Before you begin, make sure that you have a hard drive with an adequate amount of un-partitioned space available so that you have somewhere for Windows to install to!
I like to split the Windows installation into two stages – Stage 1 and Stage 2. In Stage 1, the screen is quite ugly, you don’t have a lot of user control, and you mainly prepare the computer to enter Stage 2. In Stage 2, the bulk of the installation of files is achieved, including the setup of the registry and system files.
We begin at installation. Windows Server 2003’s installation process is remarkably similar to the process for XP and even Windows 2000. Boot from the CD, and begin the installation madness!
At the beginning, setup asks kind of pause to ask you if you would like to load additional drivers or start automated recovery. Just wait, because you don’t need to do either (unless you have a SCSI driver that is not auto-detected). After loading many drivers, setup will finally end at the ubiquitous Windows installation screen, where it asks if you would like to set up Windows, repair Windows, or quit. Choose to set up Windows. Next, an installation agreement (EULA) will appear. Unless you have some great problem with Microsoft, accept the EULA by pressing “F8,” and go on the good stuff. The next screen should request of you the location that you wish to place Windows in. Choose an un-partitioned space if you have one already. If you do not, then you need to either go back and use a partitioning tool like Partition Magic to create one (split an existing partition), or if you decide that you no longer need the existing partition, use the interface to delete the existing partition.
Next, setup should ask you how you would like to format the partition. Choose NTFS (Quick) and continue.
After setup goes through with the formatting process, it will begin installing the Stage 2 setup files. Once it is complete, restart your computer (it will automatically restart anyway) and do not “boot from CD-ROM” the second time. This time, Windows Setup Stage 2 will load, and you are ready to begin Stage 2.
Stage 2 operates mostly like Windows 2000/XP Setup and the first time you will be presented with an option is when you are asked to set Regional Settings. Choose these in accordance to, well, where you live.
Next, you will be asked your name and organization’s name.
Next, you will be asked to enter your registration number.
Next, you will be asked to choose a computer name and Administrator password. To ensure compatibility with older systems, choose a name that is eight characters or less and includes no special characters. For your administrator password, choose a reasonably secure password that includes at least one capitalized letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one special character. It also must include at least six characters. A password like “gloria” is not as secure as a password like “eRf$%s33!d.” Note that if you do not choose a password in accordance with the above guidelines, Windows will stop you and ask if that’s really the password that you wish to use. My advice: follow Microsoft’s advice and choose a decent password, for your own sake!
Next, you will be asked for your time zone and the date and time.
Next, you will be asked to enter your workgroup or domain’s name. Unless you already have a domain, just click “No…” and click “Next.”
The next phase is where Windows “installs the network.” Wait a bit, and then the network configuration dialogue will appear (note that this configuration dialogue will appear only if Windows detects your NIC(s), and if you have multiple NIC’s, this dialogue will show up that many more times). The first part asks you whether you wish to choose “Typical” settings or “Custom” settings. I recommend that you choose “Custom” if for no other reason than to see what Windows is doing.
Once you have configured your network settings as you like per each NIC in your PC, the next part of the setup will begin: the part in which you only have to wait and watch Windows Server 2003 install.
Once Windows Server 2003 is done installing, let your computer reboot and remove the Windows Server 2003 CD, but keep it handy in case you ever need it again. (Sometimes, certain Windows components require the original Windows CD to install).
The first time you login, you should login under your Administrator account, and proceed to activate Windows over the Internet. We move on to the more exciting stuff on the next page.
Also, PLEASE do not forget to perform updates as soon as you have been activated. In fact, before proceeding with any of the following steps, you should download and install all recommended updates.
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i really want to know more about windows server 2003.
After I setup my Windows Server 2003, I am failig to log on with the domain server that I have just created. Can somebody tell me how to link other computers (with Win XP and Vista) to my server
Hi folks,
I appreciate the effort, but the title is “Windows Server 2003 Setup Guide” and I was hoping for some setup information – not a buyers guide.
Thanks ,
— Deck
This was not a bad beginner’s article. In fact, it is the first one that explained the domain name in AD setup. I was really confused by this initially. There was nothing saying you could have yourcompanydomain.com or yourcompany.local and what the differences were. It REALLY pissed me off when the books would all say (Use Appropriate Server Info) for that section. How was I supposed to know what was appropriate on my first install. You might want to even expand that a little. You should do a follow on or expansion for the DHCP, DNS, and WINS as well. This can be confusing as well, and in an XP or Vista environment, you would be using them.
To John’s comment – You need to add the workstation to the Domain. I am assuming you got into the server just fine. On one of the workstations, go to My Computer and right click, and then select Properties. Now click on the Computer Name tab. Near the bottom right of the window select change. At the top will be the comnputer name, and at the bottom will be Workgroup and Domain. Change the radio button to Domain, and then enter the name of the domain you created. If you picked YourCompany.local in the setup, enter YourCompany, and select OK. You will be prompted for the domain administrator credentials. Administrator and what ever you set the server administrator password to. You will get a series of dialogue boxes you hiy ok to. After the last one, you will need to restart the workstation. When it restartes, you can use Administrator, the domain administrator password, and there will be a new drop down box. It will probably says “This Computer”. Change it to the domain you picked, and then login. You are now on the domain. If you followed the tutorial and setup user accounts, you need to add those domain users to the workstation to login as the user. The user effectively has no right at the moment to the workstation. If you setup a user named “userone”, we add them to the workstation as follows. Right click My Computer and select Manage. Select Local User and Groups. The Users folder is “LOCAL” user accounts – meaning only on that workstation. So you want to select GROUPS. You can select the level of user rights and add them to that group. generally you do not want your users above Power User, but this is dictated by the software you use, and the level of control you want the user to have. There are tons of articles on this stuff. So let’s click Power Users. In the new window, select Add, and in the white open space, start typing “userone” (this is just an example name – you might use first initial and last name such as jsmith – or – john.smith – etc — again – there are tons of articles on naming schemes for users and workstations). So in our example, we start typing “userone” – we can actually type “user” and then use the check name button to the right, and it should either find the user or give you a list. For example if we had userone, usertwo, userthree – it would find all three in the list because they all start with user. It would be waiting for you to pick which one. So pick the user, and it should appear in the white window where you were typing. Be careful if you have a local user account with the same name, it can get confused. You see people using things like John for user names. They have no place on a domain – so don’t do it. It also gives you the chance to migrate the user’s profile to their new domain account profile you are going to create the first time you login as the user. So once you have the use in, hit ok until your boxes are gone, and then logoff as the Domain Administrator. Now change the user name to the user you picked. In our example it was userone. Login with the password. The first login will take a while as it sets up the profile. You are now on the domain as a user you setup.
Deck hanzen – dude – you have to clieck the next button at the bottom of the article. In his defense – i did not see it at first either. You guys need to put space between the buttons. Keep up the good work though.
Oops – made a typo in there when I was changing a few things around. WINS for a mixed NT, 98 with XP and Vista.
beginner question.. what is the difference between windows server 2003 and r2?
after i installed windows server 2003, what should i do next?
tnx
Google it =:) as there is way to much to list on that one, but in general 03 is much the same as r2 !
I thought this tutorial for an entry level tutorial was laid out quite well. I pass this tutorial to others who are curious or have questions on a base level how a domain is set up. In my opinion this tutorial is 5\5 stars. For those who commented about the websites format and lay out; I agree about the previous-Next Page link. Whoever href’d that was in a hurry and it probably was not at focus, but it makes up for such a nit picky code eye pain by the one of a kind windows server 2003 tutorial. This gentlemen really took his time of the day to paint the bigger picture in a “for Dummies” level tutorial. If you have been working as a desktop technician pushing images to workstations, building batch scripts and been using AD users and Computers snap in with limited rights to AD and always wanted to grasp the true understanding of how your jobs network operates this tutorial teaches you how you would set it up. The rest of the gaps were clearly stated “Out Of Scope”, thus issues that go to mind such as security policy settings, and all the in’s and out’s of security options one could do would have taken way to long. A great job here was done, and if anyone has written a tutorial you know the temptation to want to deviate and go on tangents explaining things more in depth while at the same time getting further off track of the focus of the tutorials direction. He kept great control here with that, and this tutorial litterally brought it together for me. My mind goes crazy on what I want to do at work with this information in mind. Most of us who work desktop support jobs have what it takes to engineer a domain, and could code in share point scripts to write credentials to apps, and so forth, but because were not MCSE certified we dont get to touch the DC’s. “In my case that is” . I recently took a job where “I” am the “ADMIN” over the domain for a very small business, and with freedom to do as I wish on the domain I created with only but 60 machines and users I am advancing allot. We use a cisco router here and a business line broadband modem since I am the sould systems engineer per say I am also responsible for it. So I play with subnetting and so forth in my free time, and every day is not a boring day all because of this tutorial which helped me get the job! Every day I am setting policies, locking down users machines. The boss\Owner who didnt have a domain setup and each phone agent was just taking calls, and had an independent machine with full admin rights didnt know any better. I made suggestions and told him we were going to need to domain this work environment and sold him on letting me go to Dell’s website, bought a server with a packaged lisence deal. Then I setup 3 other child servers, one as a file server, printer server, and using newer workstations with the w2k3 OS for the roles. I build scripts in c++ to do profile backups etc… my days flyyyyyyy it’s almost not even a job to me, but a do something I love and get paid type of work. This tutorial being primarily text based versus youtube video’s really put the confidence in me enough to present the benefits to the owner to make him buy a $3k server package. It was all worth it to him once I setup policies that allowed him to stealthly RDC into his employee’s workstations and see what they are doing when he wanted. I am doing research on Magic Jack type phone setups to save the token phone setup he is paying out the nose for on a monthly basis. My ideal is to have a very cost efficient call system in which phone calls can be recorded and monitored and even be remotely monitored real time to kind of do some call quality. All of these measures are being coerced by the knowledge I have and how it can save money and make business operations more efficient ALL THANKS TO GOOD LAID OUT TUTORIALS LIKE THIS ONE!!! It’s only until now that I wrote a comment on this tutorial I should have done so when I first read it.
I can’t see the link for the next page of the tutorial. Where is it?
Guide is excellent however please correct the images. They are currently broken due to a script error.
Any chance you could fix the images and also expand on roaming profiles?
Thanks
Cant say much for this posting its of little or no use to anyone setting up sever 2003 like my dad used to tell me if you dount know what ur talking about just shut up and listen to some one thats done it instead of waisting every ones time good intensions are like ass holes everyones got one
Bla Bla Bla why don’t you suck my dick???