Win 2K3 [Workstation]

[Adis]

I'm using Windows 2003 Server (modified)
and it's stable like a bear!

First I do little modifications in installation and after installation I
maked also some modifications in system and it works very fine.

Anybody other tried this, I'm very satisfied

[Tjalfe]

I have W2K3 server on a machine at home, but I have not modified anything.
What did you do ? Turn off all server processes or something more complicated?

[UtwigMU]

Šta si uradio?

[DGhost]

not worth it. you disable all that crap and you wind up with something along the lines of Windows XP.

and, to boot...

Windows 2003 Server WAS NOT DESIGNED TO BE USED AS A WORKSTATION OPERATING SYSTEM.

there are numerous changes and differences that are important for a server but can cause problems or performance differences for workstation apps.

[Jammrock]

I have a document at work that has a bunch of steps to turn windows server 2003 into a workstation OS. People like doing it because once it's tweaked out it has the lean feel and operation of Win2k with the all the support and fun stuff of WinXP.

I've got Win2k3S on a machine at work, but that's actually a mini-server. The only problem I've had with WIn2k2S is some instabilities in the explorer shell, but that may have been fixed with a patch I have not downloaded.

I'll post the instruction tomorrow.

Jammrock

[KvHagedorn]

Thanks Jammrock.

[Lucid]

How to convert your Windows Server 2003... to a Workstation!

http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/

[Jammrock]

That link covers everything in my doc.

Thanks, Lucid.

[UtwigMU]

Why would one want to enable autologon, create another user besides administrator and give him admin rights instead of just renaming admin account using unattended install?

Why would one want MS Java, when Sun Java is fine and you need it anyway, if you want to run some other browser than IE (which is what most power users do)?

[Adis]

Hi to all

First I copied Win2K3 installation to HD and then replaced a
few files in installation. Then I burned files to CD and installed
Windows normally. After Installation I used little program which
enables disabled features needed for workstation.
After all it looks like WinXP with Win2K3 stability

Win2K3 Server can be a workstation,
you just need to enable some things.

If somebody need files, please PM me...

UtwigMU
Samo sam prekopirao instalaciju Windowsa na harddisk i
zamijenio neke fajlove u instalaciji novim koje sam skinuo sa
interneta i poslije toga snimio novu instalaciju na CD.
Poslije instalacije (koja je ista kao za XP) jos treba samo da
se pokrene jedan mali programcic koji omoguci upotrebu
servera kao workstation. I to je sve

Ako ti trebaju fajlovi molim te posalji privatnu
poruku jer ne smijem stavljati link za fajlove ovdje.

Pozdrav

[Sasq]

Actually you need sun java anyway, as MS has stopped support for their JRE

[DentyCracker]

Done that since late last year as my secondary install. Has some quirks, some stuff won't install on it (Quickcam v8 software, ATi MMC 8.9 [8.8 installs])

[DGhost]

wow... that is the most obfusicated way of doing something possible...

please people, just use XP... you don't get any benefit from running server...

i mean, seriously... half of that stuff re-enables features that are enabled by default in XP and the other half disables features that are enabled in XP... plus, it leaves any server related services enabled (assuming they are enabled by default, which most are thankfully not)...

*sigh* such a waste of time.

[MultimediaMan]

Before you knock it DGhost, give it a try. For some people, it is exactly what they want.

It is really nice getting an OS install that takes less than 3GB of Disk Space, and runs like stink...of course it goes without saying you don't have to worry about the ~80MB of updates that XP has accumulated since 2002. You have about 20MB of updates for Win2K3 by comparision.

That said, I tried it, and came away without the compelling need to use it as a "daily driver". If I want a Server OS, I'll use a Server OS. Since I run RIS with SUS on my Home Server, downloading those all of those Updates from Microsoft has largely been automated. And Since my Home network is 100 Megabit...updates get sent to the clients rather quickly.

I use Win2K3 Server at work and at home: I only have 2 licenses for Win2K3, one for my Home Server, and the other I use for development purposes to test machine setups/configurations.

It is a really flexible Server OS, reasonably secure in default configurations, and extremely easy to administer. Oh yeah, it takes quite a bit less disk space than a newer Linux Distro, too.

[Adis]

I think Win2K3 uses about 1.9GB of HDD space...