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Are you 2010 demo ready –some advice from the field

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DougW Our technical guru in the field Doug Welsby of Canada answers the following question. Over to you Doug.

Why run a split partition?  Just load W2K8 R2 on the metal and with the desktop experience and some other tricks, it works almost exactly like Win7.

Here are my build tricks.   

Enjoy:

  • Set policies:
    • Local Security Policy | Local Policies | Security Options | Shutdown: Allow system to be shut down without having to log on
    • Local Computer Policy | Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | System: Display Shutdown Event Tracker
  • ● Disable Server Manager from automatically running at login
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Server Manager - Do not open Server Manager at logon   (0 to disable and open the window normally or 1 to enable and prevent the window from opening)
  • Enable the Windows Vista/Win7 User Experiences (various roles and features) - support.microsoft.com/kb/947036
    • Install 'Desktop Experience' feature
    • Set 'Themes' service to auto-start
    • Select an Aero Theme
    • Set 'Audio' service to auto-start
    • Install 'File Service' and sub 'Windows Search Service' role
    • Enable 'Shadow Copies'
    • Disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration
    • Set performance to best appearance
  • Install some workstation features - <weblogs.asp.net/israelio/archive/2008/02/21/windows-server-2008-as-workstation.aspx>
  • Several sites/blogs have been useful to configure W2K8 such as:
  • Install W2K8 R2 Roles Using Server Manager (some of this is done earlier in the rebuild steps):
    • XPS Viewer
    • Fax Server
    • File Services
    • Hyper-V
      • Modify Hyper-V to NOT start automatically so that you can still use sleep on the machine <old.markharrison.co.uk/blog/2008/09/sleep-hibernate-with-hyper-v.htm>.  You can have Hyper-V installed but not started by the following registry setting:
        • Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
        • [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\hvboot]"Start"=dword:00000003
      • Now, when I start my laptop i have full access to the power management functionality. If I need to demo a VM, I can start Hyper-V with the command "net start hvboot".  Power management is then disabled again until the next reboot.
    • Print and Document Services
  • Install W2K8 Features Using Server Manager (some of this is done earlier in the rebuild steps):
    • Desktop Experience
    • Wireless LAN Service
    • .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features
    • Remote Server Administration Tools (when joined to domain?)
  • Microsoft Update

Doug Welsby | Microsoft Canada | Principal Technology Specialist - Enterprise Project Management