Basic Installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

There are three main techniques by which Essentials can be physically installed onto the server: 

Method 1 – Essentials has been supplied on a DVD. Go into the BIOS of the server and set it to boot from CD/DVD (accessing the BIOS varies according to the server brand, but is typically the F2 key on Dell and the F10 key on HP). Insert the DVD, connect an Ethernet cable to the server and restart it. 

Method 2 – The server manufacturer has supplied a special start-up or management disk. This typically provides driver and RAID support for the server and may do some other configuration work. The usual process is to set the server to boot from CD/DVD as described above. Insert the disk, plug in an Ethernet cable and restart the server. The management software will run – this may take several minutes – but eventually you will be prompted to eject the disk and insert the Essentials DVD. The server may then restart. 

Method 3 – Essentials has been purchased pre-loaded on the server. This does not mean that it is ready to use, just that what normally comes on the distribution DVD has already been copied to the server’s hard drive so the installation process can run from that. Plug in an Ethernet cable and start the server. This is also the method used in Storage Server installations. Regardless of which method has to be used, after a short while the following screen is displayed. Check the settings, change them if necessary to reflect your country and language, then click Next:

On the following screen click the Install now button:

It is now necessary to enter the product key. This can be found on a sticker that comes with the copy of Essentials or may be on the server or other documentation if it came pre-loaded. Then click Next:

On the subsequent screen tick the box to accept the license terms and click Next:

On the following screen click the Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)

A decision has to be made on where to install Windows i.e. Essentials (in the case of Storage Server this decision has already been made for you so you can skip this paragraph). What options appear here will depend on what drives are in the server and how they are configured. On a small system there may only be a single drive. A larger system might have two or more drives. On a RAID system, the drives may appear as a single drive. In this example there are two drives and Windows will be installed on the smaller one with the larger one used for data. Do not try to use the ‘System Reserved’ partition. The Windows drive needs to be at least 60GB in size but slightly larger is better. Very important: make sure the drives/partitions are formatted before proceeding then click Next.

Whilst the next stage runs - which typically takes around 10 minutes - the server will display the following screen and may reboot several times:

Eventually the following screen will appear, prompting you to create and confirm a password for the built-in Administrator account. Choose something non-obvious - a random mixture of letters, numbers and punctuation is best - and make a note of it. Then click Finish.

The server will prompt you to press Ctrl+Alt-Delete and login - do so as Administrator:

Following the first login, a message is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen asking whether Essentials should look for other devices on the network, including printers. It may not work, but it is worth trying. Switch on any networkable printers but make sure no computers are switched on, then click Yes. If you don’t want to look for printers (for instance, because you haven’t any) just click No:

After a minute or so the screen will clear to show this panel:

However, before continuing the IP address of the network adapter should be changed. Assuming that you have a typical internet router, Essentials will have picked up an IP address from it but it will be a dynamic address that can change periodically, whereas it really needs to be a fixed IP address. To change it, rightclick the Start button and choose Network Connections. Right-click the network adapter and choose Properties. Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties. Change it to use a specific IP address. The address depends upon how the router is configured; typically they use a 198.168.nnn.nnn addressing scheme with the router itself on, say, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254. The server should be given an adjacent address. In this example, the router is 192.168.1.1 so the server is being set to 192.168.1.2. The Default gateway is the address of the router; the subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 and the Preferred DNS server set to the address of the router:

Make the change, click OK and Close. Wait about 30 seconds for the adapter to pick-up the new IP address then return to the Configure Windows Server Essentials screen and click Next. If the date and time are incorrect click Change system date and time settings and adjust accordingly. Then click Next:

On the following screen, enter the Company name. In turn, Essentials will propose an internal domain name along with a name for the server. If the company name is lengthy then consider abbreviating it. For instance, here we have used CTACS rather than Callisto Technology And Consultancy Services. Change the Server name to server and click Next (the name can be just about anything but the examples in this guide assume server). Note that none of these fields are case sensitive. Also note that once these details have been specified they cannot subsequently be changed without reinstalling the server, so check carefully before clicking Next:

The following step is to create an everyday network administrator account. Although there is already an account called Administrator, it is considered bad practice to use it unless absolutely necessary; instead, another account for regular administrative work is preferred. A good name for it is systemadmin. The password can be the same as the Administrator one, but if it is not then be sure to make a note of it. Click Next:

Windows update settings should now be specified. With a server you want total control over the process; you do not want it applying updates and rebooting when it wants to, so set it to Do not check for updates. Then click the Configure button (note that the Next button may in any case be greyed out):

Essentials will now display the following screen whilst it makes the necessary changes. The server may reboot several times during this stage, which will typically take between 10-30 minutes to complete.

When everything has completed the following screen appears. Note that it is not necessary to ‘Register with Microsoft online services’ so just click Close to acknowledge:

Important: As mentioned previously, Essentials assumes that you are using an internet router that provides IP addresses via a built-in DHCP server. If this is not the case, then it will now be necessary to install DHCP on the server before proceeding further.

Suggestion: Make a written note of the various server settings and keep it somewhere safe. In particular you should record: Administrator password; the Network Administrator name and password; the server IP address; the internal domain name.