How to convert Win2K3 to development workstation?
Here is a question not directly related to programming.
Fed up with Microsoft Windows XP Professional and a lot of eye candy, I want to try Microsoft Windows Server 2003 as the primary OS on my development PC. (Another reason is a better version of IIS than 5.1). And knowing that Win2K3 was originally designed as a server OS, I think I should make it somehow more "workstation-friendly".
My question is, how do I convert Win2K3 (most likely standard edition) to a workstation? Any articles or links are highly appreciated.
PS: My development computer should be running mainly MS Visual Studio 2008, MS SQL Server 2008, MS Expression Studio 2, various Oracle software products (10gR2, ExpressEdition, 11g) and other small utilities (testing platform, subversion tool - TFS, web -browser, bittorrent client, etc.). All of this is compatible with Win2K3 as I tested earlier.
Tnks
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I only have a server OS as my workstation, I had Server 2003 before I switched to Server 2008. There is a manual that can be found here http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/ .
You shouldn't face any problems. Most Windows XP drivers will run on a 2003 server, but some applications will not. Especially those who check the OS version before installing. But you shouldn't have any problems with VS2008, Expression and whatever you posted.
The only frustrating thing for me was running iTunes on 2003 server, it doesn't look that good.
And if you like eye candy, you can enable it by starting the Theme service and changing a few settings.
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You should not run any problems with these applications running on Server 2003.
The last time I personally ran 2003 on a workstation, the only real big change was changing the security settings in Internet Explorer.
If you run one of the free antivirus software packages, you may find that they will not be installed on the server OS.
edit: As another poster said, I would go straight to server 2008 too if it's options. Server 2008 works very well as a workstation OS, and if you support the hardware, the virtual server works very well.
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Here are the links for turning 2003 into a workstation:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=windows+server+2003+workstation+converter
If you want to use Windows Server 2008 as a workstation, it performs much better (faster) than a typical Vista installation:
or try accessing Windows 7 RC1 which works well enough.
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