM

b. Install WS2008 on the SYSTEM partition

4. After the WS2008 installation completes, log on as Administrator and run Windows Update multiple times until there are no more Important updates to install.

5. Using the Server Manager app, add the following Role: Hyper-V.

6. Using the Server Manager app, add the Features you want. Here are the features I found useful:

a. Telnet Client (useful for testing ports and what have you)

b. Windows Server Backup

c. Windows Powershell

d. Wireless LAN Service

7. If you want to remove Internet Explorer Enhanced Security:

a. Using Server Manager, go to the Security Information section of the summary page and click on “Configure IE ESC”. Adjust settings to personal preference.

8. If you are not installed WS2008 SP1 (Build 6001), you may need to install the RTM version of Hyper-V. Download it from here.

9. Install your office productivity software.

10. Run Windows Update, install everything not marked Optional.

11. Using Windows Backup, backup the C: drive to the RECOVERY partition.

12. Using the Hyper-V Manager, available through the Server Manager, setup your virtual machines on Hyper-V.

13. Use this nifty converter tool to further configure the OS. Options I installed are:

a. General

    i. Set owner information

    ii. Disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration

b. Visual Tweaks

    i. Disable ctrl+alt+del at Windows Startup

    ii. Disable Shutdown Event Tracker

c. Network

    i. Enable Wireless Networking

d. Other

    i. Enable Windows Search Service

Gotchas

• Since Hyper-V is a service that’s always running, it’s more difficult to use VHDs on an external drive. I’ve been told that it is possible to unmount an external drive containing a VHD used by a Hyper-V virtual machine, but I’ve not yet figured out how.
   
• The Hyper-V role disables sleep mode and hibernate. I’ve seen some blog posts that describe a registry hack to enable sleep mode. But from what I’ve gathered it introduces system instability, so I’m willing to go without these handy features. More info here.
   
• It used to be that you could not install Windows Live Messenger or Windows Live Writer directly. But I’m pleased to report that the Windows Live installer now fully supports Windows Server 2008!
   
• If you install the Desktop Experience feature (I didn’t – don’t want to waste CPU cycles on it), Windows Vista desktop is not enabled by default, and it’s not at all clear how to get it setup. Here’s a great blog post that walks you through the process.
   
• Here is another excellent blog post on tweaks to make Windows Server 2008 a better desktop OS.
   
• Virtual machines configured to run on Virtual PC will need to be reconfigured to run on Hyper-V. This blog post walks through the process.

Way back in July I wrote a blog post explaining why I switched from Windows Vista to Windows Server 2008 (WS2008) as the primary OS for my laptop. Well I’ve lived with WS2008 for a few months now, and although there are more than a few inconveniences associated with it, I still think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, at least for the work that I do. As I installed WS2008 on my laptop I made notes, thinking this might be useful information, not only for the next time around, but also to share with my compatriots in the blog-o-sphere.

I recently purchased a Dell XPS M1530 laptop with all the bells and whistles: T9300 processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200 RPM internal SATA drive, and hi-res glossy widescreen display. This time I decided to leave Windows Vista on the machine to play games and movies and enjoy all the other consumer candy that comes with it. So, I installed WS2008 in a dual-boot configuration, with WS2008 being the default OS. To do this, though, I had to make room on the internal hard drive. I wanted to devote as little space to Vista as possible because I didn’t expect to use it much. Vista was consuming about 15GB, so I figured that shrinking it’s partition down to 30GB would be more than sufficient. Much to my surprise though, the Disk Management utility in Vista was not willing to shrink the volume below 150GB. WTF!

A bit of investigation lead me to this article. Based on its advice I defragged and optimized the volume using a 15-day free trial of Perfect Disk 2008. But some system files simply refused to move from the middle of the Vista volume. So, I did what any rational person would do: give up. I ended up with a 150GB Vista partition with gobs of free space. Arggh. As it turns out though, the Vista volume mounts as drive D in WS2008, so I decided to use all that extra space in the Vista volume (drive D) to store the huge virtual hard disk files (VHDs) for the Hyper-V virtual machines I would be installing later. Problem solved!

The WS2008 installation went smoothly. The WS2008 installer even set up the dual boot menu to appear on startup, with WS2008 as the default selection. Perfect!

In the next installment I’ll share the steps I used to install and configure Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition as a laptop OS.

Getting a virtual machine connected to the outside world in Hyper-V is a non-intuitive process. I had to bumble around with it a bit before finding the secret combination that worked well. Before I show you how it’s done (or at least one way of doing it), here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• When you add the Hyper-V role to Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V more or less takes over the physical computer and Windows Server 2008 becomes a virtual machine running in a special space called the home partition.
• Hyper-V uses the concept of virtual networks. It’s as if your computer magically ingested a Netgear network switch, you know, that little blue box with lots of blinking lights on one side and network cable plugs on the other, which you use to create a home computer network. That’s right, the brilliant folks at Microsoft figured out how to suck one of those network switched right into their server operating system (I’m not sure, but I think they’re using Wonkavision technology to do it). Not only is the network switch virtualized, but all the cables to connect to it are virtualized as well. Now that’s handy.
• Hyper-V implements three types of virtual networks: external, private and internal. An external virtual network gives virtual machines direct access to a physical network adapters on the physical computer. In effect, the virtual network shares the physical network adapter with the parent operating system (the Windows Server 2008 originally installed on the computer). A private network is used to connect two or more virtual machines running on the same physical computer to one another. An internal network is just like a private network, except it includes the parent operating system as well.
• A virtual machine connects to a virtual network through a Hyper-V network adapter. Yep, you guessed it – a Hyper-V network adapter is virtual as well. Each virtual network adapter can connect to only one virtual network. However, a virtual machine can have multiple virtual network adapters, with each adapter connected to a different virtual network.
• You can create any number of virtual networks and virtual network adapters in Hyper-V, limited only by how much load the hardware can support.
• You cannot create an external virtual network that connects to a wireless network adapter. Sorry, the folks who created Hyper-V simply decided not to go there. Fortunately there’s a simple workaround that I’ll show you in this post.

Let’s say you want to configure your virtual machine to automatically use the physical network adapter whenever it’s plugged into a live connection, and also use a wireless connection when the physical network adapter is not plugged in. Here’s how you do it:

Step 1. Setup your Virtual Networks

This procedure assumes that you are running Windows Server 2008 on a computer that supports hardware virtualization, and that you are logged into an account that is a member of the Administrators group.

• Launch the Hyper-V Manager

Create an Internal virtual network

• In the Actions menu, click on Virtual Network Manager
• In the box labeled “What type of virtual network do you want to create?” select Internal. Click the Add button.
• In the New Virtual Network dialog box, enter the following:
  - Name: Internal Virtual Network (wireless)
  - Connection type: Internal Only
  Click OK

Create an External virtual network

• Click on Virtual Network Manager
• In the box labeled “What type of virtual network do you want to create?” select Internal. Click the Add button.
• In the New Virtual Network dialog box, enter the following:
  - Name: External Virtual Network (wired)
  - Connection type: External
      Select the network adapter you want to use in the drop-down list
  Click OK
  
  The Virtual Network Manager should look something like this:
  
  
  

Step 2. Setup the Wireless Network Connection for Sharing

This step is the secret ingredient that allows a Hyper-V virtual machine to access a network connection through the physical computer's wireless adapter.

• Switch over to the parent operating system; i.e., the Windows Server 2008 originally installed on the physical computer.
• Launch the Network and Sharing Center
• Click on Manage Network Connections
  Note that there is a new network connection for each of the virtual networks you created in Step 3.
  
  
  
• Right-click on the Local Area Connection that shows “Internal Virtual Network (wireless)” below its name. Select Rename. Give it the name “Internal Virtual Network Connection”
• Right-click on the Local Area Connection that shows “External Virtual Network (wired)” below its name. Select Rename. Give it the name “External Virtual Network Connection”
• Right-click on your Wireless Network Connection and select Properties
• Click on the Sharing tab
• Select the checkbox labeled “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”
  
  
  
  
• Click OK
  Your Network Connections list should now look something like this:
  
  
  

Step 3. Connect a Virtual Machine to the Virtual Networks

The procedure can only be performed on a virtual machine that is turned off. Do this for each virtual machine you want to connect to the external world.

• Switch to the Hyper-V Manager
• Select the virtual machine you want to configure.
• Click on the Settings link
• In the Hardware list, click on Network Adapter
• In the Network Adapter properties pane, select Internal Virtual Network (wireless). Click the Apply button
• In the Hardware list, click on Add New Hardware
• In the Add Hardware properties pane, select Network Adapter, then click the Add button
• Back in the Hardware List, click on the Network Adapter marked “Not Connected”
• In the Network Adapter properties pane, select External Virtual Network (wired). Click the Apply button.
  The Hardware list should now contain these two entries:
  
  
  
  
• Click OK to complete the configuration.

Step 4. Give it a Whirl

• Verify that the parent operating system has Internet connectivity
• Start the virtual machine
• In the virtual machine, log on, open a web browser and browse to your favorite web site.

Your virtual machine should now have total Internet connectivity!

I just replaced Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on my laptop with the 64 bit version of Windows Server 2008. What prompted the change? Well, I was hoping to improve the lackluster performance of Vista. I would happily trade in the consumer goodies in Vista for better productivity. Unfortunately it seems to be an either/or proposition. But the most compelling reason for me was Hyper-V, the new virtual server from Microsoft. I do a lot of work with virtual machines, mostly to run a complete Visual Studio Team System environment in a sandbox for development and training purposes. Although Virtual PC 2007 is a good product, Hyper-V seemed to offer better performance and more flexibility with features like snapshots. Hyper-V also supports 64-bit guest operating systems, while Virtual PC 2007 can only run 32 bit OS’s.

After reading this article I was convinced that Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V was the setup for me. So, I took the plunge. In the next blog post, I’ll go over the process of installing Windows Server 2008 as a workstation OS (also dubbed Windows “Workstation” 2008).

By the way, I run a Dell 830 laptop with an Intel Core Duo T7500 mobile CPU and 4GB RAM. If your workstation does not support hardware virtualization, then it won’t run Hyper-V. However, you can enjoy the benefits of Windows “Workstation” 2008 and still run your virts using Virtual PC 2007 SP1. Although Windows Server 2008 is not officially a supported host OS for Virtual PC, it seems to work just fine.

I recently ran into a problem with our new Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 instance running on Windows Server 2008. I'm running Windows Vista x64 on my laptop, which has been working very well. But, when I tried to download a file from this new SharePoint site, the download started OK but then stopped almost immediately, as if the connection was lost.

I did some searching around the web and came across this post. As it turns out Windows Vista can negotiate the TCP packet size with Windows Server 2008 to optimize download speed. Apparently my router (A NetGear FVS318) is throwing a wrench in the works by blocking the SYN packets used to negotiate packet size. Result: no download!

Fortunately the fix is very easy once the  problem has been identified. Just run a Command Prompt as Administrator, and paste this onto the command line:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

That did the trick for me! However, you may want to re-enable auto-tuning when connected to a router that handles SYN packets properly. To re-enable TCP auto-tuning, use this command:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal

To see the current TCP settings on your Windows Vista client, use this command:

netsh interface tcp show global