How to Install Windows Server 2008 Step by Step

Installing Windows Server 2008 is pretty straightforward and is very much like installing Windows Vista, but I thought I'd list the necessary steps here for additional information. For those of you who have never installed Vista before, the entire installation process is different than it used to be in previous Microsoft operating systems, and notably much easier to perform.
Note: Windows Server 2008 can also be installed as a Server Core installation, which is a cut-down version of Windows without the Windows Explorer GUI. Because you don’t have the Windows Explorer to provide the GUI interface that you are used to, you configure everything through the command line interface or remotely using a Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The Server Core can be used for dedicated machines with basic roles such as Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services, DNS Server, DHCP Server, file server, print server, Windows Media Server, IIS 7 web server and Windows Server Virtualization virtual server.









Follow this procedure to install Windows Server 2008:

1. Insert the appropriate Windows Server 2008 installation media
into your DVD drive. If you don't have an installation DVD for Windows Server
2008, you can download one for free from Microsoft's Windows 2008 Server Trial
website.

2. Reboot the computer.




3. When prompted for an installation language and other regional options, make
your selection and press Next.



4. Next, press Install Now to begin the installation process.



5. Product activation is now also identical with that found in
Windows Vista. Enter your Product ID in the next window, and if you want to
automatically activate Windows the moment the installation finishes, click
Next.



If you do not have the Product ID available right now, you can leave
the box empty, and click Next. You will need to provide the Product ID later, after
the server installation is over. Press No.



6. Because you did not provide the correct ID, the installation
process cannot determine what kind of Windows Server 2008 license you own,
and therefore you will be prompted to select your correct version in the next
screen, assuming you are telling the truth and will provide the correct ID to prove
your selection later on.



7. If you did provide the right Product ID, select the Full version of
the right Windows version you're prompted, and click Next.



8. Read and accept the license terms by clicking to select the
checkbox and pressing Next.



9. In the "Which type of installation do you want?" window, click the
only available option – Custom (Advanced).



10. In the "Where do you want to install Windows?", if you're
installing the server on a regular IDE hard disk, click to select the first disk,
usually Disk 0, and click Next.



If you're installing on a hard disk that's
connected to a SCSI controller, click Load Driver and insert the media provided by
the controller's manufacturer.
If you're installing in a Virtual Machine environment, make sure you read the
"Installing the Virtual SCSI Controller Driver for Virtual Server 2005 on Windows
Server 2008"
If you must, you can also click Drive Options and manually create a partition on
the destination hard disk.

11. The installation now begins, and you can go and have lunch.
Copying the setup files from the DVD to the hard drive only takes about one
minute. However, extracting and uncompressing the files takes a good deal
longer. After 20 minutes, the operating system is installed. The exact time it takes
to install server core depends upon your hardware specifications. Faster disks will
perform much faster installs… Windows Server 2008 takes up approximately 10
GB of hard drive space.



The installation process will reboot your
computer, so, if in step #10 you inserted a floppy disk (either real or virtual),
make sure you remove it before going to lunch, as you'll find the server hanged
without the ability to boot (you can bypass this by configuring the server to boot
from a CD/DVD and then from the hard disk in the booting order on the server's
BIOS)

12. Then the server reboots you'll be prompted with the new
Windows Server 2008 type of login screen. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log
in.



13. Click on Other User.



14. The default Administrator is blank, so just type Administrator
and press Enter.



15. You will be prompted to change the user's password. You have
no choice but to press Ok.



16. In the password changing dialog box, leave the default
password blank (duh, read step #15…), and enter a new, complex, at-least-
7-characters-long new password twice. A password like "topsecret" is not valid
(it's not complex), but one like "T0pSecreT!" sure is. Make sure you remember
it.



17. Someone thought it would be cool to nag you once more, so
now you'll be prompted to accept the fact that the password had been changed.
Press Ok.





18. Finally, the desktop appears and that's it, you're logged on and
can begin working. You will be greeted by an assistant for the initial server
configuration, and after performing some initial configuration tasks, you will be
able to start working.


For Official Microsoft information on Windows Server 2008, see the:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/default.aspx