Windows Server 2012 final release timing

Yesterday, Microsoft is kicking off an exciting week at our Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto.  At the conference we are announcing that Windows Server 2012 will be released to manufacturing in the first week of August.  The code will be complete and we will begin delivering it to our hardware partners.  Then, the product will be generally available to customers worldwide through multiple channels in September

This is great news! I can’t wait until this moment, so I spent some more hours whit the RC version for now! 😉

How to: Install a domain controller in Windows Server 2012

Now the Release Candidate version of Windows Server 2012 is available, I’ve setup a new testlab to play with this new version of Windows. A few posts ago you’ve seen the installation of Windows Server 2012. Now we’re going to prepare this server to become a domain controller. The simple command “DCPROMO” don’t work anymore, so we’ve to do some additional actions.

1.) Open the Server Manager and select Add roles and features
2.) Select Role-based or features-based installation
3.) Select the right server, in my example W2012 (172.16.1.100)
4.) Select the roles Active Directory Domian Services and DNS Server
5.) Select the features Group Policiy Management and DNS Server Tools
6.) After the installation of this roles and features, there’s a notification within the Server Manager Dashboard
7.) Select Promote this server to a domain controller. A Deployment Configuration Wizard starts
8.) Select Add a new forest and fill in the Root domain name. In my example TESTLAB.LOCAL
9.) Both Forest and Domain functional level are Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate
10.) If the domain controller is also an DNS Server, check the Domain Name System (DNS) server
11.) The domain controllers becomes also an Global Catalog (GC)
12.) You could choose to install an Read only domain controller (RODC)
13.) Fill in the NetBIOS name of the new domain. In my example TESTLAB
14.) Specify the location of the AD DS database, log files, and SYSVOL directory. Default it will be
C:\Windows\NTDS and C:\Windows\SYSVOL
15.) After all configuration, there’s a last prerequisites check. After this step, you can hit Install
16.) The server will reboot and the new Domain Controller is ready to use.

You can script all the steps above with powershell. You can use the following script.

#
# Windows PowerShell script for AD DS Deployment
#

Import-Module ADDSDeployment Install-ADDSForest ` -CreateDnsDelegation:$false ` -DatabasePath “C:\Windows\NTDS” ` -DomainMode “Win2012” ` -DomainName “TESTLAB.LOCAL” ` -DomainNetbiosName “TESTLAB” ` -ForestMode “Win2012” ` -InstallDns:$true ` -LogPath “C:\Windows\NTDS” ` -NoRebootOnCompletion:$false ` -SysvolPath “C:\Windows\SYSVOL” ` -Force:$true

       

       

       

       

   

How to: Install Windows Server 2012 in VMware Workstation

This week Microsoft has released the RC version of Microsoft Windows Server 2012, so I wanted to install it directly 🙂 Because I don’t have that much fysical hardware available, I’ve installed Windows Server 2012 in VMware Workstation 8.x.

1.) Create a new Virtual Machine
2.) Choose for Custom (advanced)
3.) Choose for Workstation 8.0 hardware compatibility
4.) Choose for I will install the operating system later.
5.) Guest operating system Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 x64
6.) Browse to your .VMX file on the hard drive and add the following rule into this file:
vmGenCounter.enable = FALSE
7.) Save the .VMX file and open your VM properties
8.) Attach your ISO to the VM
9.) Start the installation of Windows Server 2012
10.) You can choose two options for installation, Server Core Installation or Server with a GUI. In this example I’ve installed the GUI version.
11.) After the installation has finished, install the VMware Tools
12.) Choose for Custom installation
13.) Disable the SVGA Driver
14.) Install the VMware Tools en reboot the VM