Windows Server Developer Preview installed (Windows Server 8)

On 14-9-2011 the first build of Windows Server Developer Preview is showed to the world. The Windows Server Developer Preview is a pre-beta version of Windows Server 8 for developers. Windows Server 8 is also build on Metro, the User Interface we know from Windows Phone 7. That way it's usable on servers and remote manageble on tablets, with touch interface!

In this blog I show you the installation & look and feel. I've created an virtual machine with 1 CPU, 2GB RAM and 20GB Disk. That's enough for having a smooth running virtual machine. The ISO can be mounted with a virtual CD/DVD-drive for installing Windows Server 8. I've used Oracle VirtualBox to install Windows Server 8 and capture screenshots.

The installation is approximately done in 10 a 15 minutes. During installation the following screens are seen:

Choose between Full Installation, Server Core or Features on Demand

The differences between these versions are:

Server Core: Windows Core, Windows PowerShell, DotNet Framework 4

Features on Demand: Same as Server Core + Server Manager, MS Management Consoles, A subset of Control Panel applets

Full Installation: Same as Features on Demand + All Control Panel Applets, Windows Help, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer

This is the default screen after installing..

Same as Windows 8 actually

When logon, Server Manager is started automatically (as usual)

The new Server Manager in Metro style, cool!

More about that in a next blogpost

Metro dashboard with tiles and menu options, nice!

Windows PowerShell will not be missed..

If needed, Windows PowerShell Getting Started Guide: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa973757(v=vs.85).aspx

New Task Manager in Windows Server 8

Have a look at this blogpost for more about that: http://henkhoogendoorn.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-task-manager-functionality-in.html

The Ribbon interface is available here also..

Known functionality as Control Panel, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are still available. New installations adds new tiles on the Metro UI also. Next time I have a look at more functionality in Server Manager. Stay tuned for more!

Watch the introduction from Windows Server 8 on Build 2011: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/SAC-973F

Download Windows Server 8 from the MSDN website: http://msdn.microsoft.com/nl-nl/windowsserver/
(Unlike Windows 8 only available for early adopters interested in testing the Operating System)