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Turning Windows 2003 Server into a workstation?

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superboyac:
Interesting, scancode.

Tell me, is Micro2003 compatible with all drivers and programs that you've used?

First of all, what is experience Micro2003?  I have no idea.  I can assume it has something to do with Microsoft Windows Server 2003.  WHen I first used 2003, I didn't really continue because I was afraid to commit to it and find out some critical driver or software wasn't compatible with it.  Please provide more info.  Thanks!

Carol Haynes:
I did a Google search and found references to Tiny2003 that still work but the only Micro2003 references I seemed to be able to find are dead torrent links.

scancode:
I haven't run into any compatibility issues, but ymmv.
Micro2003 is mainly a gaming system, but I used it because it's running on a 1gb HDD ;)

eXPerience's Micro2003 is a modified version of Win2k3, with a lot of features removed.

Here are some snips from the NFO file.

Statistics:

Installation Time From End Of Formatting... 4 Mins 45 Secs <-- Mine was faster.
RAM Usage On First Installation............ 39.2 Mb        <-- 40.4 MB
Handles.................................... 2135
Threads.................................... 156
Processes.................................. 14
WINDOWS Folder............................. 165 Mb
Items In System32.......................... 521
ISO File Size.............................. 93.0 Mb

Standalone system only! - The "Network Connections" service has been kept, but this service is only there to allow the smooth install of Ethernet card drivers, or modem drivers. The "Network Connections" service is not there to support LAN networking! You could try plugging another PC into yours and see what happens, it might work, but LAN networking is not necessarily functional in this install.
(Not true. I'm on a mixed (wireless/wired) network, and the Micro2003 computer is running a FTP server, HTTP server, SMO server.) The only problem is that you can't use DNS names, only the IP address.


Single User Only! - you cannot create extra users. You can only use the account that is installed by default. You actually can create another "Administrator" but beware - it cannot save any of the settings in Windows! For example you log in with a created Administrator account called "Bobby" and change the desktop from blue to black, every time you log in as "Bobby" you will be back to the blue wallpaper again. None of the settings stay saved. Also, the new user would have a Windows 95 style theme as well. The main account that this installation gives you is not affected if you make up another Administrator account, but for the above reasons, making any new Administrator account is pointless. You cannot make a new "User" account at all, if you do, you will not be able to log in with the new account unless it is an Administrator's account and even then, it will not save any settings. Despite all of the above you can still of course change the existing account name. Just look in Control Panel and you will see "User Accounts" there.
(I believe Micro2003 uses minlogon, but I'm not sure. You don't want to mess with that.)


No Webcams, Scanners or Digital Cameras! - You cannot use these items in this version of Windows because the "Windows Image Acquisition" service is removed.
(I had to add that from a Win2k3 CD. A bit messy to add.)

FTP Sites - There is no "built in" support for downloading from FTP sites, try using Filezilla or WS_FTP if you need to do that. This functionality is gone because the "Application Layer Gateway" service is gone, along with ALG.EXE that normally runs in Task Manager taking up about 6Mb RAM for what amounts to no reason.
(Opera FTW)


No Visiting Windows Update! - You cannot visit Windows Update with this version of Windows because Internet Explorer is removed. DO NOT INSTALL WINDOWS UPDATES!
(You don't need updates. Most stuff is removed anyways)


No Printing! - You cannot use a printer with this version of Windows, because the "Print Spooler" service is removed.
(I got a printer working once bypassing the spooler. YMMV.)

No Password Storage - Windows will not save stored passwords, however, this only really applied to Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, which are removed. You will be OK using Firefox or Opera web browsers and Thunderbird email client for emails. Those are self contained programs and take care of storing/remembering your passwords by themselves.
(Sure, who can't remember their passwords?)

No CD-ROM Autoplay - When you insert a CD that would bring up a screen to install the program contained on the CD, this does not happen in this version of Windows, you will have to explore the CD manually and run whatever file it is that runs the program's setup - usually "setup.exe" on the root of the CD.
(Wee! No more autorun viruses!)

No Smart Card Detection!
(Some dongle protected software might not run :'()

No Scheduled Tasks! - You cannot set programs, like AntiVirus or Hard Disk Defrag programs to run in the future. If you are going to run those types of programs you will have to manually scan or defrag whenever it is convenient. Despite this, one program that will schedule its operations is Perfectdisk defrag, you do not need Task Scheduler for this program to run a scheduled defrag.
(I never used it, I don't need it.)

No Remote Desktop! - There is no Remote Desktop in this version of Windows - because the "Terminal Services" service is removed.
(Replaced with TightVNC and Remote Desktop Client)

No Themes! - You cannot have the Luna (Blue/Olive/Silver) desktop themes in this version of Windows, the only theme you can choose is "Windows Classic" which it is already set to by default.
(UXTheme.dll patch + DeviantART)

No "Uninterruptible Power Supply" service! - I always thought "UPS Service" delivered parcels but apparently not - if you have this type of device then it will not work on this version of Windows. A UPS is only used for emergencies like if you have a power cut - thats if you even have such a device.
(Your UPS will still feed your 'puter. You won't be able to see batt status and stuff tho.)



If you can cope with that, you'll be fine.
BTW, I found at least two live rapidshare links. (Yep, it's Warez. So? Sue me! Of course, you should replace the CD KEY with your LEGALLY PURCHASED one)

f0dder:
I wonder what the point is of running such a stripped-down version? How much physical RAM do you save by turning off that many services? Is the system measurably (not just placebo) faster? Or is it done because it's omfg-leet?

scancode:
128 mb ram
800mhz processor
1GB HDD

does that sound stripped down enough?

Seriously, it *feels* faster. I should do some benchmarks...

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