1. Understanding installation options
Administrators of smaller Windows Server environments in the
past have traditionally relied heavily on GUI-based tools for
administering servers because of the ease of use of such tools.
Scripting might occasionally have been used for some repetitive tasks,
such as performing a bulk creation of user accounts in Active
Directory, but most server management was done through the GUI in one
of the following ways:
-
By logging on interactively to a server’s console
-
By logging on remotely to a server using Remote Desktop
Connection (Mstsc.exe)
-
By using the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)
installed on a workstation
With the shift toward centralizing IT infrastructure within data
centers and cloud computing, however, most midsized and large
organizations now prefer to try automating as much Windows Server
administration as possible using scripting. With the enhanced Windows
PowerShell support in Windows Server 2012, such automation has now
become much easier.
Choosing an installation option
The default installation option when you install Windows
Server 2012 is now the Server Core Installation option instead of
the Server With A GUI (formerly called Full) option as in previous
versions of Windows Server. The reasons for this change are as
follows:
-
Server Core requires less disk space than Server With A
GUI, which can be important in data centers that use
virtualization to consolidate multiple virtualized server
workloads per physical host machine.
-
Server Core has a smaller attack surface, which makes it
more secure for data-center and cloud computing.
-
Server Core requires fewer software updates, which means
less servicing overhead.
-
Administrators can now switch between different
installation options after Windows Server 2012 has been
deployed, which means you can now change your Server Core
installations to Server With A GUI installations without having
to wipe and reinstall.
What this means is that administrators should always install
the Server Core option when deploying Windows Server 2012 unless you
have a compelling reason for installing the Server With A GUI option
instead.
In addition to the two installation options (Server Core and
Server With A GUI) you can choose from when you deploy Windows
Server 2012, there is also a third installation option available in
Windows Server 2012 called the Minimal Server Interface. This new
installation option can be configured only after deployment by using
either Server Manager or Windows PowerShell. It has all the
functionality of Server With A GUI except for the following
capabilities, which are not included:
-
Desktop user interface (traditional Windows
desktop)
-
Metro user interface (Start screen)
-
Windows Explorer
-
Internet Explorer
-
Some of the Control Panel utilities
The Minimal Server Interface installation has a smaller
servicing footprint than the Server With A GUI installation, but
administrators can still use it to run local GUI management tools
for administering a server.
2. Converting between installation options
You can use either Windows PowerShell or, in some cases, the new
Server Manager console included in Windows Server 2012 to convert
between different installation options.
Server With A GUI installations of Windows Server 2012 have two
additional features installed that are not installed on Server Core
installations:
-
Graphical Management Tools And
Infrastructure This feature includes various
infrastructure components and components that provide the Minimal
Server Interface that supports GUI management tools, such as MMC
consoles, but it does not include Windows Explorer, Internet
Explorer, or the Metro start screen. The Windows PowerShell name
for this feature is Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra.
-
Server Graphical Shell This
feature includes components that provide the full graphical user
interface, such as Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, and the
Metro start screen. The Windows PowerShell name for this feature
is Server-Gui-Shell.
In addition, a feature called Desktop Experience optionally can
be installed to provide Windows 8 features such as desktop themes,
photo management, and Windows Media Player. The Windows PowerShell
name for this feature is Desktop-Experience.
In most cases, administrators will want to use Windows
PowerShell to convert between the different installation options,
especially if they are managing remote servers in a data center or
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud environment. The two
Windows PowerShell cmdlets used for converting between different
installation options of Windows Server 2012 are the
following:
-
Install-WindowsFeature This
cmdlet can be used generally to install one or more roles, role
services, or features. The cmdlet also supersedes the older
cmdlet Add-WindowsFeature that was used in previous versions of
Windows Server, but Add-WindowsFeature still remains as an alias
for the newer cmdlet.
-
Uninstall-WindowsFeature
This cmdlet can be used generally to remove one or more roles,
role services, or features. The cmdlet also supersedes the older
cmdlet Remove-WindowsFeature that was used in previous versions
of Windows Server, but Remove-WindowsFeature still remains as an
alias for the newer cmdlet.
Both of the preceding cmdlets can be used for installing or
uninstalling features to either of the following:
Note that to install a particular feature on a Windows
installation or offline VHD, the feature binaries first must be
available for installation. Most feature binaries are available
locally in the side-by-side store (%windir%\winsxs folder) on
installations of Windows Vista and later. Note, however, that when
you perform a clean install of Windows Server 2012 using the Server
Core installation option, the feature binaries for the Graphical
Management Tools And Infrastructure feature and Server Graphical
Shell feature are not staged in the local side-by-side store of a
Server Core installation. This means that if you want to install
these features on a Server Core installation, you must specify an
alternate location for their binaries—for example, a mounted .wim
file of a Windows Server 2012 installation of the same service pack
level. Alternatively, you can allow the feature binaries to be
downloaded and installed from Windows Update, although this can take
some time with larger feature binaries.
Note
MORE INFO What does
“staged”mean?
When you want to service a Windows installation by adding or
removing a feature, the package containing the binaries for
installing that feature can be in one of three states:
-
Installed The package has
been installed and is present in the WinSxS folder.
-
Staged The package has
not been installed but is present in the WinSxS folder.
-
Absent The package is not
installed and is not present in the WinSxS folder. This state
is also sometimes referred to as “disabled with payload
removed.”
Packages that are not present in the WinSxS folder can still
be installed in Windows Server 2012 if you use the
–Source parameter for the
Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet to specify a mounted .wim file—or
you can omit the –Source parameter and allow
the package needed to be downloaded from Windows Update. The new
Features On Demand capability in Windows Server 2012 and described
later in this lesson also allows administrators to remove packages
from the WinSxS folder, something that could not be done on
installations of previous versions of Windows.
Converting Server Core to Server With A GUI
To use Windows PowerShell to convert a Server Core
installation of Windows Server 2012 to a Server With A GUI
installation, run the following command:
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
-Source C:\mountdir\windows\winsxs
The path C:\mountdir\windows\winsxs for the
–Source parameter in the preceding command
specifies a mounted Server With A GUI image in the install.wim file
in the \sources folder of your Windows Server 2012 installation
media.
Alternatively, you could allow the necessary feature binaries
to be downloaded and installed from Windows Update by omitting the
–Source parameter as follows:
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
Note that if you previously converted a Server With A GUI
installation to Server Core and did not remove the binaries for
these features, the binaries will remain staged in the WinSxS folder
and therefore do not need to be downloaded from Windows
Update.
Converting Server Core to Minimal Server Interface
To use Windows PowerShell to convert a Server Core
installation of Windows Server 2012 to a Minimal Server Interface
installation, use this command:
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra -Restart -Source C:\mountdir\windows\winsxs
The explanation of the –Source parameter
is the same as previously noted. To download and install the feature
binaries from Windows Update instead of a locally mounted .wim
image, use this command:
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra -Restart
Converting Server With A GUI to Server Core
To use Windows PowerShell to convert a Server With A GUI
installation of Windows Server 2012 to a Server Core installation,
run the following command:
Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
Converting Server With A GUI to Minimal Server
Interface
To use Windows PowerShell to convert a Server With A GUI
installation of Windows Server 2012 to a Minimal Server Interface
installation, use this command:
Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
Converting between installation options in offline
VHDs
To convert an offline VHD in which a Server Core installation
of Windows Server 2012 has been installed, run
Install-WindowsFeature with the –Source
parameter as shown previously but also include the
–vhd parameter to specify the path to the .vhd
file. For example, consider a virtual machine named SERVER6 whose
system drive is a VHD located in the following folder on the Hyper-V
host:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard
Disks\SERVER6.vhdx
If the virtual machine is offline (stopped), you can convert
the Windows Server 2012 installation on the VHD from Server Core to
Server With A GUI by performing the following steps:
-
Create a new folder named C:\mountdir on your Hyper-V
host. You will use this folder to mount the install.wim file on
your Windows Server 2012 installation media so that the
Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet can obtain the necessary feature
binaries from the WinSxS folder of a Server With A GUI image in
the .wim file.
-
Insert your Windows Server 2012 installation media into
the DVD drive (assumed to be the D: drive) on your Hyper-V
host.
-
Open a command prompt on your Hyper-V host and type
dism /get-wiminfo
/wimfile:D:\sources\install.wim to display the index
numbers of the Windows Server 2012 images in the .wim file. Make
a note of the image of a Server With A GUI image that is from
the same edition as your Server Core installation. For example,
if you installed the SERVERDATACENTERCORE image on your server,
note the index number of the SERVERDATACENTER image in the .wim
file.
-
Mount the .wim file by typing dism
/mount-wim /wimfile:D:\sources\install.wim /Index:<n>
/mountdir:C:\mountdir /readonly at an elevated command
prompt, where <n> is the previously
noted image number.
-
Open the Windows PowerShell console, and run the following
command:
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
-vhd " C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks\SERVER6.vhdx"
-Source c:\mountdir\windows\winsxs
-
Start the virtual machine using Hyper-V Manager, open it
using Virtual Machine Connection, and confirm that is now
running a Server With A GUI installation of Windows Server
2012.
Beginning with Windows Server 2012, you can completely remove
the installation binaries for features from the side-by-side store
(WinSxS folder) of a running Windows installation or an offline VHD
on which Windows has been installed. Administrators might consider
doing this on some installations for the following reasons:
To completely remove the binaries of a feature, use the
Uninstall-WindowsFeature cmdlet with the
–Remove parameter. For example, if you convert
a Server With A GUI installation to a Server Core installation, the
binaries for the Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra and Server-Gui-Shell features
remain staged in the side-by-side store. If you decide that you will
not be reinstalling those features, you can remove their binaries by
running the following Windows PowerShell command:
Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Remove
Note that if you remove the binaries for a feature, you can
still reinstall the feature later (and stage the binaries in the
side-by-side store again) by using the Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet
and either using Windows Update for downloading the binaries or
specifying a mounted .wim file using the
–Source parameter as described
previously.
