Using Windows Server 2008 as a workstation OS
July 21st, 2008
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My Alienware PC is now running Windows Server 2008 as its primary operating system.
This takes me back to 1996 when I went from Windows 95 to Windows NT 4.0 as my desktop OS. At the time NT was thought of as mostly a server OS even though it had a Workstation edition. In fact, I worked at ITW automating the deployment of NT Workstation and applications for many mid-sized organisations like NPI (now AXA), Freinds Provident and EMI. But I digress..
Anyway, here is the list of steps I took to make Win2K8 appear like Vista;
- Add the Desktop Experience feature
- Change the Themes service to Auto startup
- Set the Theme to Windows Vista
- Set colour scheme to Aero (I was required to install the nVidia drivers to get Aero)
- Hacked the SideBar to work following this blog
There is a good blog entry stepping you through this and a ton more here. The following steps make the machine more like a desktop:
- Enable the Windows Audio service to get sound
- Disable the IE Enhanced Security (see blog here) for normal users (I left it on for admins)
- Disable the shutdown event tracker (KB here)
- Install browser add-ins like Flash (obviously I did this without the Google Toolbar) and Silverlight which is available in Windows Update