Latest video’s from the win2008workstation Youtube Channel. Any feedback, suggestions and requests are welcome via the comments or at the forum.

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By default Windows Server 2008 has a (boring) blue logonscreen background. This tutorial will help you to customize the Windows Server 2008 x86|x64 (Build 6001) loginscreen with Vista’s or your own background. Members of the forum found out that using the authui.dll file from Vista SP0 (Vista without any Service Packs) allows you to modify the logonscreen background and (as far as we tested) doesn’t have side-effects. You can do this either autmatically or manually. You can test if this also works for newer builds of Windows Server 2008, but at your own risk!

After overwriting the authui.dll file(s) you will get the default Vista logon background. To modify this, use the free Vista Visual Master, the commercial Stardock LogonStudio or any other Vista Logon Screen modification tool to edit the background.

Modded Windows 2008 Workstation logonscreen

Automatically

I extracted the authui.dll files for the x86 and x64 architecture respectively from the x86 and x64 MSDN iso’s of Windows Vista (SP0) RTM. See names of iso images below.

Download: authui.dll_VistaSP0_x86x64.zip (1.91MB) from Rapidshare and run install.cmd. This installer works for both the x86 and x64 architecture.
Contents:

Manually

x86
1. Get the authui.dll file from the C:\Windows\System32\ directory of a clean Windows Vista SP0 pc or extract it from the MSDN iso with name en_windows_vista_x86_dvd_X12-34293.iso.

2. Go to your Windows Server 2008 pc and take ownership and get permissions for the C:\Windows\System32\authui.dll file. To do this follow the instructions in the “Take Ownership/Permissions” article.

3. Rename the authui.dll file and copy the authui.dll file you got from the Vista SP0 pc to the System32 directory.

x64
1. Get the authui.dll file from the C:\Windows\System32\ and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ directory of a clean Windows Vista SP0 x64 or extract it from the MSDN iso with name en_windows_vista_x64_dvd_X12-40712.iso.

2. Go to your Windows Server 2008 pc and take ownership and get permissions for the C:\Windows\System32\authui.dll and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\authui.dll file. To do this follow the instructions in the “Take Ownership/Permissions” article.

3. Rename the authui.dll files and copy the authui.dll files you got from the Vista SP0 x64 pc to respectively the System32 and SysWOW64 directory.

In this article I’ll explain how to get permissions to modify/replace a protected system file. We will use authui.dll as an example. You can do this either via the GUI or via the Command Line. If you have problems with permissions, check the Troubleshooting section or ask your question at the forum. Remember: always make a backup before modifying/replacing system files!

GUI

The first 3 steps help you to get ownership over the file; the last 2 gives yourself permission to edit/replace the file.

Taking Ownership

1. Start Windows Explorer, go to the folder or file you want to get ownership for, right click the file and choose Properties. Now go to the Security tab.

2. In the Security tab click the Advanced button. In the window that opens now go to the Owner tab and click Edit.

3. From the list select the user or group you want to give ownership, click OK and click OK when a notification window appears. Now close all windows by clicking OK.

Setting Permissions

4. Reopen the properties of the file by right clicking the file and choosing Properties. Now go to the Permissions tab again.

5.Click the Edit button and choose in the Permissions window the user you want to edit the permissions from. Check the Full control checkbox if you want to give the selected user all permissions and click OK when you are done. Click Yes when a warning appears about setting the permissions of System folders.

6. Now you have permissions to replace/edit/delete the files or folder you just took ownership of.

Command Line

Start the Command Prompt by clicking Run in the Start menu, entering cmd.exe and clicking OK. Browse to the file or folder you want to set permissions from and use the following commands.

Give ownership of a file to current user

Give ownership of a file to Administrators group

Give ownership of a folder to current user

Give ownership of a folder to Administrators group

Edit the permissions of the file authui.dll to give full permissions to the Administrator user. Administrator can be replaced by any user or group.

Edit the permissions of the Boot folder in C:\Windows\System32 to give full permissions to the Administrator user. Administrator can be replaced by any user or group.

References:
* Microsoft Technet: Icacls parameters
* Microsoft Technet: Takeown parameters

Troubleshooting

Q: After setting ownership and permissions I still get a You need permission to continue message when modifying files or folders.
A: Try disabling User Account Control (UAC): Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account Control on or off -> uncheck -> OK -> Restart.

Q: How can I restore a file I backed up previously?
A: There are multiple possibilities to do this:

Possibility 1: Safe Mode
1. Go to the boot menu by repeatedly pressing F8 before Windows is loading and select Safe Mode.
2. Remove the edited file and replace it with your backupped file.

Possibility 2: Windows Boot DVD
If your pc couldn’t even boot in Safe Mode, you have to use an external medium to restore the backup file(s).
1. Insert the Windows Server 2008 Installation DVD (download iso) into the dvd drive and boot from it.
2. Click Next at the Language Settings screen.
3. In the next screen choose the Repair your computer link, select the Windows Server 2008 operating system you want to recover from the list and click Next again.
4. At the System Recovery Options screen choose the Commandline Prompt option.
5. Copy the backupped files back to their original location overwriting the edited ones. Reboot your computer when done!

The xinput9_1_0.dll file is a library needed for using Xbox controllers and is by default included in Windows Vista but not in Windows Server 2008. This dll is needed to play several games like Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 2 and more.

To install this dll I created a zip file including an batch installer that works on both the x86 and x64 editions of Windows Server 2008.

• If you are using the x86 version of Windows Server 2008, it will install the x86 version of xinput9_1_0.dll into %windir%\System32.
• If you are using the x64 version of Windows Server 2008, it will install the x64 version of xinput9_1_0.dll into %windir%\System32 and also the x86 version of this file into %windir%\SysWOW64.

Download: XinputInstaller_x86x64.zip (118 KB)

Contents:

For those who want to get these files manually: you need to download the DirectX Software Development Kit, extract it somewhere and go to the Redist folder where you can find the x86 dll in the file Oct2005_xinput_x86.cab and the dll for the x64 architecture in the Oct2005_xinput_x64.cab file.

To make Windows Server 2008 as fast as possible you also need to do some Windows Services fine-tuning. Below is a table with a list of all services on a clean Windows Server 2008 Enterprise machine. This list is quite the same as the list of services in other editions of Windows Server 2008. If you have any additions/corrections to this list, please leave a Comment with a description why you can tweak the service and when you might need it.

To edit the Startup Type of services do the following:
1. Open the Start menu, click Run, enter services.msc and click OK.
2. Right click the Service name and choose Properties.
3. Choose the value you want from the Startup type dropdown and click OK to save the setting.

Windows Services Tweaks List

If you don’t want to configure all options to convert Windows Server 2008 to a Workstation manually, sawo now made it possible to use a tool for this. He has done a great job by creating this converter to automate all steps of the manual!

Get the Windows Server 2008 Workstation Converter

• Download Serv08Convert12.zip (mirror) (13.2MB)
• View previous versions.

Support & Suggestions

• At this page (http://converter.win2008workstation.com/) using comments.
• At the Forums in the ‘Windows Server 2008 Workstation Converter’ section.
• By contacting sawo via email: sawo.777 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Known Issue
The UxTheme patch may in cause an unbootable system in a few cases. To fix this, boot up the pc in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, change directory to %windir%\System32 and rename the UxTheme.backup file back to UxTheme.dll. Now reboot and everything should work fine again!

Features of the Converter

General

Visual Tweaks

Network

Games

Other

Delay Activation

Possible commandline parameters
-audio Enable windows audio
-cpu Optimize CPU performance for programs
-ie Disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration
-dotnet Install .NET Framework 3.0
-superfetch Enable SuperFetch
-desktop Install desktop experience
-themes Enable themes
-cad Disable CTRL+ALT+DEL at Startup
-events Disable shutdown event tracker
-name Change computer name
-wireless Enable wireless networking
-offline Enable offline files
-search Enable windows search service
-autologin Enable auto logon
-delay Delay activation
-check Check the remaining days left until activation
-uxtheme32 Apply the UxTheme Patch for 32bit systems
-uxtheme64 Apply the UxTheme Patch for 64bit systems
-sidebar32 Install the sidebar for 32bit systems.
-sidebar64 Install the sidebar for 64bit systems.
-joy32 Install the control panel item for game controllers on 32bit systems.
-joy64 Install the control panel item for game controllers on 64bit systems.
-cursors Install the vista aero cursors.

More information can be found in Readme.txt and Changelog.txt.

Previews of media files are disabled by default in Windows Server 2008. In this article we will enable it so we get the small previews back again!

1. Open the Start menu and click Run. Now enter SystemPropertiesPerformance and click OK. In the Performance Options window at least check the Show thumbnails instead of icons option. If you are using themes you should also check the Use visual styles on windows and buttons option to keep you theme.

2. If we now browse to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpapers\ as a test we can see that we now have previews for pictures! Previews should also work for most movie files. Note that you have to set the View to Small Icons, Medium Icons, Large Icons or Extra Large Icons in order to see the previews.

To get your joystick/steering wheel or other game controllers working and to configure them in Windows Server 2008, you first have to get the Game Controllers item in the Control Panel.

1. To get the Game Controllers item in your Control Panel download joy_32bit.zip from rapidshare or megaupload if you are using the x86 version of Windows or joy_64bit.zip from rapidshare or megaupload if you are using the x64 version. These files are taken from respectively a clean installation of Windows Vista Ultimate x86 and Windows Vista Ultimate x64. The .cpl files of Windows Vista don’t work.

2. Right click joy_32bit.zip or joy_64bit.zip and choose Extract All in the context menu. Choose as destination C:\Windows and optionally uncheck Show extracted files when complete. Click Extract and choose Yes when asked if you want to merge the System32 (and SysWOW64 in x64) folder.

3. In the Start menu click Control Panel.

- If you use the Modern View, click the Hardware and Sound section and choose Set up USB game controllers.

- If you use the Classic View, doubleclick the Game Controllers icon.

4. Configure your game controller and play!

Thanks to microslav for this nice trick and Mark for the files!

By default Windows Server 2008 has the plain white mousepointer. In this tutorial we will install the aero mouse pointers of Windows Vista.

1. Download aero_cursors.zip from Win2008Workstation, rapidshare, megaupload or 4shared.

2. Open aero_cursors.zip and browse within the archive to the folder cursors. Within the cursors folder select all files by pressing ctrl+A, click with your right mouse button on the selection and select Copy.

3. Browse with Windows Explorer to C:\Windows\Cursors and click Paste in the Edit menu. All Aero cursors will now be unpacked to your system.

4. Go to the root of the aero_cursors.zip archive and double click at the aero_cursors(.reg) file. Click Yes when the Registry Import warning appears.

5. In the Start menu click Control Panel.

- If you use the Modern View, click Mouse in the Hardware and Sound section.

- If you use the Classic View, doubleclick the Mouse icon.

In the Mouse Properties window click tab Pointers, select Windows Aero from the Scheme dropdown list. Optionally you can also check the Enable pointer shadow.

6. Enjoy the smooth looking mouse pointers and cursor animations!

To get Windows Server 2008 in your own language you have the option to install Multilingual User Interface Language Packs. Currently the following languages are available for Windows Server 2008 (x86/x64): English, German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Russian, Portuguese (Portugal), Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Czech, Hungarian, Arabic, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hebrew, Greek, Thai, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian Latin, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian.

1. First you have to download the language pack from here for Windows Server 2008 SP1 or from here for Windows Server 2008 SP2.

2. Mount the downloaded .img (cd image) with cd emulation software like Daemon Tools. (Rightclick the Daemon Tools icon in the Systray -> Virtual CD/DVD-ROM -> Device 0: [E:] Empty -> Click Mount Image. In the Files of type dropdown list select All Files (*.*), then select your languagepack.img file)

3. In the Start menu click Control Panel.

- If you use the Modern View click Change Display Language in the Clock, Language and Region section.

- If you use the Classic View, doubleclick Regional and Language Options and go to tab Keyboards and Languages.

Click the Install/uninstall languages button.

4. At the Install or Uninstall Display Languages page click Install Languages.

5. At the Select the languages to install page click Browse and browse in your Virtual CD/DVD-ROM device to the folder langpacks. Click the language you want to install and click Select Folder.

6. Verify the language you want to install and click Next.

7. Review the Microsoft Software License Terms. If you accept them select I accept the license terms and click Next.

8. Click the Install button!

9. Get a cup of coffee while installing, it will take a while.

10. After the installation has finished you can optionally directly change your own language to the one you installed and also apply it for all other accounts on this computer.

11. I love my native language!

Offline Files is a nice feature in Windows if you are running Windows Server 2008 on a laptop. With Offline Files you can select a folder at a networking place, synchronize, disconnect your notebook and edit documents, spreadsheets etc in the local version of the folder. When you connect to the networking place again, all changes will be synchronized!

Prerequisite: You must have the Desktop Experience feature installed.

1. Download and install the appropriate version of Windows Mobile Device Center from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/devicecenter.mspx. This doesn’t have to do with any Windows Mobile device, but it is needed to get the Sync Center option in the Control Panel.

Note: If you haven’t installed the Desktop Experience feature before you install Windows Mobile Device Center, you will get the error: The Update could not be installed because at least one Windows component required by Windows Mobile Device Center is missing.

2. In the Start menu click Control Panel.

- If you use the Modern View, click the Network and Internet section and click Enable offline Files.

- If you use the Classic View, doubleclick the Offline Files icon.

In the Offline Files window click Enable Offline Files to start using offline files.

3. Close the Enable Offline Files window by clicking OK and choose Yes when asked if you want to restart your Computer.

4. After the restart go to the networking folder you want to make offline available, right click on it and select Always Available Offline. A local copy will now be made.

5. Now you can work on the files, even if the laptop is disconnected!

In stead of using all tutorials to configure your Windows Server 2008, it is also possible to apply the configuration changes by importing a .reg file into the Windows Registry.

How to create .reg files

1. To create a .reg file from the following registry values, choose Run from the Start menu, enter notepad and click OK.

2. Copy the contents of a Registry Tweak block from this page and paste it into notepad.

3. In the File menu click Save, and browse to the folder you want to save the file. Use as File Name myregfile.reg and select All Files in the Save as type dropdown box. Now click Save.

4. Browse to the folder where you saved the .reg file in and Doubleclick it. If you get a confirmation, click Yes to import the file into your registry!

Registry Tweaks

Shutdown Event Tracker

Disable Ctrl+Alt+Del

Performance for Programs

Enable SuperFetch Service

If you import this registry file you can skip step 1-4 on the Enabling SuperFetch page.

Prevent Stuttering Sound

If SystemResponsiveness is set to 100 (default in Server 2008), it means that all processes are given a higher priority than multimedia. In Windows Vista the default value is 20. This is a addition to the article Enable Sound Acceleration.

Enable thumbnails in Windows Explorer

If you don’t know what to do with this Registry Tweaks, read How to create reg files!

Many games that you install under Windows Server 2008 need the file gameux.dll to be present in the system32 directory, otherwise you will get error messages like this:

In this tutorial I will describe a 32bit and a 64bit installation. Thanks to sYk0 it is also possible to use an automated installer for this.

Windows Server 2008 32bit

1. For the 32bit edition of Windows Server 2008 download gameux_32bit.zip from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared and extract the file gameux.dll to C:\Windows\System32\.

2. After extraction of the 32bit gameux.dll, register the file by running regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\gameux.dll in Start -> Run.

Windows Server 2008 64bit

1. If you use the 64bit edition of Windows Server 2008, download gameux_64bit.zip from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared and extract the gameux.dll in the folder System32 to C:\Windows\System32\ and the file gameux.dll in the folder SysWOW64 to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\.

2. After the extraction of the two gameux.dll files to the System32 and SysWOW64 folders, register the two .dll’s by running the command regsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\gameux.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64\gameux.dll.

Now the games that need gameux.dll won’t complain about it any longer!

I have already seen several people complaining that their game / program crashes with Exception Code c0000005 when trying to start. The exception code c0000005 stands for an access violation in memory. When running Server 2008 you have a high probability that DEP has blocked an instruction, and that’s the reason your executable stops execution. By default DEP is in Windows Server 2008 enabled for all programs and services.

In this tutorial we will leave Data Execution Prevention only enabled for essential Windows programs and services. All programs and games you install won’t use DEP anymore. As an example I show you how I fixed Dungeon Siege II, but this works for applications and other games too!

Example of crashing game “Dungeon Siege II” before disabling DEP

1. Open the Start menu, right click at Computer and select Properties in the context menu.

2. On the left below Tasks click Advanced system settings. In the Performance section click Settings. After that the window Performance Options shows up, go to the tab Data Execution Prevention, select Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only and click OK.Click OK when you are notified that you need to restart your computer.

3. Restart your computer and probably you can now play your favourite game or run the program that didn’t work before!

Game is now working! As you see I only didn’t insert the game disk.

When you install games and software in Windows Server, some installations will say that server operating systems are not supported and abort the installation. In this tutorial we will modify the .msi file of Unreal Tournament 3 as an example, but for other games and software you can do this the same way!

Patching msi packages can be done either manually or automatically.

Manually

1. Create a new folder somewhere on your harddisk, select all files from the UT3 dvd and copy them to the newly created folder.

2. Download the Orca MSI Editor from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared, and install the tool.

3. Right click on the Unreal Tournament 3.msi setup file in the folder you copied the UT3 dvd files to, and click Edit with Orca.

4. In the Orca MSI Editor click the table LaunchCondition on the left, next right click the condition that was preventing us from installing UT3 and click Drop Row. Click OK when asked if you want to continue.

5. Now save the change by clicking Save in the File menu. You can close the Orca MSI Editor now.

6. Launch the Installation of Unreal Tournament 3 by double clicking SetupUT3.exe from the installation folder of UT3 on your harddisk.

7. Play UT3!

Automatically

Thanks to Sky_Dynasty for the tip!

1. Download MSI File Install Fixer.zip from Win2008Workstation or MSI File Install Fixer.rar from MediaFire.

2. Read the ReadMe.txt inside the archive.

3. (Hopefully) install the game or application!

If you installed the 64bit edition of Windows Server 2008 it is possible to integrate virtualization of 32bit and 64bit guest operating systems into your Operating System. In order to use this you need a processor that supports hardware assisted virtualization. To check if your processor is supported check the Troubleshooting section. Be aware that installing the Hyper-V Server Role could lead to a huge performance drop! (example 1, example 2)

Installation

To install Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 64bit, do the following steps:

1. Start the Server Manager by clicking the Server Manager icon in the systray, or the Server Manager shortcut in directly the Start menu or in the menu Administrative Tools.

2. In the Server Manager click below the category Roles Summary on Add Roles.

3. At the Before You Begin page click Next.

4. Check the Hyper-V role and click Next.

5. Review the introduction and notes and click Next.

6. At the Create Virtual Network page check your internet connection network card to have internet in your virtual pc’s, or leave it to leave your virtual pc’s offline. Then click Next.

7. Review the roles to install and your settings, then click Next.

8. After installing the Hyper-V serverrole, click Yes to restart your computer.

9. After the computer has restarted the Hyper-V setup will be completed. After the installation has completed click Close to finish the wizard.

10. To create, start and configure virtual pc’s go to the Server Manager as described in step 1, expand Roles -> Hyper-V -> Microsoft Hyper-V Servers and finally click your computername.

My own Hyper-V installation

My Hardware: Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 Motherboard with DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPU.

Directly after the Hyper-V Serverrole installation had finished I tried starting a virtual machine, but got the message “The virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running.”. I looked this error up on the internet, and it came out that I had an old version of my bios software (< stepping 3). Your processor needs at least stepping 3 to run Hyper-V. To check which stepping you currently have download and run CPU-Z from http://www.cpuid.com/.

To upgrade the bios I went to the support site of my motherboard and downloaded the newest version of my bios. First I created a Windows startup disk. After creating the startup disk I extracted the files m56ss3.f4e and FLASH895.EXE to that floppy. Next I rebooted my pc and booted up from the floppy. After the I got the command prompt of the startup disk I entered the following command flash895 m56ss3.f4e to upgrade my bios software. After the upgrade had completed I reset the pc, went to the bios and Enabled hardware virtualization.

“Now my Hyper-V MUST work” I thought, but after clicking Start of a Virtual Machine I again got the message “The virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running.”!! I did some research, and I found that the hypervisor was not added to my Boot Environment. To add the hypervisor to the boot environment start the command prompt and enter the following command: BCDEdit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto. After you get response “The operation completed successfully.”, reboot your system and Hyper-V should work now! If not, take a look in your Hyper-V Event Viewer (See Troubleshooting) and try to find out what the problem is.

Troubleshooting

Question: How can I see if my CPU supports Virtualization?

Answer: Download the tool SecurAble and look if your processor supports 64bit, Hardware DEP and Hardware Virtualization.

Question: After creating a new Virtual Machine in the Hyper-V section in the Server Manager and clicking Start, I get the error message: “The virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running.”

Answer: The Hyper-V hypervisor needs to be running. If it isn’t running there are probably errors when starting the service. Errors of the Hyper-V Server Role can be found in the Server Manager under Diagnostics -> Event Viewer -> Custom Views -> Server Roles -> Microsoft Hyper-V. Search the error messages at google or in the Server Virtualization section at the Technet Forums.

References

• Server Virtualization at Microsoft Technet Forums
• Virtualization with Hyper-V: FAQ

Maybe you are wondering where the Windows Search Service is in Windows Server 2008 to search your email or documents. Follow these steps and it is possible to search your email/documents again! This is of course an optional step, because it can also slow down your computer.

1. Start the Server Manager by clicking the Server Manager icon in the systray, or the Server Manager shortcut in directly the Start menu or in the menu Administrative Tools.

2. In the Server Manager click below the category Roles Summary on Add Roles.

3. Click Next in the Before You Begin screen.

4. In the Select Server Roles screen check File Services, then click Next.

5. You can eventually read the Introduction to File Services, and click Next.

6. Select the Windows Search Service in the Role Services list. You can optionally uncheck the File Server role.

7. Select your setting for the volumes you want to index.

8. At the Confirm Installation Selections page click Install to start the installation of the Windows Search Service role.

9. After the installation has finished click Close. The Windows Search service has now automatically be started and will be indexing your system during idle time!

Probably you are thinking at the moment: “Why the heck should I use Windows Server 2008 as my Workstations Operating System?? Vista works fine for me…”.

The answer is clear: Windows Server 2008 has almost exactly the same features as Windows Vista (SP1), but is remarkably faster and more stable! People say: “It’s Windows Vista without the bloat“!

Here are six great benchmarks which compare Windows Vista [SP1] against Windows Server 2008:

• Win2008workstation forum member halladayrules who compared Windows Server 2008 SP2 to Windows Vista SP2
• exo.blog: Windows “Workstation” 2008 – Vista Done Right?
• WastingTimeWithMikeAndAri: Windows Server 2008 10% faster, uses 2/3 the ram of Vista
• Jayson Rowe’s Ramblings: Windows Server 2008 “Workstation” Take 3
• Article from PC Games Hardware Magazine (German): DirectX 10 ohne Vista (rapidshare/pdf)
• Recovery Monkey: Massive benchmark comparison between Windows XP, Vista and 2008 Server, 32- and 64-bit

Beside the speed, Windows Server 2008 also includes:

• Microsoft Internet Information Services 7: Fully featured webserver;
• Hyper-V: Virtualization integrated in the Operating System.
• Terminal Services: Work with multiple users simultaneously on one fast PC.
• Much more!

Download and install Windows Server 2008 Now!!

On this page we create a list of our wishes for getting applications working in Windows Server 2008 or other preferences. If you want a feature that is not on this list, add a comment so I’ll add it.

Wish List

I get many questions about how to get all hardware working in Windows Server 2008. Basically all Vista drivers should work. I will describe three methods how to get the drivers you need and how to install them. You can use these methods too for other Windows versions than Windows Server 2008.

Method 1: Windows Update

1. The easiest way to get drivers is to open up the “Windows Update” application in Windows Vista / Server 2008 by clicking Start -> Control Panel -> Windows Update. In the upper left of the Windows Update window click Check for updates, and wait until the search has finished.

2. Click the View available updates link to look if there are drivers for your devices.

3. If there are (newer versions of) drivers available they will be listed here. Check the boxes if they are not already checked and click Install at the bottom right to install the updates and device drivers if available. In my case no drivers are available.

Method 2: Manually download them

To visit the manufacturer for drivers you first have to know information about the hardware that isn’t installed yet. To view the drivers you still need open the Server Manager by right clicking on Computer, and clicking Manage. In the Server Manager expand Diagnostics and click Device Manager. The Windows Device Manager probably won’t tell much more about the unknown devices than Audio Device or even Unknown Device.

1. To find out what the real names of the devices are first go to download and install the tool Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition from the Lavalys website or download.com.

2. After you installed Everest, start the program. Now you can look for two things: the exact type of your motherboard (2a), and the the devices that are not installed yet (2b). The best is to install the drivers for your motherboard first.

2a. Motherboard: To view the exact type of your motherboard, expand Motherboard and click Motherboard to view its name. For the motherboard there is often an url to go to the product page of the manufacturer. On this page search for links like downloads/drivers/support and download the Windows Vista drivers.

2b. Other devices: To view which devices you haven’t installed yet expand Devices and click Windows Devices for devices you attached to your motherboard. When you click an unknown device you will see the device name and manufacturer most times. Search with your favorite search engine for the manufacturer and/or device name and look for the Windows Vista drivers. In this screenshot I the SM Bus Controller driver isn’t installed.

3. After you downloaded the drivers you can install the drivers in two ways: Automatically (3a) or Manually (3b).

3a. Automatically: You can install the drivers automatically by just following the instructions and installation files in the driver package. There is not much more to say about.

3b. Manually:
1. Sometimes manually installing the drivers just don’t work because the installer is not packed in a compression that is readable by WinRAR (download from http://www.rarlabs.com/), but if it is possible extract the driver package with WinRAR by right clicking on the file you downloaded, then choosing extract to name subfolder.

2. Open the Device Manager in the Server Manager like described on the top of this page and double click the unknown device. Change your view to tab Driver, and click Update Driver. (Here I just selected the networking card that is already installed because I don’t have any not installed devices, but it’s almost the same procedure.)

3. Choose Browse my computer for driver software if you are asked how to search for driver software.

4. Click browse and select the driver folder in the folder you extracted in step 1.

5. Click Next so Windows will search the folder including subfolders for drivers.

6. If the right driver is found it will be installed immediately. After the installation has finished click the Close button. Now your driver is installed!

Method 3: Ma-Config.com

(thanks Valorisa)

The website in this method is partially french, but that won’t be a problem if you just click the right links/buttons!

1. Start Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to the url http://ma-config.com/accueil_en.html and click Start the Detection.

2. At the Detectér sa configuration page click Installation automatique (automatic installation). When asked to install the ActiveX control, accept the security warning by clicking Install.

3. In the MA-Config.com Setup window click Next. Select Standard as Installation Type and click Next. Choose the location to install and click Next again. Start the installation by clicking Install. After the setup has finished, click Finish. The driver detection will now start. - If the driver detection crashes, just use this url in stead of the url in step 1 to get it working. (at least, that worked for me!) -

3. After the detection has completed a list of devices will be shown. If drivers are available click in the right corner beside the magnifying glass at Télécharger mes drivers (Download my drivers). At this page you can download the drivers you want by clicking at Télécharger (Download) behind the green arrow.

4. In the window that opens next scroll down till you see the title Téléchargement. Click the picture of the hard disk and you got your driver! You can now install them either automatically or manually using the instructions in Method 2.

5. After you installed all drivers you can remove the ActiveX control by clicking Control Panel in the Start menu, opening Programs and Features, and double clicking Ma-Config.com.

Method 4: DriverAgent.com

If the three other methods didn’t work or if you just don’t want to try them, visit the website http://www.driveragent.com/, click the Scan Now button and install the plugin when asked. Your computer hardware will now be examined to check if there are drivers available for your specific operating system/architecture. The disadvantage is that, if there are drivers, you need to pay for an account in order to download the drivers. That’s why I added this as the last solution for driver problems.