Recently, I decided to add a second domain controller to my mikefrobbins.com domain. The existing server and this new server that will become a domain controller both run the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating system and both were installed with the default installation type of server core (no GUI). Even though the GUI can be turned on and off in Windows Server 2012 (unlike in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2), I prefer not to add the GUI unless absolutely necessary.

You’re attempting to view the event logs of a couple of remote Windows Server 2012 servers that have been installed with the default installation type of server core (No GUI). You receive the following error when attempting to connect to these servers using the Event Viewer snapin in an MMC console: “Computer ‘DC01.MIKEFROBBINS.COM’ cannot be connected. Verifythat the network path is correct, the computer is available on thenetwork, and that the appropriate Windows Firewall rules are enabledon the target computer.

I’ve had a lot of irons in the fire this year and haven’t had time to dedicate to taking any certification tests year to date. This year, I’ve spent much of the time that I would have normally spent studying for certification tests, learning PowerShell instead. I competed in the Scripting Games earlier in the year. I finished in third place in the beginner class and lead the beginner class for more than half of the games:

I’ll be speaking this Saturday, October 27th at PowerShell Saturday 003in Atlanta. My session is officially titled “PowerShell Fundamentals for Beginners”. A guest blogthat I wrote about PowerShell, my session, and the event was published yesterday on the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog at Microsoft TechNet so take a look at it and the brief description of my sessionon the PowerShell Saturday 003 website for more details. It’s getting close to Halloween so I picked up some special treats in the New Orleans area this week to give out during my session to people who answer questions:

You have a fresh installation of Windows Server 2012 that was installed using the default installation type of server core installation (no-GUI). This server will be the first domain controller in a brand new Active Directory forest. Log into the server and launch PowerShell by typing “powershell.exe”. You’ll need to first add the AD-Domain-Services role to the server: Add-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services The installation of this role completes and a restart is not required:

One of the best new features I’ve noticed while testing Hyper-V on the release candidate of Windows Server 2012 is the ability to merge snapshots while a virtual machine is running without the need for a restart as was required by Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2. The Windows 7 VM shown below is currently running and it has one snapshot: When a snapshot is created a .avhdx file is created and any changes from that point forward are written to it instead of the .

I noticed a few days ago that the PowerShell ISE is an available feature on Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate when running the Server Core Installation (no GUI): Does that mean the PowerShell ISE can run on Server Core in Windows Server 2012 unlike in Windows Server 2008 R2? Let’s find out. The installation takes a long time and then you’re prompted to restart when it’s complete: Finally when the restart is finished and you log in, Server Manager will be loaded and you’ll discover that you now have what’s called “Minimum Server Interface”:

Be sure to start off by reading my previous blog article titled Error When Running PowerShell -Version 2 on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 if you have not previously read it since attempting to run PowerShell in version 2 mode generates an error on a default installation of Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012. In PowerShell version 3, you can access PowerShell version 2 by running “PowerShell.exe -Version 2” (or “powershell -v 2”):

Windows 8 Release Preview On a fresh installation of the Windows 8 Release Preview, when attempting to run PowerShell.exe -Version 2, you’ll receive the following error: “Version v2.0.50727 of the .NET Framework is not installed and it is required to run version 2 of Windows PowerShell.” The following error message is generated if you attempt to run the same command from the PowerShell ISE: “powershell : V e r s i o n v 2 .

An Odyssey is defined as a “Long and Eventful Journey”. The first version of Microsoft Office that I can remember supporting professionally is Office 4.3 and the first version of Exchange was 5.5. It’s been a long an eventful journey to get from the days of those versions of software to where we are today with the preview versions of SharePoint 2013, Exchange 2013 , Lync 2013, Office Web Apps Server, Project 2013, Visio 2013, and Office Professional Plus 2013 being announced in addition to the already available release preview of Windows 8, and release candidate version of Windows Server 2012.

Goal: Determine what roles are installed when turning a Windows Server 2012 machine into a domain controller. I started out by using PowerShell to save a list of what roles are installed on a plain vanilla 2012 server that has the full GUI installation. The following one liner would be used in PowerShell version 2 to accomplish this task and the syntax is compatible with version 3: Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object {$_.