Windows Server 2008 R2 as Desktop OS

Discussion in 'Windows Server' started by albsat, Aug 12, 2009.

  1. albsat

    albsat MDL Novice

    Aug 5, 2009
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    Hello there,

    I remember that I used win 2003 as my desktop OS some years ago, just for fun. I removed it as I had problems with compatibility and drivers. But it was fun.

    As I use my laptop mainly for work, ( my list of daily programs is up to 3-5) I don't mind using the stablest OS which a server os is built for.

    Does anyone uses Windows Server 2008 R2 as Desktop OS? Is there any advantage over Win 7? What is your experience?

    thnx
     
  2. HSChronic

    HSChronic MDL Expert

    Aug 25, 2007
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    I have it installed on my laptop in a dual boot mode. I do a lot of networking and AD setups so the ability to host a DC on my laptop is invaluable.
     
  3. albsat

    albsat MDL Novice

    Aug 5, 2009
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    great. may I ask about compatibility of certain programs?

    What antivirus do you run in it? Office 2007, Adobe cs2, Firefox are compatible?

    Is it true that Win 2008 r2 has a better memory usage than win 7?
     
  4. yaluza1967

    yaluza1967 MDL Member

    Jun 6, 2009
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    #4 yaluza1967, Aug 12, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: May 23, 2017
  5. Animeniac

    Animeniac MDL Novice

    Dec 19, 2008
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  6. albsat

    albsat MDL Novice

    Aug 5, 2009
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    so much tempted to install it on a laptop. it would drive crazy all my it guru friends...
     
  7. albsat

    albsat MDL Novice

    Aug 5, 2009
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    Ok I installed it on my laptop. I am typing from win server. Most of the programs run ok. But I have sound problems with several programs like win mediaplayer, skype. Maybe because the sound drivers of Sigma HD do not work great on this 2008R2.

    I will be replacing with 7 ultimate, but IMHO win server 2008 r2 it can be turnded as desktop workstation if drivers are stable.
     
  8. msr

    msr MDL Senior Member

    Dec 27, 2007
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    yep i tried 2008 r2 too, and found it ran really to slow on my pc, decided to go back to win 7.

    Maybe in a few years, the ram may be more for me to try again, but for me 4gb was not enough.
     
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  9. AshenTech

    AshenTech MDL Novice

    Jun 19, 2008
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    #10 AshenTech, Aug 27, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: May 23, 2017
  10. AshenTech

    AshenTech MDL Novice

    Jun 19, 2008
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    #11 AshenTech, Aug 27, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: May 23, 2017
  11. yaluza1967

    yaluza1967 MDL Member

    Jun 6, 2009
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    I read different opinions on the tweak SuperFetch, I have not applied yet, I use many features of the manager and the server roles to use it just like last workstation, and configured with multiple roles, I am surprised it consumes identical ram that windows 7 x64 ultimate, I hate norton but given the praise that you in fact I am almost tempted to try because the kernel nod consumes 40 mo !
     
  12. AshenTech

    AshenTech MDL Novice

    Jun 19, 2008
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    yeah, I use to hate norton, it was horrible, 2009/sep really is a different beast all together tho, its like moving from driving an old school buss full of drunk collage frat kids to driving a sports coupe that gets great MPG and handles like a sportscar!!!

    as to superfetch, some apps bennifit greatly from it, others not so much.

    DO NOT INSTALL Hyper-V if your planning to use the system for day to day use as your main workstation.

    once hyper-v is installed your MAIN OS runs as a VIRTUAL MACHINE not just the host systems, this leads to INSAIN performance hits that cause all sorts of problems, from sound shuddering to crazy high load times, its just NOT WORTH IT!!!

    Virtualbox, vmware and similar apps can give you the same ability's but without the stupid performance hit that hyper-v adds :)
     
  13. genuineintel

    genuineintel MDL Member

    Apr 28, 2009
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    Hope ESET can catch up quickly.
     
  14. AshenTech

    AshenTech MDL Novice

    Jun 19, 2008
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    its been over 6 months and 4.0 cant even be used on sp2 64bit 2k8/vista safely, Esets fallen into a norton type rut it seems :/

    I use to use nod32, YEARS on it, even bought it rather then cracking it, then 4.0 came out and borked my windows so bad i had to reinstall to get rid of it.........

    ticked me off when i checked their forums and there where MONTHS of complaints about this from the beta, and full STILL ISNT FIXED.........

    anymore I tell people to either get sep11 or F-Prot(not f-secure, they are made by same company but 2 diffrent teams and f-prot is a far better AV)

    honestly if ur gonna buy an AV to use on any windows version just grab f-prot, its like 25bucks and covers 5 systems(well as many as u got in ur house really) and isnt picky about working on server vs desktop last i checked :)
     
  15. HSChronic

    HSChronic MDL Expert

    Aug 25, 2007
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  16. burfadel

    burfadel MDL EXE>MSP/CAB

    Aug 19, 2009
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    Turning Server 2008 R2 in to a 'desktop' OS is reasonably pointless for a typical computer user, you won't really gain much over running Windows 7 and tweaking it. The reason for this is Server 2008 R2 and Server 2008 run the same kernel etc as Windows 7 and Vista respectively.

    Changing Server 2003 to run as a 'desktop' OS is quite different, since it was based on a different, updated Kernel. In fact, Microsoft stuffed up and should have released XP SE, the reason why they didn't is they didn't realise it was going to be so long before Vista were to come out. XP SE could have been a much smaller upgrade price over XP, it would have been more profitable for them. They could have stopped support for the original XP back in say 2004, and saved development costs.

    Windows XP x64 is based on the Server 2003 core, which is why it has significant benefits over XP.
     
  17. guig

    guig MDL Member

    Apr 15, 2008
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    #20 guig, Oct 11, 2009
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2009
    Server 2008 R2 - WMV playback

    Hi there!
    I just installed Windows Server 2008 R2 and I have a little issue. There is on Windows Media Player and Windows Media Codecs. I installed K-Lite Mega Codec Pack and when I tried to play WMV file - Media Player Classic says: Cannot render media file :-(
    Can anyone solve that problem?

    The problem has been solved by adding a new feature called Desktop Experience from Server Manager ;-)