Trying Windows Server 2012 R2

Since I'll eventually be setting up a Windows domain for the office, I figured I should probably learn how to set up and operate Windows Server. So, I downloaded a trial copy of Windows Server 2012 R2 and prepared to dual-boot it on an extra machine that is rarely used.

It actually took me a while to find the place to download the trial because the most commonly linked-to one doesn't actually work. No matter where I say to place the downloaded files, the weird downloader plug-in thing throws an error and says the download is done. (The one I linked above does it better. I chose the ISO version.) Unfortunately, that link also downloads a whole bunch of weird stuff before the actual ISO. I think those other programs are installers for advanced server management stuff; whatever they are, they seem to want to be run on the server OS. Once the download finished, I extracted the ISO onto a new partition with WinRAR and began the install.

Installing the server OS was a breeze. I especially like that, unlike the normal modern Windows OS, it actually tells you what it's doing instead of something cute like "Getting things ready". When it comes up, it launches Server Manager, a really awesome dashboard for handling server operations. I changed the computer name in Step 1, ignored everything else (it seemed to not have any data, probably because I hadn't set up anything), and used Step 2 to add some roles, specifically Active Directory Domain Services.

I was moderately confused when it asked me to create a forest, but it seems that a forest is just a collection of domains; the DNS-style name you enter here will also be used for the domain. It just has to look like a real fully-qualified domain name; you don't have to hook it up to a real web site. (Later, I found an article explaining forests and domains.) The NetBIOS domain name, which is the one you type before the backslash in CredUI to specify your logon domain, is different.

At the end of that wizard, I had to promote the computer to domain controller, which also went smoothly. I did some messing around in Group Policy and Active Directory Users and Computers, creating a VM on my other computer to test out this domain stuff. So far, I'm fairly comfortable with Windows domains - the set-up was successful.

Possibly-required FTC/FCC disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Microsoft, nor did they pay me. They probably don't even know about me. I'm just a happy customer!