Installing Server 2003 on PC instead of server

[Geek4u 0]

Want to Install Server 2003 on my PC instead of server. I'll be using the Server 2003 evaluation kit and want to get a feel for it before investing in a server for home. I have a vpr Matrix box with P4 2.0GHz, 512MB PC2100 RAM, 100GB HD, DVD-ROM, CD-RW and was going to reformat the HD to install Server 2003 cleanly. I have a small home network of only 4 systems: 2 XP and 2 ME. Was thinking of formating the 100 HD with 70/30 partitions with 70 NTFS and 30 FAT32 so my ME's can access. Should I expect many problems?

[jmmijo 1]

No problems should arise, however you should check out each component for compaitibility with .NET first. This would be making sure there are drivers for hardware devices such as the sound, graphics and any other peripherals you may wish to use with the OS, wether for testing or general use that is to say

 

BTW - the line between what you could call a server vs. a desktop has been so blurred that this really isn't an issue unless you need to do specific tasks such as lots of transactions per second such as a web/db server.

[DS3Circuit 0]

Although most of the articles apply to win2000, I would suggest going through them

 

http://labmice.techtarget.com/windows2000/install/dualboot.htm

 

Quick answer: the system partition should be fat32. The boot partition for win2k3 should be ntfs. You will need ntfs if you wish to play with AD. You should be ok otherwise. No Dynamic Disks for you either.

 

C: = WinME and WIN2K3 Boot.

D: = Win2K3 System files.

 

If you got more specific questions, feel free to fire away. Im sure you will get hit with quite a few posts.

 

 

EDIT Almost forgot this

 

X:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly

 

To make sure all your devices are on the HCL. Better safe than sorry

[jmmijo 1]

Originally posted by ds3circuit:

X:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly

 

To make sure all your devices are on the HCL. Better safe than sorry

 

Nice, thanks for this little tidbit of info, I'll write this down for future reference to be sure

 

[Geek4u 0]

Thanks for the reassurance and the speedy replies.

 

Regarding X:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly, would I used that from the Server 2003 CD before reformatting my HD to see if the hardware on the box I'm installing it on complies?

[DS3Circuit 0]

Quote:

Regarding X:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly, would I used that from the Server 2003 CD before reformatting my HD to see if the hardware on the box I'm installing it on complies?

Correct

[Geek4u 0]

Thanks again ds3. Here's a follow up.

 

I received the Evaluation Kit and tried to test compatibility first through the GUI and then through "X:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly" as suggested and both times the Upgrade Advisor came back with "Windows setup does not support upgrading from Microsoft Windows XP Home edition to Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. Setup cannot continue"

 

I would think since this is an XP system that once I reformat the drive, I should be able to install the Server 2003 without compatibility issues.

 

Any thoughts?

[AndyFair 0]

Originally posted by geek4u:

Quote:

I would think since this is an XP system that once I reformat the drive, I should be able to install the Server 2003 without compatibility issues

 

As long as you're installing Server 2003 on a fairly recent system, you shouldn't have any problems...BUT be aware that some hardware (especially things like network cards) that works in XP doesn't necessarily work in Server 2003. When MS released Server 2003, they took the route of removing a lot of what it considered to be "legacy" hardware from the HCL

 

Also, when you install Server2003, you don't need to worry about keeping a FAT32 partition for the ME clients - the clients don't care what format the server disks are.

 

Hope this help

 

Rgds

AndyF