Windows Server 2008 Server Core : Setting the Environment & Modifying the Hardware Setup

1. Setting the Environment

Normally you use the Environment Variables dialog box to set both user and system environment variables. However, this option isn't available in Server Core, so you must either set the environment variables in the registry directly or use a command line utility to perform the task.

When working at the command line, you can choose between creating session or permanent environment variables. Use the Set and SetX commands to create session environment variables. Use the WMIC Environment command to create permanent environment variables for the current user . You can't create permanent system-level environment variables at the command line.

Permanent environment variables are those that exist between reboots. Once you set them, you can depend on them remaining in place until you change them. A user-level environment variable affects only the current user. You'll find these environment variables in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Environment key. The default environment variables include Path, TEMP, and TMP.

A system-level environment variable affects everyone that uses the system. You'll find these environment variables in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ Session Manager\Environment key. The default environment variables include comspec, FP_NO_HOST_CHECK, lib, NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS, OS, Path, PATHEXT, PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE, PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER, PROCESSOR_LEVEL, PROCESSOR_REVISION, TEMP, TMP, and windir.

Each environment variable appears as a separate value under its respective key. Use the following procedure to add a new environment variable.

At this point, you can use the environment variable as you would any other environment variable. You can also export your environment variables and import them into the registry on a similarly configured machine. Of course, you'll want to be sure that you format the environment variables correctly to ensure they aren't drive letter or hardware specific.

2. Modifying the Hardware Setup

Many of the settings you need to change to control the hardware on your system appear as part of the console or software settings. For example, if you want to control the appearance of the text on your display, you actually need to change the console settings and not the hardware settings. Likewise, if you want to change how the system handles languages, then you need to change the international settings instead of the keyboard settings.

The hardware settings fall into two categories. First, vendors provide specific settings for their hardware. Because there are so many hardware vendors on the market, it's impossible to provide a comprehensive list of vendor-specific settings. Second, generic settings affect Server Core as a whole and they're part of the generic drivers that affect all hardware. The following sections describe this second category of hardware setting. You won't find every generic setting here, but you'll find many that you normally need to set as part of the GUI, rather than access them directly in the registry.

2.1. Video

The video settings are a bit tough to set. It's not a matter of finding the settings, so much as figuring out which settings to change. The best way to proceed is to locate the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) for your adapter. Locating this information means knowing the name of the display adapter. For example, on one system I own, I have a Gigabyte RADEON X300 installed. Searching for this string in the registry netted several hits, but the one that I want is under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\ key. In this case, the information appears as part of the VEN_1002&DEV_5B60&SUBSYS_21021458&REV_00\4&243d7bd0&1&0070 key, but your setup is likely different from mine.

The Device Parameters subkey is the one you want. It contains a VideoID value. The data value contains the GUID for the display adapter. Double-click the value. Press Ctrl+C to copy of the GUID to the clipboard. In my case, the GUID is {2E9CD519-7E88-4189-9745-5389D6D145CF}—your GUID will likely differ from mine. Press Ctrl+F to display the Find dialog box. Press Ctrl+V to paste the GUID into the Find What field of the Find dialog box. If you leave just the Keys option checked in the Look At field, you'll locate the information you need faster. Press OK to begin the search.

Your search should take you to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hard-ware Profiles\0001\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO key. The Registry Editor actually highlights the adapter GUID for which you searched. The 0000 subkey contains the settings you want to change. If you have the ability to attach multiple monitors to your system, you'll see an additional subkey for each monitor and you'll need to change the settings there. For example, the complete key path for the first monitor on my system is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0001\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO\ {2E9CD519-7E88-4189-9745-5389D6D145CF}\0000\Mon10000084.

Table 1 contains a list of the settings you can modify in most cases. After you make a change, you'll need to restart the system to see the difference because Windows doesn't know to incorporate the settings for you.

2.2. Keyboard

Keyboards are pretty much generic from a configuration perspective, so you don't have to spend a lot of time looking for the values you need. In general, you can set all of the hardware configuration settings that you find in the Keyboard applet of the Control Panel. Table 2 shows the settings you can change.

2.3. Mouse

The mouse has some differences based on the features you obtain for it. For example, you might have a three-button mouse instead of a two-button mouse. In addition, you have to consider differences for left- and right-handed users. Even so, Windows provides many generic settings for the mouse. You'll find all of the generic settings in Table 3. Most of these settings also appear in the Mouse applet of the Control Panel. Refer to your vendor documentation for specialized settings for your mouse.

The SmoothMouseXCurve and SmoothMouseYCurve settings control the acceleration of your mouse. Given that Server Core isn't a mouse-intensive operating system, you probably won't need to change these settings. However, if you do find that the mouse doesn't work as well as expected in Remote Desktop, where you'll often cut and paste text in the command prompt, you may need to change the settings. One of the better adjustments appears at http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/windowsxp/articles/69/1/Mouse-Permanent-Acceleration-Fix/print/69. However, a search online for either SmoothMouseXCurve or SmoothMouseYCurve will likely turn up a wealth of settings you can try.

2.4. Power Configuration

The power configuration settings control how your computer works with power. For example, you can set the power policy to shut off the monitor after a specific time frame or turn off the hard drives when they aren't being used. The problem is that these policies are set using binary values, which means that you can't do much more than select a particular policy using the Registry Editor unless you have documentation for that binary data. That said, Table 4 shows typical registry settings for the power configuration. Most of these settings normally appear in the Power Options applet of the Control Panel.

The CurrentPowerPolicy setting is the one of interest. Changing this value changes the preconfig-ured power policy. Table 4.8 only shows one PowerPolicy key setting. A typical computer contains at least five subkeys and you can choose any of them as a power configuration for the computer.

2.5. Network

Network drive mappings are important because they provide access to other resources on the network such as disk drives. Generally, you'll use the Net Use command to map a network drive. However, you can perform tweaks of existing drive mappings or even create new mappings using the registry as well. Table 5 shows typical settings for a network drive mapping. Your drive mapping contains the same keys, but has different data from the data shown in Table 5. A drive mapping doesn't have any default data—only the specific data required to create the drive mapping. The I key in this example is the local drive letter for the mapping.