Some of the Dedicated Servers provided by Cybercon are able to install the Operating System (OS) via the network. For those servers, there is an option of installing the OS from a pre-built template. With that option, the time require to install, patch and update the OS is significantly lowered. If that feature is available to your Dedicated Server, you can setup your server with the pre-built template by following this procedures. If your Dedicated Server do not have it and you are interested in getting it, please contact Cybercon Sales department for more information.
Here are the steps for installing Windows Server 2012 from a template.
1. Boot your server via PXE Boot. If it is a new server setup or there is no operating system (OS) installed previously in the server hard disk, the server should boot via the PXE automatically. Otherwise, you may need to press a key to instruct the server to do so. For HP blade server, you need to press F12 while booting.
2. Once you boot to the Main menu, use your up/down arrow keys and navigate to Client Area and hit Enter. In order to go to the Client Area, you need to enter the word “acknowledge” to acknowledge that tools inside the client area COULD ERASE DATA ON THE SERVER HARDDISK(s). If you are not sure if you have important data you need to save in the server hard disk, you should STOP NOW AND REBOOT THE SERVER.
3. In the next menu, choose Operating System Installation and press Enter.
4. Select Microsoft Windows and hit Enter to continue.
5. Select Windows 8 Pro Desktop installation from pre-built template and hit Enter.
6. The system will boot to a Windows environment and run the installation script. It will first partition the boot drive and then apply the template image to the partitions.
7. After the template image is deployed to the server, it will restart by itself. PLEASE DO NOT REBOOT THE SERVER MANUALLY. Just wait for it to reboot by itself.
8. The server should restart and boot to the Windows 8 screen and wait for the user to accept the License.
9. Now, we need to customized the Windows 8. Select the main color and enter the name for the computer. Click Next to continue.
10. In the Settings section, click “Use express settings” to continue.
11. For the “Sign in to your PC” screen, choose “Sign in without a Microsoft account”.
12. Select “Local account” to continue.
13. Enter the user name and password. Click “Finish” to finish initial Windows 8 configuration.
14. Once you see the Default Windows 8 Start screen, move your mouse cursor to the bottom right of the screen. A side bar will appear from the right side of the screen. Click the “Search” icon on the bar.
15. Inside the search box, enter slui.exe 0x3. Hit enter or click the icon on the left.
16. A Windows Activation screen will pop up. Enter the Product key and click “Activate” to continue.
17. Once you correctly enter the Windows Product Key and click the activate, Windows 8 should report back with “Thanks, you’re all done”. If you have issue activating the Windows, please check your product key, you internet connection. Also, make sure the date and time is set correctly.
18. Once the Windows is activated, right click the little network icon on the lower right hand corner of the Windows Desktop and choose “Open Network and Sharing Center”.
19. In the Network and Sharing Center windows, click “Change adapter settings”.
20. In the Network Connection screen, right click “Ethernet” and choose “Properties”.
21. Windows 8 default at “Obtain an IP address automatically”. Cybercon Dedicated Server in the Blade server group should work with this settings without any issue, however, it is better to assign a static IP address and DNS servers info to the network interface permanently. It is because your server/PC will not rely on Cybercon provided DHCP server to function.
23. In the search box, type “Computer”.
24. Right click the “Computer” icon on the left and choose “Properties” at the bottom.
25. Click “Remote settings”
26. In the System Properties screen, click the “Remote” tab and choose “Allow remote connections to this computer”. If you are using a older Windows Desktop machine, you may need to uncheck “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended)”. Click OK to continue.
27. Now, click “System and Security” from the top navigation bar “i.e. Control Panel > System and Security”. Click “Check for updates” under Windows Update section.
28. Update your Windows if it reports update is available. Once that is done, your Windows 8 Desktop machine is now ready to be use.