Installing the Vista SideBar
1. Download the zip-package with files needed to use the Vista Sidebar. If you use the 32bit version of Server 2008, download Windows Sidebar.zip from FreeUNH.org, unlimitednethosting.com, rapidshare, megaupload or 4shared. If you use the 64bit version of Server 2008 download Windows Sidebar x64.zip from FreeUNH.org, unlimitednethosting.com, rapidshare, megaupload or 4shared. The files inside this package are taken from a clean installation of Windows Server 2008 x86/x64 BETA 3 where the Windows Sidebar is still included when installing the Desktop Experience Feature.
2. Open Windows Sidebar (x64).zip and in the toolbar click Extract all files. Click the Browse button, expand Computer –> Local Disk (C:), and click Program Files. Select your destination by clicking OK.
3. Your Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders window will now look like this. Click Extract to extract the files and folders of Windows Sidebar (x64).zip to your C:\Program Files directory.
4. After the extraction has completed, click Run in the Start menu and enter the following command: "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe" /RegServer. You won’t see anything happen but in the background the SideBar is being installed. To enable the automatic installation of custom gadgets, also run the commands regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll" and regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll".
5. Once again open the Run dialog by clicking Start –> Run, now enter: "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe", and click OK. The taskbar will now show up! Let’s configure that it will automatically start with Windows Server 2008!
6. To configure it to automatically start with Windows right click the SideBar icon in the system tray and click Properties.
7. Check the box Start Sidebar when Windows starts, then click OK. Your taskbar is now fully functioning! You can add Gadgets by right clicking Add Gadgets in the systemtray icon menu or remove them by clicking Close Gadget in the contextmenu of a Gadget. To get help with installing gadgets go to the post Installing Custom Gadgets.
Troubleshooting
Question: I get a Open File- Security Warning message dialog every time I start Windows.
Answer: Follow these steps to remove this message.
1. Browse via My Computer to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\, right click sidebar.exe and click Properties.
2. In the General tab click Unblock, then click Apply and/or OK. Now you won’t see that message again! 
Tags Server 2008 Workstation
March 12th, 2008 at 22:43
weather gadget doesn’t work
and
the syntax “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe” in x64 doesn’t work eather
Admin: Thanks for your reply. Fixed it!
March 14th, 2008 at 23:51
try for 32bit “c:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe”
for 64 bit “c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe”
this worked for me
March 16th, 2008 at 4:05
No offence intended to those who have made the sidebar files available .. but I’m not comfortable putting ‘unknown’ files on my computer. And, yes, I know it’s a bit ironic given that I’m hacking a Microsoft OS.
Is it possible to grab the necessary files from an existing Vista installation or install CD?
I suspect that’s where the downloads came from in the first place.
Cheers,
Van
Admin: Added to step 1 where I got the files from. Of course you can download, and install Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 in a Virtual Machine and copy the files from there, but this is much more practical!
March 17th, 2008 at 5:34
I keep getting runtime errors - library not registered
How do I uninstall this?
Admin: You can try to register the two libraries in the Windows Sidebar directory by running the following two commands in Start->Run (replace ‘Program Files’ by ‘Program Files (x86)’ if you are using 64bit):
regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll”
regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll”
Uninstall can be done by removing the Sidebar value from the registry (Start->Run->regedit->delete Sidebar from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) and removing the Sidebar folder.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:46
tried that…
The module “c:\program files (x86)\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll” was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with error code 0×80020009
this is on 64 bit Server 2008, btw
Admin: If you search google for the error code 0×80020009, you ‘ll find it has something to do with permissions. Did you run the command as an Administrator?
March 21st, 2008 at 6:04
funny; this is one of those Vista bits I hate
March 23rd, 2008 at 22:42
Running x64. Most gadgets do not work properly. Clock for example is a back box with two red hand pointing to 12.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:23
and the games of Vista (example: Spider Solitaire). I would like to have in my Server 2008.
Admin: I already added it to the Wish List
March 31st, 2008 at 18:35
Hi,
Working solution for me on x64 Standard Server is:
“C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe” /RegServer
and to run it:
“C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe”
This doesnt work:“%ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe”
Admin: Thanks, updated it. Most people will have C:\ as their system root anyway.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:03
I have been able to get the sidebar to run (following the directions here) and all seems fine except for one thing. The sidebar isn’t transparent, it’s pure black.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Great site btw.
April 1st, 2008 at 13:04
Hi,
Found I got it working acceptably, though not perfectly by omitting the quotation markes from:
“C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe” /RegServer
“C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe”
May seem obvious to do this, but initially I didn’t omit the quotes & couldn’t get sidebar to install or run.
Hope this helps someone as thick as me! lol
April 16th, 2008 at 1:39
If you register the two dll files as an administrator:
regsvr32 C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll
regsvr32 C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll
then enter
C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe” /RegServer
as listed in the instructions everything works just as it does in Vista including the installation of custom gadgets by double clicking them (you do not need winrar).
Admin: Thanks, I added this information to step 4. However if the automatic installation won’t work for some reason, people can still use the Installing Custom Gadgets tutorial to get it done!
April 26th, 2008 at 23:18
Thanks for the great site!!! Yeehaw!!
Regarding the security warning and the need to unblock the EXE, the correct sequence is actually to unblock the .zip file as soon as the .zip file is downloaded. Windows will automatically retain the “blocked” flag for all files extracted from a “blocked” .zip file. Just unblocking the .zip file will make all of the extracted file’s contents unblocked.
I have made it a habit of unblocking all files I download from Internet Explorer.
Also, Firefox and most third party download managers will download without the downloaded file being blocked.
Jon
Admin: Thanks for the compliments and the explanation of the Internet Explorer downloaded files security measures!
May 8th, 2008 at 14:05
If you have problems using the sidebar in a non english Version. (No gadgets show up) go to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets and there rename all en-US folders in all Subfolders into your language used. For German it would be de-DE as example.
May 12th, 2008 at 15:46
for me is not working, i hava a Server 2008 X64 DataCenter,
when i run c:\program files (x86)\Windows Sidebar\sbdrop.dll or other comand i get this messahe: “The module “C:\Program Files(x86)\WindowsSidebar\sbdrop.dll” may not be compatible with the version of Windows that you’re running. Check is the module is compatible with an x86(32-bit) or x64(64-bit) version of regsvr32.exe.”
I downloaded the Sidebar from your x64 version link, tried also with a copy made from a Vist Business X64 but i get the same erro. Any idea ? thx.
Admin: In the x64 versions of Windows Server there are two different versions of regsvr32.exe: C:\Windows\System32\regsvr32.exe and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\regsvr32.exe. The regsvr32.exe in System32 should be the right one if you use the x64 version of the SideBar. Otherwise you can also use the x86 version of the SideBar by extracting the archive to C:\Program Files (x86)\ and running the regsvr32.exe from SysWOW64. Hope that works!
May 14th, 2008 at 8:36
The problem I ran into is the side bar is blank and all white.
I ran the dll’s , the C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe” /RegServer , and C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe , could not be found but I ran the install in the folder, any ideas ?
thats in windows server 2008 32 bit enterprise edition
Admin: If the files couldn’t be found by regsvr32.exe, go to the command prompt (start -> run -> cmd.exe) and enter cd “\Program Files\Windows Sidebar”. Now run the commands sidebar.exe /RegServer and regsvr32 sbdrop.dll and regsvr32 wlsrvc.dll. After all commands have been executed successfully, open the sidebar by running sidebar.exe!
May 19th, 2008 at 11:26
thanks
May 24th, 2008 at 13:58
I’ve followed all the instructions and successfully installed and ran sidebar.. although the sidebar wont detect any gadgets, even when following the tutorial for installing custom gadgets.
Admin: Are you sure you installed the SideBar for the right architecture (x86/x64)? If you install the x86 SideBar into C:\Program Files\ in the x64 edition no gadgets will be shown.
May 28th, 2008 at 15:35
Same here!
I tried it installing to: C:\Programme\Windows Sidebar and to C:\Programme (x86)\Windows Sidebar but nothing worked, no way, i tried every combination.
( I know it is German, because my Installation is German;), so do not tell me i didnt spell it correct :P)
Longhorn runs on 64bit architecture btw
Admin: What exactly doesn’t work? Do you see the SideBar but can’t you see any gadgets; can’t you see the SideBar at all; isn’t it possible to add new gadgets;… However, try to check what goes wrong using the instructions in this post at the forum.
May 29th, 2008 at 5:55
While most gadgets seem to work just fine (W2K8-64 Std here), for some reason CPU metering ones do nothing.
I’ve tried a few from the gadget gallery, including my favourite “All CPU Meter” which worked fine on 64-bit Vista. They come up, but all warped and don’t actually update information.
I wonder if the interface to that information is somewhat different between Vista and Server?
(to repeat: otherwise everything works well, and several other of my favourite gadgets work beautifully!)
June 2nd, 2008 at 18:43
If you cut&paste the regsvr32 commands in a CMD window, it results in a “file not found” error :-(.
Please replace your “ …. ” with the appropriate ” … ” for DOS.
It’s running fine. Going next to the dreamscene tweak ….
Admin: Thanks for notifying, I changed the default quotes into html entity " Now it should work directly!
June 5th, 2008 at 17:25
RE: Weather Gadgets (or any gadget which needs an internet connection)
I was experiencing the same problem as Stan… my weather gadgets were not working… but I discovered my problem.
If you have a proxy set-up it may be restricting a connection to the needed server for the gadget to function correctly. It may also be possible that IE has to be set as the default browser (I still need to check that). But I disabled my proxy (and made a direct connection), set IE as the default browser and the weather gadget now works!
June 6th, 2008 at 14:48
[...] ich hab einen weg gefunden (in den Weiten des Netzes) in der gezeigt wird wie das geht. Gugge >>hier<< Einziger Nachteil, die Server 2k8 Version, die oben verlinkt ist, ist die DE Version, das tut [...]
June 11th, 2008 at 16:15
sidebar for server08_GER,
you need for the german OS the /de-DE/-Folder. you can take it from Vista.
Here is my version, which runs perfectly under german-OS
http://rapidshare.com/files/121699139/Windows_Sidebar_DE.rar
June 20th, 2008 at 7:02
Some gadgets don’t work, e.g. wp-corp mail checker. These gadgets produce a black box, although you can adjust the settings.
Also, the currency converter seems not to connect to the net, but weather channel does.
June 27th, 2008 at 21:01
Would be nice if someone can host a x64bit sidebar for german version also. Maybe Windows included gadgets r showen if its the right languageversion. I don’t want to install Vista first, just to extract the file. Thx in advance
June 30th, 2008 at 21:59
Great tip!! Thank you!
July 5th, 2008 at 4:26
After following the instructions i was still left with an empty sidebar, and no gadgets to add. I did copy the files to “C:\Program Files (x86)” on my 64bit system. It will not work.
Copy them to “C:\Program Files\” instead. That works
Another tip.. don’t use the Command Prompt for keying in the commands.. you have no admin privelege there.. you have to use the start->run method
July 11th, 2008 at 19:44
awesome working!
July 11th, 2008 at 20:50
the sidebar is empty! no vista-standart gadgets are displayed when i click “add gadget”.
what can i do??
installing other gatgets with the name xxx.gadget works.
July 11th, 2008 at 21:44
problem fixed, i just had to rename the en-US file to de-DE cause i´m using the germadn version…
July 16th, 2008 at 18:50
Why go through all that trouble, just get Yahoo! widgets or Google Desktop. Works with any version or language.
July 18th, 2008 at 0:38
If your having trouble registering the dll’s because your run dialogue is not executing with administrator privileges then run the commands from an elevated command prompt..Programs–Command prompt right click and run as administrator
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:52
For those getting the 0×80020009 error. Make sure that your run box says “this process will be run with administrative privilages”. If it doesn’t display a message similar to that, then right click on “command prompt” in the start menu and select “run as administrator”. Then follow the admin’s post on #16.
Also, I’m running x64 standard and the sidebar works perfectly. The x64 sidebar download is indeed a 64-bit app, so put it in program files, not program files (x86).
July 24th, 2008 at 23:05
I kept getting an error that file name was not found. Tried downloading using Firefox, still no joy. Checked properties, the Creator had no permissions (I am logged on as Administrator), gave Creator full permissions. Open a Command window and tried to change directory kept getting an error. Tried using CD command with beginning ” but no ending “, great joy in Mudville, casey hit a home run. Then ran the commands as Greg was instructed by admin. Everything went smooth now and Gadgets are working. Thanks for this guide on using Server 2008 as a WS.
August 3rd, 2008 at 23:15
Tip: You don’t need the 64-bit version of the Sidebar files to use it on a 64-bit version of 2008. I copied the files from a 32-bit version of Vista (because I really don’t like running binaries from non-trusted sites, and I only have a 32-bit copy of Vista) to the Program Files (x86) directory, and it’s working fine.
Admin: That’s possible indeed.
August 9th, 2008 at 15:30
Sidebar installed ok for me, but I can’t seem to add any custom gadgets. The .gadget file extension is unknown. I associated it with sidebar.exe, but this didn’t help.
How can I fix this, the procedures I found for vista don’t work (registry entries)
August 9th, 2008 at 16:19
Never mind, I got it to work by first deleting all registry keys containing “.gadget” and deleting the sidebar directories. Then I did a reboot and followed the guide above to the letter. Now everything is working just peachy .