HOWTO Tweak Windows 2003 Server into a workstation
From WikiTechia
The main obstacles that the Windows Server 2003 (Win2k3) family has from being a good workstation are with multimedia support and sometimes even with DirectX. This guide show you step by step how to Tweak Windows 2003 Server into a workstation system and even into a reliable desktop machine.
Contents |
Pre-Setup Instructions
Client Access Licenses
Most likely, you will be using this system as a workstation/desktop PC, so during the setup, you may find that when it comes to a part of the setup that asks how many Client Access License ( CAL) you want/have, you won't even know what it's talking about. Basically it is asking how many clients the PC will be serving applications and other services to. For a desktop PC, this is not an important number, so the usual thing to do would be to leave it at 5.
Post Setup Instructions
First Boot
One of the first things you should do when your system boots up for the first time, is to make sure that the 'Manage Your Server' dialog doesn't continually bother you on startup. Thankfully there is an easy solution to this problem, in just checking the checkbox in the bottom left of the window, 'Don't display this page at logon'. If you actually wish to use some of these features in the future, or even experiment with them, they can be accessed throught the administrative tools in the control panel.
Creating a New User
As a general rule, you don't particularly want to use the Administrator user name as your primary user login.
- Start->Run...->"control userpasswords2".
This opens a user creation module. Click on create user, follow the prompts, and make sure the new user is an administrator, unless you want limited functionality for the user.
To make the user log on automatically see this article.
Internet Explorer Security
Fortunately for the paranoid people out there, Microsoft have put in place an enhanced security configuration for Internet Explorer (IE), and for the 3 people out there that still use it, you may want to disable it. Another reason to disable it is that many applications utilise IE's browsing engine to get web pages and data from the internet.
It is installed as a Windows Component so it is fairly easy to un-install.
- Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Add/Remove Windows Components
- Uncheck Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration
- Click OK.
Shutdown Tracker
The fact that this is a server OS means that there is some benefit in knowing what the system is doing and why. This is where the Shutdown Tracker comes in. Basically, it asks you before every shutdown or restart, why you are doing it. For a workstation, this is unnecessary.
- Start->Run...->"gpedit.msc"
This opens the group policy editor. You will want to browse to
- Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->System
In the right pane, find the item Display Shutdown Event Tracker, and double-click it. Once the dialog opens, simply select disable, then click OK and then close the Group Policy Editor.
Memory and Processor handling
By default, some of the options of Win2k3 are set to support background services over actual applications. On a server, this is a good idea, but for a workstation, it is not.
To alter the settings
- Control Panel->System->Advanced
- Click Settings in the Performance box
- Select the 'Advanced' tab
- Click Programs for both Memory usage and Processor scheduling
- Click OK
Error Reporting
You have seen it since Windows XP came to be, the error reporting dialog can become very frustrating. Thankfully, you can minimise its intrusiveness.
To disable error reporting, you need to be on the Advanced tab of the System properties (see previous section), and then click on the Error Reporting button at the bottom of the dialog. in this dialog, you want to change the selection to Disable Error Reporting although you can leave But notify me when critical errors occur ticked.
System failure
After a system failure Windows 2003 has a variety of options, including options that can make crashes far more annoying and even fill up your HDD unnecessarily.
Under the Advanced tab of System Properties click Settings in the Startup and Recovery box.
Under the System failure box
- Untick Send an administrative alert
- Untick Automatically restart (so you can actually read the error message when your system crashes)
- Set Write debugging information to (none)
- Click OK
Multimedia Options
Graphics Acceleration
Windows 2003 by default has graphics acceleration disabled or at a very low level upon installation.
- Control Panel->Display->Settings->Advanced->Troubleshoot
Move the slider to the Full position at the far right.When you apply the settings, the screen may black out for a few seconds, but this is normal.
Now you will want to enable DirectX Acceleration of graphics.
- Start->Run...->"dxdiag"
- Click the Display tab
You may have more than one display tab, in which case just do the following instructions for each display tab
Click on all of the buttons that say Enable so that DirectX knows you want these functions to be accelerated. Conversely, do not click buttons that say Disable.
Sound Acceleration
To enable the sound acceleration, the method is a bit different. Sound is manages by a service, and so needs to be started in order for it to work. For the Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, the service is already enabled, but read anyway to double check.
- Start->Run...->"services.msc"
Scroll until you get to the item Windows Audio, then double click it. When the dialog opens, you want to change
- 'Startup Type' : 'Automatic'
- Click 'Apply'
- Click 'Start'
- Click 'OK'
Now you will need to activate the actual acceleration of the sound by opening the DirectX Diagnostic again.
- Start->Run...->"dxdiag"
- Click the Sound tab
Move the slider to 'Full Acceleration' setting.
DirectX
When you had the DirectX dialog open, there was information on what version DirectX was installed. Initial versions of Win2k3 shipped with version 9.0. The latest version of DirectX at the time of writing was 9.0c, and if your system doesn't have this installed, you should probably get it and install it.
DirectMusic
Even after installation of DirectX, Windows 2003 seems to disable DirectMusic installation which some games will need.
See the following:
