Server 2012 installation problem?

Robbo777

Quick (possibly stupid) question, i've installed a new HDD and everything is working fine. It shows up as "New Volume" on my Windows 7 HDD system. When i extract the setup files for 2012 to a temp folder on the windows 7 machine it starts up with the "Install Now" option, i click on it and it takes me to a blue screen saying "loading temporary files" etc... Then nothing, just back to the smaller windows of "Install Now", nothing works regarding the setup. I was going to install the OS on my new HDD. One thing i would say is that i have additional files that came with the Microsoft download from their site, i dont know if they're relevant though or just additional features to open once the OS is installed. Below is a screenshot of the files, new HDD and the ISO file.

BornToBeMild

The files starting SC are Systems Center, so you don't need to worry about those. How do you intend to access 2012 when you've installed it? Do you still want your W7 install? You could set up a dual boot, but there's a bit more to it than just running setup. If you still want your W7 install, I would make sure you have a full system backup before you start OS installs.

Robbo777

Yeah i still want my W7 OS, i want to just put server 2012 on my new HDD that i bought. How could i go about doing that?

Cheers!

P.S, what are the system centre files actually for then?

Dojiscalper

Googling "setting up dual boot" is your best option. Basically you'll need to make both drives or volumes bootable and edit some boot files so that the system prompts you to tell it which OS to boot into when starting the machine. Not hard to do.

TheFORCE

I think you are going about this the wrong way. You cannot install server 2012 OS into a win 7 OS, unless you dual boot. However, dual boot will not be practical. Dual booting requires you to run 1 OS at a time. If you install it as dual boot, you will not be able to use Win 7 when you boot into Server 2012 and vise versa, you wont be able to use Server 2012 if you boot in Win 7.

Now you have 2 other options, one option is to use a VM and install Server 2012 from the ISO file. This will allow you to run at the same time Win7 and Server 2012 in VM. The other method would be to create a bootable usb using the ISO file and install it on a totally new computer where you can install your new HDD for use with server 2012..

Dojiscalper

If you into spending a little money buy an old server and put server 2012 on there. probably cost $200-300, but you'll be able to use the workstation to access the server for some of your training and be able to run VM's on the server, etc.

Robbo777

TheFORCE wrote: »

I think you are going about this the wrong way. You cannot install server 2012 OS into a win 7 OS, unless you dual boot. However, dual boot will not be practical. Dual booting requires you to run 1 OS at a time. If you install it as dual boot, you will not be able to use Win 7 when you boot into Server 2012 and vise versa, you wont be able to use Server 2012 if you boot in Win 7.

Now you have 2 other options, one option is to use a VM and install Server 2012 from the ISO file. This will allow you to run at the same time Win7 and Server 2012 in VM. The other method would be to create a bootable usb using the ISO file and install it on a totally new computer where you can install your new HDD for use with server 2012..

I have installed a brand new western digital 160GB HDD for the server 2012 installation though, i know its not a massive amount of space but its only going to be used to store and lab server 2012 on. Cant i just use the ISO image on a USB stick and then tell me BIOS to boot from it and install the software on my new HDD??

TheFORCE

The issue is not with installing server 2012 into the new hdd. The issue is that you won't be able to run win7 and server 2012 by following that method. Only one OS can be run at a time, unless you use some VM software and instad the server 2012 in the VM. Dual booting is not practical if you want to be able to login to both operating systems at the same time. From what you have said, you want to be able to use both at the same time.

Robbo777

No i dont want to dual boot haha, sorry if what i said was misleading but i dont think i ever mentioned dual boot to. I just want to be able to install 2012 on my new HDD that i installed. I was asking if i can just use the ISO image on a USB stick of 2012 to install from by telling me BIOS to boot from it and install the software on my new HDD??

TheFORCE

Robbo777 wrote: »

No i dont want to dual boot haha, sorry if what i said was misleading but i dont think i ever mentioned dual boot to. I just want to be able to install 2012 on my new HDD that i installed. I was asking if i can just use the ISO image on a USB stick of 2012 to install from by telling me BIOS to boot from it and install the software on my new HDD??

Robbo, the short answer is yes, you can do that. But what you want to do and what you are describing, is called dual boot. You mentioned that you do not want dual boot. So the follow up answer is, for your purposes you can do it.

What you want to do is, install server 2012 from the ISO in an Virtual Machine (VM) and during the installation process you can select your new HDD and allocate all it's space for the server 2012. By doing this you can run multiple operating systems simultaneously without rebooting your host win 7 computer. What you described earlier, requires rebooting.

Thats why on my earlier post i said, you have 2 options, VM option if you want to use your HDD on the same PC or new computer with just server 2012 option.

Robbo777

TheFORCE wrote: »

Robbo, the short answer is yes, you can do that. But what you want to do and what you are describing, is called dual boot. You mentioned that you do not want dual boot. So the follow up answer is, for your purposes you can do it.

What you want to do is, install server 2012 from the ISO in an Virtual Machine (VM) and during the installation process you can select your new HDD and allocate all it's space for the server 2012. By doing this you can run multiple operating systems simultaneously without rebooting your host win 7 computer. What you described earlier, requires rebooting.

Thats why on my earlier post i said, you have 2 options, VM option if you want to use your HDD on the same PC or new computer with just server 2012 option.

I genuinely think you misunderstood me, i didnt say dual boot anywhere but looking back at the messages i think you may have misinterpreted what i meant thus resulting in you saying this "You cannot install server 2012 OS into a win 7 OS". But it doesn't matter now anyway, something got lost in translation, no big deal.

Thanks for your response and help though of course, I'm going to go with what i descried in my last post, hopefully it all works out.

TheFORCE

Robbo, again what you described on your earlier post will not work. What you are describing is called a dual boot setup. But you say you do not want dual boot.

Theres no misunderstanding, you need to look up what dual booting is and what VM's do. If you understand these 2 concepts you will understand that you cannot install server 2012 in 1 hard drive when you already have another operating system in another hard drive. Windows will not allow it.

Robbo777

But i've mentioned a few times that i have 2 HDD's now and i intend to install the 2012 iso on the new HDD I've bought.

TheFORCE

It doesn't matter what you mention or describe. What matters is what you want to do and we are explaining to you the process which you have to follow in order to do what you want.

When you install a new HDD on your computer, your current Operating System, Windows 7, which is the primary OS will take ownership of that Hard Drive. When that happens, the primary OS will not allow another OS like Server 2012 to be installed on the HDD. To bypass this you have 2 options, you either use a VM application, like VMWare or VirtualBox and then you can install a "guest" OS in the same host OS. Or you can dual boot, if you dual boot though you can only access 1 operating system at a time, not both.

The third option would be to have another computer all together for Server 2012.

Robbo777

TheFORCE wrote: »

It doesn't matter what you mention or describe. What matters is what you want to do and we are explaining to you the process which you have to follow in order to do what you want.

When you install a new HDD on your computer, your current Operating System, Windows 7, which is the primary OS will take ownership of that Hard Drive. When that happens, the primary OS will not allow another OS like Server 2012 to be installed on the HDD. To bypass this you have 2 options, you either use a VM application, like VMWare or VirtualBox and then you can install a "guest" OS in the same host OS. Or you can dual boot, if you dual boot though you can only access 1 operating system at a time, not both.

The third option would be to have another computer all together for Server 2012.

Right then okay, i wasnt aware of the windows takes ownership of the other HDD stuff. It sounds like dual boot would fit my needs. I want to be able to switch on my PC and then have the option of seeing 2012 load up as any other OS. I've just finished configuring 2012 and i now have 1 HDD with it on and the other as my W7 machine.

Thanks for your help even if i didn't understand some of it at the time.