# Using windows server to 'push' netboot win7



## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Hi all! Hoping you can help me out.

I'm planning a mammoth home server project and at the cornerstone I'm debating what Server OS to use. I really like what I have read about WinServer but one feature that has been very vaguely discusses is whether or not I can setup winserver as a host for netbooting windows 7 to all the computers on my network. This is a critical requirement and one that I don't think many people resort to but I'm hoping someone can shed some light on the topic.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Windows Server 2008 R2 licensing starts at around $700. I don't know what you mean by "netbooting". If you're talking about running a terminal server, you need a different set of licenses.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Well if 2007 r2 is what I need, I'm not afraid of the cost. I was planning on dropping a considerable amount on this project and was lucky enough to come across a server machine for free from a friend who works at a school where they were pitching it. If possible I was going to go the home server edition route though which can be acquired for around $100. 

As for terminal server, I'm not sure if that's what its called or not. I want to turn on my computer, have it use pxe to connect to the server where it pulls up the OS and saves everything to it accordingly. It would be the same setup that a business would use to give employees seperate accounts which they could connect to but would be the same info on any machine they logged into on.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

You would need a pretty beefy server to do what you are contemplating. If the school was pitching the server it probably will not even run 2008 R2. What are the server specs of the server you were given?

There is no 2007 R2


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Its pretty beefy, I completely upgraded it:
Dell Precision 470
2 dual core 2.8Ghz Xeon processors
8 Gigs of ram single rank (can't think off hand what type it is)
1gig ATI Radeon graphics card (can't remember which one, about two series old)
also has sata 3 expansion card
4 1 Terrabyte hdds
1 BLU-RAY Drive

I removed all the dell plastic shell and added additional cooling to it and an external power supply to handle powering the hard drives and blu-ray. That way internal psu is only handling fans and mobo.

It has winserver2008 on it right now but I assume I will have to repurchase which ever version I end up going with due to licensing issues.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Finally figured out that what I want to use is a feature called WDS. Also looks lime winserver 2008r2 is going to be the route I have to take. I'm downloading the trial now to see how it works and if it is going to be able to do what I want. 

Am I right in assuming I'm going to have to do a fresh install on my server machine? As mentioned, it came with 2008r2 on it but it requires a username and password at startup and I don't have those. May be able to get them from the friend who gave it to me but will I run into licensing conflicts if I do it this way?

Also, WDS seems to be for deploying windows installations, but is there a different version for setting up virtual deployments via pxeboot?


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## srhoades (May 15, 2003)

massahwahl said:


> It would be the same setup that a business would use to give employees seperate accounts which they could connect to but would be the same info on any machine they logged into on.


Wouldn't that just domain roaming profiles?


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

srhoades said:


> Wouldn't that just domain roaming profiles?


I dont mean to sound daft, but im not entirely sure what that means but it certainly sounds like the right idea! I have three desktops and three laptop computers in our house and I want to make a more cohesive way for me and my wife to access our data. Right now we have stuff spread across all of our computers and devices and I want an all in one solution. This also entails running cat5e throughout my house so im doing the whole package for a home network solution with my server at the heart of it.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

If you want centralized access to data, get a NAS unit (network attached storage). 

I don't understand what you want to accomplish by dropping thousands of dollars on Windows Server and licensing.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

DoubleHelix said:


> If you want centralized access to data, get a NAS unit (network attached storage).
> 
> I don't understand what you want to accomplish by dropping thousands of dollars on Windows Server and licensing.


More or less for a fun project. Like I said the main idea is to have an account for me and one for my wife, and no matter what computer we jump onto the information will be there.

A question about the licensing though, I already have two purchased copies of windows 7 ultimate and one copy of Vista ultimate. Is there any additional licensing required? Because if I can get the password and username from my friend who gave me the server, then I could potentially not have to purchase the full version of of the server OS... right?


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

WDS is Windows Deployment Service which is just for pushing installations to workstations, not PXE booting an OS and running it on the server like a thin client. You can run thin clients over Terminal Services which will pretty much do what you are looking for.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Does each account need a license for W7 to do that, or does each computer need a separate license? Also, the server will be wired to the server, but will pxe boot work from a wireless laptop?


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

I am sorry, but your questions aren't very clear. Licenses for what? The server will be wired to the server?


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

It sounds like you're looking for a solution before you define the problem.

What is it exactly you want to do with your 3 computers? You've described several functions which are all implemented differently and have different purposes.

You mentioned wanting centralized access to files. That can be accomplished with a simple NAS or any computer with a shared drive or folder. 

You also used the term "netbooting" which I assume means booting to the network, but for what purpose? Setting up a networked Windows installation server is overkill for installing 3 computers that aren't even running the same operating system and aren't using a volume license. This may be a "fun project", but you can spend some time outside this forum searching and reading how to do that.

Then you also mention being able to log in to any computer with the same account and having access to the same data. That probably requires setting up a Windows domain and roaming profiles. That's a rather complicated solution for a few home users. You might also have problems if any of these computers are laptops and may not be connected to your home domain at all times. Then you get into issues of offline caching and possibly problems connecting to other networks away from home.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to learn or work on fun projects. Spend some time reading, learning, and testing as much as possible over the next few weeks, and if you have questions, ask them. Setting up Windows Server 2008 R2 with a domain and roaming profiles or terminal services or networked installation servers are not tasks that can be described in 10 words or less in a few forum posts or with a couple of links to short tutorials. 

You need to make the time and financial commitment to the project, and we'll provide assistance when and if we can.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Point taken,

Would it possibly be easier just to use Home Server and setup networked folders? My wife is not very good at paying attention where she saves things, so I would really want to make it so that my computers are not using their internal hard drives as much as possible and making everything save to the server. Is that better to do with Home Server instead of 2008? I really wanted the netboot option for the extra 'cool' factor.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

You can redirect folders to a network location so the end user is never aware they are saving files there. If you went the full blown server you can even redirect user profiles so they become roaming profiles that will follow the user no matter what workstation they log onto.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

I think roaming profiles are what I'm talking about but didn't know it... is that a feature only available on 2008r2? Or could I get away with WHS to do this? Saving money is always good, but I'm open to buying 2008r2 as I've mentioned.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Ive also been reading about setting up Samba server which can do roaming profiles for windows to all y devices but im not sure how it stacks up to an actual windows server setup


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Roaming profiles have been around since Server 2000 I believe. I do not think that the Home Server will have Active Directory and Group Policy, it is basically just a file/media sharing server.


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## massahwahl (Feb 21, 2012)

Well apparently WHS does not have active directory, there is a backwards way to go about it but it sounds like far to big of a hassle. Im testing out Samba now and I have my eval copy of Winserver 2008 r2 so Im going to test them side by side to see how they stack up.


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