Installation and Initial Configuration

Installation and configuration of Windows Server 2008 has changed significantly from the process we’re all more or less familiar with from Windows Server 2003. There are far fewer steps required to actually begin the installation, with hardly any input required from the user. You don’t even need to enter a Product ID (PID)—see the Under the Hood sidebar "Under the Hood: PID-less Installs." Eventually you’ll have to enter the PID before you can activate the server, but a lot of steps that used to be required before the installation process would begin have now been moved to the initial configuration stage.

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