Anybody here is using windows server 2012 as ther desktop OS

Discussion in 'Windows Server' started by pramu, Sep 11, 2012.

  1. venu

    venu MDL Addicted

    Oct 16, 2009
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    Anybody tried to print from a machine running server 2012 as workstation? I have 2 HP lj printers that work fine with both win7 and win8 but throw tantrums on server 2012.

    Have tried multiple drivers but they either crash the spooler or documents sent to print get stuck in the print queue forever.

    Will be grateful for any ideas.
     
  2. venu

    venu MDL Addicted

    Oct 16, 2009
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    The printers are HP lj 2600n (networked) and HP lj 1022 (usb). The drivers are the latest available from the HP website, they are certified for win7 x64 but work equally well for win8. vymrdal, can you enlighten me about these UPDs? All i know they provide basic funtionality which is fine by me. What is the difference between PS and PCL6? Also is there any security thing which has to be tweaked on server 2012? Thanks.
     
  3. venu

    venu MDL Addicted

    Oct 16, 2009
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    #43 venu, Jan 8, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2013
    No luck. Tried the PCL6 x64 driver, it detected the networked printer, installed it. I clicked on print test page, a popup emerged saying "Job sent to printer" and 0 messages in queue BUT

    no print out, nada, not even a squeak from the printer.

    Edit: when I tried to install in dynamic mode, then add the printer it gave a message device not supported. Same with the PS driver. So I guess that settles the matter.
     
  4. tonyh2004

    tonyh2004 MDL Member

    Aug 2, 2011
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    im running a canon ip4600 printer on server 2012 enterprise edition works perfect no special things done just basic drivers
     
  5. parapher

    parapher MDL Senior Member

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  6. parapher

    parapher MDL Senior Member

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    OK, thanks guys. I'll comment a bit later as to what my findings were with the method posted by "100" and some other things (when I have time) ;)
     
  7. parapher

    parapher MDL Senior Member

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  8. Tom Mix

    Tom Mix MDL Junior Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    activation question

    hoi server 2012 users
    im a bit confused about the activation of server2012 and im looking
    for activation information. actually i am using server2008r2 and the microsoft toolkit autokms.
    is there a similar way to activate server 2012 via kms? :confused:
     
  9. SOCRATE_MMXII

    SOCRATE_MMXII MDL Expert

    Jan 25, 2012
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    @Tom: you can activate Win2012 with Daz Loader v2.2 or v2.2.1 permanently. No KMS, no trouble. ;)
     
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  10. Tom Mix

    Tom Mix MDL Junior Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    #52 Tom Mix, Feb 1, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2013
    are there any issues known when using hyper-v :confused:
     
  11. tonyh2004

    tonyh2004 MDL Member

    Aug 2, 2011
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    Hyper V works like a dream in server 2012 I have 4 VM's running as I type this and working fine, using 6 gigs of ram out of the 16 in machine
     
  12. parapher

    parapher MDL Senior Member

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    #54 parapher, Feb 4, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2013
    Update on the WinSxS reduction via uninstalling server roles:

    I used PowerShell command Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object -FilterScript { $_.Installed -Eq $False } to list Features that were present but not installed, and one by one removed these via another PowerShell window and the Remove-WindowsFeature <feature name> –Remove command. After removing all unused roles this way I was able to reduce the (live) WinSxS folder by about 1.2gb. After this, I sysprep'd the (VM) install and found the captured install.wim to be about 275mb smaller. So I think removing the roles can gain you around 275mb to 300mb per image/wim. That's less than 20% that WinSxS removal by vLite but it won't (purportedly) break anything in Windows, although I have yet to experience anything breaking due to vLite WinSxS removal. I've done about 30 VM installs and other intensive things on the install based on my latest vLited image and have not found any detriment.

    You can also remove features via DISM, but DISM doesn't check for dependencies so you have to know exactly what you are doing when removing each feature, or things will break. So best to use PowerShell commands to remove features.
     
  13. allebon00

    allebon00 MDL Novice

    Mar 30, 2011
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    @parapher

    Hi,

    Is it possible to list or put a link for the features that are safe to remove without compromising windows.

    Thank you very much!
     
  14. parapher

    parapher MDL Senior Member

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    @allebon00: When you install Server Standard (or Datacenter) and make it into a workstation (as described at win2012workstation.com) then it copies the full roles/features to the WinSxS folder, even if they don't actually get installed. Once you get your install fully functional according to your need/liking, you can generate the list of roles that is present but not installed. To do that, open PowerShell as administrator and paste in the following command:

    Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object -FilterScript { $_.Installed -Eq $False }

    It will then generate a list of dormant roles residing on your system. Since you have verified you have a functional system for your particular usage, it would then be safe to remove these dormant roles (as you're not using them). You don't actually have to remove each entry on the generated list, as removing the main role usually also removes its sub-roles, although you may have to remove some apparent sub-roles as well (you'll see when you re-generate the list after removing some things). To remove the features/roles, open another PowerShell window and paste the following line:

    Remove-WindowsFeature <feature name> –Remove

    So, for example, if wish to remove the "Windows Server Backup" feature, you'll check the generated list for its command-line name ("Windows-Server-Backup" in this example) and so your remove command will look like this:

    Remove-WindowsFeature Windows-Server-Backup –Remove

    With some items, you'll hardly see any reduction in the WinSxS folder size, while other items remove more significant chunks of data. If you encounter some features in the generated list that you want to make a part of your install/image, then you can use the following command:

    Install-WindowsFeature <feature name>
     
  15. 100

    100 MDL Expert

    May 17, 2011
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    #57 100, Feb 4, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    Or, much easier (which gets you a GUI list where you can just select the features to remove):
    Code:
    Get-WindowsFeature | Out-GridView -PassThru | Remove-WindowsFeature –Remove
     
  16. parapher

    parapher MDL Senior Member

    Nov 6, 2012
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    Hmm, Server 2012 converted to Workstation definitely not running as smooth as my Win8 Pro install. It probably doesn't have all the files/drivers it needs to perform the same way. GUI is definitely choppier and things don't load as quickly and smoothly as my Win8 install. I know it sounds subjective but the difference is one I'm not imagining. I had convinced myself it was just "Win8" being less fluid because of the GUI differences with Win7, but when I restored from a backup image of Win8 Pro the difference was quiet noticeable. In fact, I was about to install Win7 but this Win8 restore changed my mind for a while. Looks like Server 2012 as workstation won't be my main OS after all, even though the activation was so easy...
     
  17. boxr

    boxr MDL Junior Member

    Feb 10, 2013
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    Anyway of reducing the install size ?
     
  18. secretromeo

    secretromeo MDL Addicted

    Mar 30, 2011
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    I wish to use Windows Server 2012 as my desktop operating system; however, I have a few questions -

    1) Does Windows Server 2012 have support for Visual Studio 2012, SQL Server 2012 etc? Will all these development tools run just fine on Windows Server 2012? What about Windows Phone 8 emulator? Also, will all my softwares and programs (like Office 2013) run fine on Windows Server 2012?
    2) How does the performance of Windows Server 2012 (when used as a desktop OS) compare to Windows 8 Professional?
    3) I have a license each for Standard 64-bit and Datacenter 64-bit; which one should I install?

    Any help in this matter will be very appreciated. Thanks in advance.