{"id":880,"date":"2007-08-14T19:11:02","date_gmt":"2007-08-14T18:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/08\/a-few-commands-to-get-started-with-windows-server-core.htm"},"modified":"2007-08-14T19:19:43","modified_gmt":"2007-08-14T18:19:43","slug":"a-few-commands-to-get-started-with-windows-server-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/08\/a-few-commands-to-get-started-with-windows-server-core.htm","title":{"rendered":"A few commands to get started with Windows Server Core"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quoting Scotty McLeod<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Mark<\/a> mailed me last night to ask about my crib sheet for Core Server but as it was Friday evening was taking a rest from the digital world. A hour and a half later he mailed me back to say he had found all he needed.<\/p>\n

Now this was from the mail Mark’s first real go in anger at installing and configuring Core Server but we have to remember he is an great Windows professional and old enough to have used command lines for a significant proportion of his life with computers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m honoured that Scotty refers to me as a professional but somewhat concerned at the same time that my age (I’m only 35!) is linked with command line usage. Actually, I think it’s got more to do with geekiness and although I can’t confess to being a Linux\/Unix expert, I do love diving into a command shell. I guess what Scotty is saying is that I’m old enough to have cut my teeth in the computing world before GUIs were the norm – and he’s right.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to Server Core. I love it. I hate it. No, I love it. Well, I love the idea and I’m sure I will<\/em> love using the product but, because it’s not yet finished, the administration of a Server Core box can be a chore. Consequently, here’s my checklist of tasks from when I needed to get a Server Core box up and running last Friday (based on the June CTP build).<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Enable remote desktop (from a Windows Vista client):
    \ncscript %windir%\\system32\\SCRegEdit.wsf \/ar 0 <\/code><\/li>\n
  2. Change the machine name:
    \nnetdom renamecomputer %computername% \/newname:newcomputername<\/em> <\/code><\/li>\n
  3. Set the IP address for the primary NIC:
    \nnetsh interface ipv4 set address \"Local Area Connection\" ipaddress<\/em> subnetmask<\/em> gatewayipaddress<\/em><\/code><\/li>\n
  4. Set the DNS server addresses:
    \nnetsh interface ipv4 add dns \"Local Area Connection\" ipaddress<\/em> [index=indexnumber<\/em>]<\/code><\/li>\n
  5. Disable the firewall (at least until everything is working):
    \nnetsh firewall set opmode disable<\/code><\/li>\n
  6. Join a domain:
    \nnetdom join %computername% \/domain:domainname<\/em> \/userd:domainname<\/em>\\username<\/em> \/passwordd:*<\/code><\/li>\n
  7. Restart the server:
    \nshutdown -r<\/code><\/li>\n
  8. Change the drive letter allocation for an existing disk (e.g. the CD-ROM drive):
    \ndiskpart
    \nselect volume volumenumber<\/em>
    \nassign letter=driveletter<\/code><\/li>\n
  9. Format additional disks (in my case, these had been partitioned during setup but additional diskpart.exe<\/code> commands could be used):
    \ndiskpart
    \nselect disk disknumber<\/em>
    \nselect partition partitionnumber<\/em>
    \nformat fs=ntfs label=\"volumelable<\/em>\" quiet
    \n<\/code><\/li>\n
  10. Label a disk (e.g. the system disk):
    \nlabel driveletter<\/em>: \"volumelable<\/em>\"<\/code><\/li>\n
  11. Add a domain user to a local group (note that there are some serious restrictions around this – Microsoft knowledge base article 324639<\/a> has more details):
    \nnet localgroup groupname<\/em> \/add domainname<\/em>\\username<\/em><\/code><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This has just scraped the surface with a few commands that I needed – it would have taken me a lot<\/em> longer to write this post without these excellent resources:<\/p>\n