【HELP】Installing Windows Server 2012 in ThinkPad T430s

Calvin.Lee

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Hi,

I do have a requirement and need to install Windows Server 2012 R2 on an MATX woekstation setup and on aThinkPad T430s.

The most motivation to do that is protablity since I have to carry then at them to customer site to proform a proof of concept.

But as I inderstand, Lenovo does not have Windows Server 2012 R 2 drivers for some of its drivers for eg; finger printer scanner (important as it is part of the POC, wireless drivers (even I have install the WireLAN) feature and bluetooth drivers that official website does not support.

For the mATX desktop, I also understand ASUS website does not have Windows Server 2012 r2 drivers for their workstation mobo, even worst as no drivers for quite a few stuff, Ethernet, bluetooth (require for POC with the laptop), USB 3, etc which the offical website does not support.

The mATX desktop is a DIY with a xeon cpu x99 mobo 32GB ram and a pci-e 256GB SSD.

I have a few copies of legal Windows Server 2012 r2 license brought originally for the DELL servers but I cannot everytime want POC, I drag them to customer place by myself.

Yes, it is not a must do but it will ne really good if I can do it.

Any ideas or advise?
Thank you.
 

klap_hanz

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Bro install VirtualBox or VMware Workstation on your Lenovo laptop running Windows 7 or 10 as the base OS and then run your Windows Server 2012 as a virtual machine in it...

VirtualBox is free to download and use...

VMware Workstation and serial no can be easily found online using Bukit Timah...
 
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klap_hanz

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I am used to running full testbeds and POCs on my laptops running VMware Workstation..

Just make sure your laptop is equipped with 8 to 16gb rams, at least a 500GB to 1TB SSD and a i5 or i7 mobile processor...

If not your laptop will be damn slow when running too many VMs and you will use up your disk space very fast too...
 

Buaya_Hunter

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Bro install VirtualBox or VMware Workstation on your Lenovo laptop running Windows 7 or 10 as the base OS and then run your Windows Server 2012 as a virtual machine in it...

VirtualBox is free to download and use...

VMware Workstation and serial no can be easily found online using Bukit Timah...

Linux with light windows manager such as lubuntu better for being base os.

Default installation only use like 512mb of memory, not like windows 7 smelly smelly at least 1gb of memory.
 

Op_Valkyrie

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Linux with light windows manager such as lubuntu better for being base os.

Default installation only use like 512mb of memory, not like windows 7 smelly smelly at least 1gb of memory.

If u want basic web capability features also required 1gb of memory ... u can't fault Windows 7 for minimum of 1gb memory if that's the case... unless u just wanna a basic terminal setup of linux :o

System Requirements
Lubuntu is a good operating system for many old computers, but not for all of them. Some computers have too little horsepower or memory. A rule of thumb is that the computer should not pre-date 2000. The desktop images for lubuntu 16.04 requires a DVD / USB device to write it to, the alternate images are for those with have non-standard setups or Low RAM.

Memory (RAM)

For advanced internet services like Google+, YouTube, Google Docs and Facebook, your computer needs about 1 GB of RAM.

For local programs like LibreOffice and simple browsing habits, your computer needs about 512 MB of RAM. See minimal for systems below that RAM.

Processor (CPU)

The minimum specification for CPU is Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8.

Older processors are too slow and AMD K7 has problems with flash video.

Graphics chip / card

Nvidia, AMD/ATI/Radeon and Intel work out of the box, or the system can be tweaked to work fairly easily. You can get help at the Ubuntu Forums. With such graphics, or if you don't know, try the current Lubuntu version.

http://lubuntu.net
 

Buaya_Hunter

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davidktw will recommend you AWS EC2 instance. :s12:

I have an Ubuntu instance with linode to host my gns3 remote server and I am paying like $20 a month.


Windows instance are much more expensive and need ts to work up his sum since it seems to me he will need to access it frequently. So, you might be looking at paying at least 1k a year (figures are off my head, sorry if the figures are not too accurate).
 

ykgoh

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I have an Ubuntu instance with linode to host my gns3 remote server and I am paying like $20 a month.


Windows instance are much more expensive and need ts to work up his sum since it seems to me he will need to access it frequently. So, you might be looking at paying at least 1k a year (figures are off my head, sorry if the figures are not too accurate).

Use the calculator provided by Amazon to estimate. I don't know how many hours TS intends to run his instance (24x7? Or several hours each day on weekday only), and what his expected hardware configuration to run his software smoothly.

https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html
 

davidktw

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davidktw will recommend you AWS EC2 instance. :s12:

No, I wouldn't if the purpose is for POC on site. That's because Internet access will be a dependency and not everywhere in Singapore have good Internet connectivity constantly for every single mobile service provider. Even if you may be offered WiFi access at client place, it is not necessarily going to be sufficient as guest network may be capped and firewalled. So RDP may or may not works, if such administration is necessarily.

Instead just run a copy VMWare workstation on the laptop with Windows Server installed in it will do. Beef up the memory and harddisk. If hard disk cannot be beef up, go get a USB 3.0 UASP enclosure with SSD internal hard disk and have your VM hosted externally in the enclosure instead.
 
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davidktw

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I have an Ubuntu instance with linode to host my gns3 remote server and I am paying like $20 a month.


Windows instance are much more expensive and need ts to work up his sum since it seems to me he will need to access it frequently. So, you might be looking at paying at least 1k a year (figures are off my head, sorry if the figures are not too accurate).

You are right that AWS is going to be more expensive compared to virtual hosting providers like Linode. So the technique to use AWS effectively is spec for what you need, not just what the plan gives you.

Using the following assumption. A possible use case is 8-hours/workday, so it works out to be roughly 8*5/7=5.7hrs if taken across 1 week(7 days non-stop). I round it off to 6hrs/day constantly daily.

Based on your mentioned linode plan of USD20/month, I gathered it is Linode 4GB. So here memory and processing power matters more than 48GB of space. But being a SSD matters too. So we use SSD for disk. 3TB transfer is probably going excessive, network in is free for AWS, so we just take roughly 10GB transfer out monthly as a gauge.

So here is one possible costing for an approximate sizing.
https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html#key=calc-EE64E034-4BBA-42FC-8383-88796579E108

It's not too far off from your USD20/month

AWS is flexibility, and flexibility is a cost. If you don't use it, it's to your disadvantage. But if you know what to use and how to use, AWS will shine. If we are just costing based on specs, you wouldn't see the value of cloud provider properly.
 

ykgoh

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My assumption is that you've some heavy setup requiring Xeon processor, 32 Gb RAM, SSD and Windows Server 2012 that would give you the performance you desire.

Not sure if any laptop with Core i7 or your ThinkPad T430s can comfortably deliver that with virtualization added in, which would probably add on 5℅ overhead. Would the virtualized setup struggle to run?
 

Calvin.Lee

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Actually, what I mean is I need a portable alternative (like a laptop) installed with Microsoft Server 2012 r2 so I can run Hyper-V on it to create virtual machines to simultate other servers for my application for proof of concept purpose.

I understand (I may be very wrong) that Hyper-V will not work on a virtual machine. So I need to find a way to install either Windows Server or Hyper Server natively on the laptop to use it even my laptop may not have the neccessary components to use all the features that Hyper-V has.

Unfortunately, my applications only with Hyper-V, not tested with VMWare yet.

Sorry for the confusion here.
 

davidktw

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Actually, what I mean is I need a portable alternative (like a laptop) installed with Microsoft Server 2012 r2 so I can run Hyper-V on it to create virtual machines to simultate other servers for my application for proof of concept purpose.

I understand (I may be very wrong) that Hyper-V will not work on a virtual machine. So I need to find a way to install either Windows Server or Hyper Server natively on the laptop to use it even my laptop may not have the neccessary components to use all the features that Hyper-V has.

Unfortunately, my applications only with Hyper-V, not tested with VMWare yet.

Sorry for the confusion here.

I believe another post have shown you nested virtualisation. That has been around for awhile even for running ESXi inside another virtual environment starting with 32bits in 64bits until where with VTx, one can also run 64bits inside 64bits.

Generally virtualiation is very mature now and if you OS can run in Hyper-V, it would be very rare to find it not working inside VMWare workstation, ESXi or even the Player.

If you have decided to run Microsoft Server 2012 in your laptop natively, then you can choose with Hyper-V, with conformance to the licensing. Based on Microsoft Licensing data sheet you are allowed 1 VOSE on standard edition.

VMWare doesn't have this issue, and just my personal preferences, I find VMWare workstation more flexible than Hyper-V.
 
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