Anyone running Windows Server 2008 R2 as a desktop OS?

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 09:25

Hi chaps.

At work here we're big users of virtualisation, Virtual PC on desktops and Hyper-V on servers.

We're moving clients up to Windows 7 but I was considering giving them Server 2008 R2 and making it a desktop OS.

Has anyone done this and can point me in the direction of a guide (e.g. install this, disable this gpo etc) or point out any potential pitfalls?

ninefoureight · 23 Sep 2009 at 09:54

The cost i imagine is your first pitfall, a Windows Server installation comes with a lot of licensing costs in comparison to Windows 7. The rest can be achieved, however its not something ive come across yet.

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 10:01

We're a Gold Partner, so we get most stuff for free

ninefoureight · 23 Sep 2009 at 10:07

SiD the Turtle said:
We're a Gold Partner, so we get most stuff for free

lol sorted ;]

Burnsy2023 · 23 Sep 2009 at 10:09

I think I will talk for a few people here when I ask "Dear god, why would you want to do such a thing?"

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 11:26

Burnsy2023 said:
I think I will talk for a few people here when I ask "Dear god, why would you want to do such a thing?"

We're a MS Consultancy house for things like SQL, Sharepoint etc. Our consultants tend to have development VMs or customer specific VMs. Hyper-V is fantastic, supports VT etc, whereas the old VPC 2007 doesn't. The new W7 VPC doesn't support server OSes and doesn't work particularly well in our experience. Hence my idea of using Server 2008 R2!

marc2003 · 23 Sep 2009 at 12:27

http://www.win2008r2workstation.com/

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 12:42

marc2003 said:
http://www.win2008r2workstation.com/

Bingo! Cheers.

r3loaded · 23 Sep 2009 at 13:08

How about just running the VMs on a server? Then remote into the actual VMs from a Windows 7 workstation.

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 13:16

Two reasons really, firstly for the number of consultants and VMs, we don't have the server resources and secondly we can't guarantee that the customer sites they visit will have a net connection, or one they're allowed to use.

bledd · 23 Sep 2009 at 14:14

2008r2 is finally only 64bit

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 14:34

Didn't know that. Luckily the only 32bit machines left in the company don't support VT anyway, so they won't be getting Server 2008 R2.

Lanz · 23 Sep 2009 at 18:13

When you enabled Hyper-V on 2008R2, even your host OS becomes a kinda of virtual machine that sits on the Hyper-V baremetal hypervisor. The first driver to load when you enable Hyper-V is the hvboot.sys, everything else loads `on top` of this hypervisor

Other, normal desktop apps etc that you install *might* be slower now. This is why Hyper-V is so much better than Virtual PC as it's a dedicated solution, and it might not work too well with standard desktop apps running ontop.

But saying that, I also like it and I'll probably have it on my new desktop PC here at work, as I can live with it being essentally a VM itself, as I'll only be doing admin stuff, and not running any heavy apps.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Sep 2009 at 18:18

You could just use ESXi and use a normal client OS.

r3loaded · 23 Sep 2009 at 19:27

VMware ESXi isn't quite the same as a proper Hyper-V setup, where even the "host" OS becomes a "guest" OS. With ordinary VMware, you have the VM on the VM software, which sits on the host OS. With Hyper-V (and GSXi), the "host" and the "guest" sit on the hypervisor and are treated as equals.

SiD the Turtle · 23 Sep 2009 at 19:39

Burnsy2023 said:
You could just use ESXi and use a normal client OS.

Our directors are militantly Microsoft, I'd be put against the wall and shot if I suggested that

Burnsy2023 · 23 Sep 2009 at 20:05

r3loaded said:
VMware ESXi isn't quite the same as a proper Hyper-V setup, where even the "host" OS becomes a "guest" OS. With ordinary VMware, you have the VM on the VM software, which sits on the host OS. With Hyper-V (and GSXi), the "host" and the "guest" sit on the hypervisor and are treated as equals.

ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor. All OSs are guests.

r3loaded · 24 Sep 2009 at 10:03

Burnsy2023 said:
ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor. All OSs are guests.

Ah, I'm clearly confusing ESXi with GSX then. My bad.

Senture · 24 Sep 2009 at 19:28

marc2003 said:
http://www.win2008r2workstation.com/

Thanks for that. Used it's brother site in the past for Server 2008, implemented most of the stuff right out the box but forgot the last few items. Much prefer the windows 7 boot screen over the windows vista screen (why when you're installing it does it boot with the W7 screen but after the install completes does it go back to Vista?)

Caged · 25 Sep 2009 at 00:08

r3loaded said:
Ah, I'm clearly confusing ESXi with GSX then. My bad.

That and you're badly out of date, GSX was EOL'ed in 2005.

Reasons for not running a server OS as a desktop despite the fact it's something ridiculous that only people who pirate the OS would consider doing (3fps more OMG!!!111), but I guarantee that sooner or later you will run into an app that won't install on a server OS — antivirus being the main one that springs to mind, so your AV and imaging software license costs will go through the roof.