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Server Core Cheat Sheet

Here’s my personal reference, based mostly upon the Server Core Getting Started Guide. Who knows, it may be helpful to someone else as well.

Things changed with Server 2008 R2 core. We now have the sconfig tool for basic configuration, and dism /online for installing and removing features and roles. E.g.:

dism /online /get-features

dism /online /get-featureInfo /featurename:FSRM-Infrastructure-Core

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:FSRM-Infrastructure-Core

For more details, see:

 

Set static IP address:

  1. netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces
  2. netsh interface ipv4 set address name=”<ID>” source=static address=<StaticIP> mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=<DefaultGateway>
  3. netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name=”<ID>” address=<DNSIP>index=1

Disable IPv6:

reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters /v DisabledComponents /t REG_DWORD /d 4294967295

Rename computer:

  1. netdom renamecomputer <ComputerName> /NewName:<NewComputerName>
  2. reboot

Join a domain:

  1. netdom join <computername> /domain:campus /userd:<username> /passwordd:*
  2. reboot

Firewall basics:

  1. Allow remote administration of server core
    netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Administration” new enable=yes
  2. Allow remote administration of firewall itself
    netsh advfirewall set currentprofile settings remotemanagement enable

Install VMWare tools:

There is a variety of recommendations out there.

  1. Select Install VMWare Tools from the VI client interface. (mounts the CD; no autorun)
  2. msiexec /i “D:\VMWare Tools.msi” /qb
  3. will get prompted about the lack of HTML support for the manual; click no
  4. reboot, and then reset the stupid screen resolution

 

Set default screen resolution (big clues from JoeWare):

  1. Using regedt32, open [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video]
  2. Look for DeviceDescription=”VMWare SVGA II”
  3. Set DefaultSettings.Xresolution and DefaultSettings.Yresolution appropriately
    (e.g., 320 hex == 800 decimal; 258 hex == 600 decimal)

or use Joe’s all-CLI procedure:

  1. reg query hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\video /s | findstr /i volatile
  2. look for the GUID  and construct the following two comands:
    1. reg add HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\control\video\{[GUID]}\0000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /d 320 /f
    2. reg add HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\control\video\{[GUID]}\0000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /d 258 /f

 

Enable Remote Desktop:

  1. cscript C:\Windows\System32\ Scregedit.wsf /ar 0

 

Install Windows features:

  • WINS – start /w ocsetup WINS-SC

 

Install System Center Operations Manager Agent:

Here’s a blog post indicating a collection of hotfixes that must be installed.

 

Uninstall software:

Since we have no add/remove programs control panel, we have to look elsewhere. This thread on TechNet Forums offers some good starting points, including

  • use the “UninstallString” value from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Or better yet, use the wmic command:

  • wmic product get name
  • wmic product where name=”Name” call uninstall
  • wmic product where name=”VMware Tools” get IdentifyingNumber
  • msizap T! { IdentifyingNumber }

 

Useful references:

CLI-fu:

  • driverquery.exe
  • Oclist | findstr “Installed” | findstr /v “IIS”
  • reg import disable_ipv6.reg
  • wevtutil.exe qe System /rd:true /c:3 /f:text
  • systeminfo