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.

[Update: There's a new Quick Reference for Server Core Tasks on TechNet, published in August 2012]

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

Netsh AdvFirewall Firewall Commands:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd734783(v=WS.10).aspx

specifically:

set rule group=”windows firewall remote management” new enable=yes

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

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