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Questions tagged [windows-server-2012]

Windows Server 2012 is a server operating system from Microsoft. It went RTM on August 1st of 2012, general release on September 4, 2012, and reached End Of Life on October 10, 2023. Like its predecessor, Server 2008 R2, it is only available in 64 bit versions. It contains many substantial changes over it predecessor, and substantially streamlines the number of available versions, which are down to four: Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter.

Server 2012 Logo

Windows Server 2012 is a server operating system from Microsoft. It went RTM on August 1st of 2012, and to general release on September 4, 2012. Like its predecessor, Server 2008 R2, it is only available in 64 bit versions. It contains many substantial changes over it predecessor, and substantial streamlines the number of available versions, which are down to four: Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter.

The editions and their features are laid out in a table at Wikipedia, but substantial new features and changes include:

  • Metro, a new Graphical User Interface (based on Microsoft's Metro design language) which is also present in Windows 8.
  • A new FileSystem, ReFS (Resilient File System)
  • A new role, IP address management (IPAM)
  • A new IIS version (IIS 8.0)
  • Simplified and updated Active Directory functionality
  • A new version of Hyper-V (Microsoft's virtualization technology)
  • Much expanded PowerShell commandlet library: over 2300, compared with approximately 200 in Server 2008.
  • The ability to switch between Server Core and full modes without a full re-installation, and the addition of a new installation option that excludes most of the GUI.

Minimum system requirements for installing and running Server 2012 are:

  • 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 32GB disk space

Maximum hardware scalability in Server 2012 is also improved, currently:

  • 640 logical processors
  • 4 TB RAM
  • 64 fail-over cluster nodes
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Managing Windows Powershell from Linux terminal

I manage Windows Server 2012 servers. I'm learning PowerShell to manage these servers through command line. My workstation runs Ubuntu and I usually manage Linux servers by connecting via SSH. Is there a way that I can use Windows PowerShell on…
Ederson
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When deploying a single server on new hardware, do you virtualize it or not?

There are a few questions that I've found on ServerFault that hint around this topic, and while it may be somewhat opinion-based, I think it can fall into that "good subjective" category based on the below: Constructive subjective questions: * tend…
TheCleaner
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Should I still have a physical DC, even post-Server 2012?

Back in the pre-Windows Server 2012 days, the recommendation seemed to be to have at least one physical domain controller sat along-side your virtualised DCs. One justification for this was because if your Hyper-V hosts were clustered, then they…
dbr
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What replaces IIS SMTP server in Windows Server 2012

I have read the notes here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831568.aspx regarding deprecated and removed features in Windows 2012 and it says that SMTP is deprecated. I assume this is referring to the IIS SMTP server. The advice is to…
Andy
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What does "The IO operation at logical block address # for Disk # was retried." mean when seen in the Windows Server System event log?

I have multipath IO configured server 2012 blade that shows warnings like the following during MPIO path failure: The IO operation at logical block address 0 for Disk 7 was retried. I know what is causing the warning to happen so I am not looking…
Chris Magnuson
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Start program on computer startup when nobody is logged on and show the window when someone does log on (OS: Windows)

I have a program that is launched on system startup using Task Scheduler on Windows Server 2012. The program must start even if the computer reboots automatially. Administrator is the account used to start the program, the option "Run whether user…
Marcus
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How to change color scheme in Windows Server 2012

I have installed a fresh copy of Windows Server 2012 and when I go to Control Panel > Appearance > Display > Color and Appearance it states "This page is not available in this edition of Windows". The version I installed is the latest from MSDN…
bigmac
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How to set up port forwarding on Amazon EC2

I have a web application running on Amazon EC2. It listens on port 9898. I can access it by entering the ip address and port number. e.g 1.2.3.4:9898 However, what I'd really like to be able to do is to not have to enter the port…
ksl
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Identify Windows 2012 Server core

I want to detect if a 2012 server is has been setup as a Core install using WMI. An earlier question, would seem to indicate that I can get the OperatingSystemSKU from Win32_OperatingSystem. My Windows 2012 Core systems are reporting a…
Zoredache
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How do I disable the Animations in Microsoft Server 2012?

I connect to our Microsoft Server 2012 through remote desktop. There are just too many animations (for example Opening and closing windows) etc. How do I turn off all animations?
Devdatta Tengshe
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Windows Update not working on Windows 2012 R2 Standard

I recently inherited the management of a Windows 2012 server at a remote site. I checked Windows Update and it has not been updating since March. When I tell Windows to check for updates, it acts like it is checking, but it seems to say that for…
Scot
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Maximum number of logged in users using remote desktop

We are using remote desktop to log in to a Windows 2012 server with a limit for two simultaneously users only. Sometimes, however, we need to be more. We've discussed that with our server guys who claimed that this is only possible if the server…
uzilan
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What is an open DNS resolver, and how can I protect my server from being misused by hackers?

I don't have the strongest background in computer security, but yesterday one of my company servers was shut down by our host. It's a server assigned a public IP where I host several web-service applications including websites and APIs. I was told…
JSideris
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Automatically Use PowerShell on Server Core

When I locally log in to a Server 2012 Core installation, every time I have to type powershell to get to a PowerShell command line instead of plain ol' cmd. Assuming that I will never remove the PowerShell Windows Feature, how can I configure the…
vcsjones
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Password protect single directory in IIS 8

How can I password protect a single directory in IIS 8 under Windows Server 2012 Standard? Example: I want to be able to access mysite.com, but when navigating to mysite.com/secured, I want to be prompted for a password for access.
Jake
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