I spent the weekend installing Windows Server 2003 on my Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop. The initial install was wonderfully short. Once the system came up I started taking a look around.
I played with the new "Manage Your Server" screen. I have to say, this one is at least useful. I'll probably leave it enabled on actual servers, but since this laptop is actually my personal workstation, I don't really need it. I did use it to setup File Sharing and to install IIS and .NET, but that is about it.
I also considered jumping on the "don't run as an administrator" bandwagon, but given all the posts I saw a few weeks ago about certain applications not working, I decided against it.
During my first look around, I started finding things that I needed to change. Sound wasn't enabled, performance was optimized for background processing, and other fairly obvious things. Then during my hunt for the solution to the "Shut Down Tracker" problem, I found the article "How to convert your Windows Server 2003... to a Workstation!"
I had already found about half of the "fixes" discussed in this article, and I don't know if I ever would have found the rest. It sure made it easier to get my system back the way I was used to it in XP. But now I'm running Server, so I should be able to install/test/demo apps that require server, like Commerce Server, BizTalk Server, etc.
In addition to the many things listed in that article, I would add...
- WinZip or WinRAR
- AntiVirus - I was able to install Norton AntiVirus Corp. Ed. 7.51, but as with XP, I had to update the symevent file. You can get the updated file here. Even though it doesn't list Windows Server 2003 as supported, it worked for me. Remember to reboot after installing symevent, you should reboot.
- Windows Messenger - If you use it, you'll have to get it from http://messenger.msn.com.
- Turn off "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts" setting in Internet Explorer | Options Advanced.
As far as applications go, I haven't had any problems yet. At this point, I have the following additional apps installed:
- SQL Server 2000 + Analysis Services + SP3
- Office XP + SP2 + Updates
- SharpReader 0.9.0.1
- Radio UserLand 8.08
I'm still waiting for VS.NET 2003 to download again. I have it installed on my XP image, but like an idiot I threw away the installer. Since I'm going to make CDs for my other developers anyway, I needed to get the ISO images. Hopefully I can get them downloaded and installed tonight so I can start using this full time. So far so good...
