This manual will help you to install Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and to configure your pc so you can use it as a workstation. T

If you are still not convinced why to use Windows Server 2008 as your workstation OS, read this article, and you will be installing Windows Server 2008 right after reading it!

Table of Contents

1. Installation, Drivers, OS Language and Owner Information: Installation of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and how to set owner name and -organization.

2. Wireless Networking: (If you don’t use wireless, skip this step) Enable wireless networking in Windows Server 2008.

3. New User, Auto Logon and Strong Passwords Enforcement: How to create a new user, how to configure a user to logon automatically and how to disable enforcement of a minimum complexity for passwords.

4. Shutdown Tracker: How to disable the annoying Shutdown Event Tracker.

5. Ctrl+Alt+Del: Disable ctrl+alt+del at Windows startup.

6. Audio and Startup Sound: Enable audio and Startup Sound in Windows Server 2008.

7. Computername: Change computername.

8. Performance: Increase performance of applications in windows server.

9. Internet Explorer Enhanced Security: Disable Enhanced Security in Internet Explorer.

10. Themes, SideBar with Custom Gadgets, Aero Cursors and Thumbnails: Enable the Vista Aero theme and 3d flip with Sidebar and preview thumbnails in Windows Explorer.

11. SuperFetch: Maintain and Improve your system performance.

12. Delay Activation: How to extend the evaluation period to 240 days.

More Features

13. Windows Search: Install the Windows Search service to search your Outlook and documents.

14. Hyper-V: How to install the Hyper-V virtualization serverrole in Windows Server 2008 x64.

15. Offline Files: Installing the Offline Files feature to improve mobility!

I recently upgraded my dev rig from a 3-yr-old PC running Windows XP to a nice quad-core Dell box running WIndows Server 2008. All of my home PCs are either still running XP or Windows Server 2003. Having completely missed the "Vista Experience" I wanted to enable Aero, the Sidebar and other toys that I never had a chance to play around with on my new workstations.

None of goodies are enabled out of the box on Windows Server 2008, and the sidebar is not even supported, so I had to do a lot of searching to find instructions. More times than not the best source for detailed instructions was the win2008workstation.com site. It even offered some tips that I had not thought about like disabling the Shutdown Tracker and enabling SuperFetch. It's a very good resource if you're using Windows Server 2008 as a workstation and want to enable some of the UI goodies of Vista.

BTW, Windows Media Player will be installed when you enable the Desktop Experience feature.