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What is the advantage of windows server 2008 mode
Windows server 2008 mode is a new feature in Server 2008 R2 that creates Server Core. The advantage of this is it reduces the amount of system resources required and simplifies the deployment process. This tool can be helpful for organizations with limited budget or those with very tight IT staffs. Windows server 2008 mode does not have all of the tools that other operating systems do.
Before taking this step, you should make sure that your hardware meets the requirements. This is true even if you don’t want to do full server mode. If your system does not meet the requirements for Server 2008 R2, then you will not be able to use Windows Server 2008 mode.
If you are interested in learning more about this process and have questions, try asking them here at Geekzone.
How to do Server 2008 R2 mode on Windows Server 2008 :
1. Go to the “Start” menu and click “Control Panel”.
2. Click “System and Security”.
3. Click on the “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” link. The Windows Firewall with Advanced Security window will open on your screen. (click here to enlarge)
4. Click on the “Windows Management Framework 3.0” link. (The Windows.Management.Framework3.0 window will open on your screen).
5. Click “Install”. It will show that it is installing on your screen.(click here to enlarge)
6. Once you have finished installing, close this window.(click here to enlarge)
How to enable windows server 2008 mode
You can enable the Windows Server 2008 mode by using the Server Manager in Server 2008 R2. To do this, right-click on the server name and click “Configure” and then “Configure advanced server settings”. Next, click on “Server manager” on the left side of the screen. You should see a screen that says: “Enable Windows Server 2008 Mode”. If you can’t see this, you may have to select or expand an option to find it. Click on “Enable Windows Server 2008 Mode”. After you have clicked on this and you have rebooted the server, it will load up in the Windows Server 2008 mode.
Note that there are some caveats to this advanced server option. First, Windows Server 2008 mode is not enabled for the whole system. Second, it is not supported on 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2008. Third, if it is enabled and you haven’t made a server-specific change in the /cfg/serverconfig.xml file that starts up Setup.exe, you automatically revert to standard mode and lose all configuration choices.
There are 2 methods to start RDP in Windows Server 2008 mode:
1. Run setup.exe and select option 3 (Reconfigure server). After booting the system to Windows Server 2008 mode, you can launch the Remote Desktop Connection program.
2. Enable the option “Enable remote connection to this computer” that appears in the properties of every network connection’s advanced properties, with a little more work:
What are some features of windows server 2008 mode
As you can see from the screenshot, the Server Manager is minimal. There are three options that have been removed from this version of Windows Server. The first is Microsoft Management Console (MMC) which has been replaced by the Server Manager. The second is Remote Desktop Services which has been replaced with a feature called Terminal Services. The third is MSMQ which has been removed and it’s functionality has been moved to WMI (Windows Management Infrastructure). It is important to note that not all of the programs have been removed. There are some other tools that have been added to Windows Server 2008 R2. These include PowerShell which is a management tool, but it also contains some scripting and automation capabilities that can be used to help manage server computers.
Another feature that has been added is Server Core. This is a light version of Windows Server 2008 R2 that has no GUI other than the command prompt. Since this is a very basic interface, it can be used to manage server computers from a remote location in case of an outage or when you want to schedule routine maintenance tasks. It should also be noted that there are some things that cannot be performed from the command prompt including configuring iSCSI, configuring physical disks, setting up RAID and anything else related to hardware.
How to switch back to standard mode
You can switch back to the standard Windows Server 2008 mode by using the same process with which you enabled Windows Server 2008 mode. You can do this from the server manager under “Configure advanced server settings”. You can also do this from the start menu under “Configure Server 2008 R2 for full installation”. At the bottom of the screen there is a button that says: “Switch back to Standard Server”. Once you have clicked on it, navigate to your server and press “Yes” on the next screen.
Note:
If you want to go back to Windows Server 2008 R2 mode, disable Hyper-V and reboot, and then re-enable it.
If you need to, you can remove the virtual machines from Virtual Machines (VMs) screen. Simply right click on the VM that you no longer need or is causing an issue and select “Delete”. This will permanently delete the VM from your server; be sure that you do not need this VM for anything else. Only do this for a VM that you no longer need, otherwise you will end up with a lot of empty space.
