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Questions tagged [windows-server-core]

Operational mode of Windows Server OS without the desktop and most of the GUI administration tools.

To reduce the attack surface and memory footprint this mode of Microsoft's Windows Server OS comes without the Windows desktop and most standard Windows tools.

In Server 2008 and 2008R2 it has to be chosen as in Install Option and can not be changed later. In Server 2012 you can switch back and forth between Server Core and the full GUI mode.

Standard user interface of Server-Core:

enter image description here

It is not a GUI-less version of Windows, as Notepad.exe, Regedit.exe and many other Windows GUI tools still work. It all depends on whether the Windows components an application is using are present, below Google Chrome on Server-Core 2012:

enter image description here

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Open a new cmd console on Windows 2012 Server core after closing the last one?

On my new test server, which is a Windows Server 2012 core server, I've closed the only open cmd console with the exit command. How do I open another prompt now? Am I going to be forced to reboot the machine?
CSG
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How do I add the Windows GUI to Windows 2016 Server Core?

We just got our dedicated server from Rackspace. It was loaded with W2008 on it. I decided to put the most recent OS on it so I wouldn't have to upgrade it later. Apparently during the installation, I selected the no gui option. I tried to install…
SomeoneSpecial
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Properly remove windows.old on Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

I have installed Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 on a server that had Hyper-V Server 2012. When I did this, the standard Windows.old folder was created. I now would like to remove that folder safely. The standard way to do that with a full GUI would be to…
MikeBaz - MSFT
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Identify Windows 2012 Server core

I want to detect if a 2012 server is has been setup as a Core install using WMI. An earlier question, would seem to indicate that I can get the OperatingSystemSKU from Win32_OperatingSystem. My Windows 2012 Core systems are reporting a…
Zoredache
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Automatically Use PowerShell on Server Core

When I locally log in to a Server 2012 Core installation, every time I have to type powershell to get to a PowerShell command line instead of plain ol' cmd. Assuming that I will never remove the PowerShell Windows Feature, how can I configure the…
vcsjones
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Launch remote PowerShell session using saved ps1 file

I am trying to create a couple of files that I can save on my local desktop to launch PowerShell sessions. The Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 are both Server Core installations. Currently, I can open Powershell and type: Enter-PSSession…
Anthony Fornito
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Unzip File With Powershell in Server 2012 Core

I need to unzip a file with powershell. The typical way I've seen everyone do this is by automating the shell with a script. $shellApplication = new-object -com shell.application $zipPackage =…
vcsjones
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Windows 2012 Core Extreme memory use on SVCHOST/Workstation service

We have approximately 200 servers, Hyper V, File Cluster, and IIS, that are all experiencing the same issue, an event occurs on the server through normal use that maxes out or near maxes out the RAM on the server. Once this happens, the…
Craig
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Method for setting up Volume Shadow Copies on Server Core

Is there some obvious method I am not finding for how to setup the periodic creation of shadow copies for a given drive on a system running Windows without a GUI? From what I can tell going to the Shadow Copies tab of disk properties and clicking…
Zoredache
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How to use 'disk from remote desktop connection' on Windows Server Core?

When using Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection, one can set certain local drives to be available on the remote machine. On the remote box they show up in Explorer as 'E on LOCALBOX' and provide a simple way to copy files back and forth. On Server…
Peter Hahndorf
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How do I install dotNet Framework 3.51 on Windows Server 2012 core?

On Windows Server 2008 R2 core I use dism.exe and the featurename: 'NetFx3-ServerCore' this feature is not available on Server 2012 (Windows Server 8). Using the standard 3.51 Installer on Server 2012 Core tells me: "You must use the Role Management…
Peter Hahndorf
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What do you use Windows Server 2008 Server Core for? Any regrets?

I have been installing either the Standard or Enterprise versions of Server 2008, but am curious about Server Core. What have you used this for? Did you like it or end up having to upgrade to a more complete version?
jftuga
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How to enable NTFS folder compression on Windows Server Core?

I want to enable NTFS compression on a specific folder, in my case: C:\inetpub\logs. This is easily done in Windows Server with Desktop Experience, but in Server Core how this can be achieved? To be precise I just want the equivalent of checking the…
Vinícius Ferrão
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SQL on Server Core pitfalls

We are going to try new SQL Server 2016 and we're thinking to install it on Windows Server Core. I know there are some benefits from going this way. From what I've heard, this setup is more secure and it is much easier to manage. But are there any…
B.J.Goodman
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Convert Windows Server 2016 Desktop Experience to Core

How can you convert a Desktop Experience edition of Windows Server 2016 to a Core edition? For previous insider builds you use the powershell uninstall-windowsfeature cmdlet to remove features such as server-gui-shell and server-gui-mgmt-infra to…
Muh Fugen
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