Month: August 2020

Installing and Configuring Windows Server Core

Starting to get a lot of servers in my HomeLab which are consuming a lot of resources. Decided to start reducing core services footprint by running Windows Core where I can.

The benefits of running Windows Server Core include:

  1. low resource usage
  2. and greatly reduced attack surface.

Here are the steps that I followed to build my Windows Server Core Domain Controller.

The following settings were used for this build:

 Value
PlatformHyper-V
vCPU1
Memory2048MB
Harddrive160GB
Harddrive 240GB
Network1x NIC

Mount the ISO and install as per normal.

Enter password for the local administrator account to log in.

To configure a dedicated disk to store the AD objects, we need to run Diskpart.

In the command prompt, enter the following commands:

Diskpart

List disk

Create Partition Primary

Select Partition 1

Active

Format FS=NTFS label=App

Assign letter=e

Exit

Now that you are back in Command Prompt, enter the following commands:

sconfig

Now select the relevant number to change the settings.
For this example, i will change the computer name.

2

Enter the new name for the computer.
Restart when prompted.

Log into the server, and run sconfig again.
Time to change the network settings.

8

1

1

S

Enter the IPv4 details

4

Now to install Server Roles.

Type powershell.exe to convert to Windows Powershell.

Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools

Install-ADDSForest -Domainname <NameofForest> -DatabasePath “E:\AD\DB” -LogPath “E:\AD\Log” -SysvolPath “E:\AD\SYSVOL”

Enter the safemode administrator password

Select Yes to All

You have now successfully created a Windows Core Domain Controller.

To add another domain controller to the domain, build to the same specs as the above server.

Run the following commands:

                Type the word Powershell to run powershell.

                Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain Services -IncludeManagementTools

Install-ADDSForest -Domainname <NameofForest> -DatabasePath “E:\AD\DB” -LogPath “E:\AD\Log” -SysvolPath “E:\AD\SYSVOL”

Enter the Admin password.

Reboot

Make sure you run DCDiag and confirm that there are no issues.