Windows 2008 Server Core, for the most part, does not allow GUI tools to run. If you are trying to learn 2008 in a VMWare Workstation environment, this can lead to poor performance due to the lack of VMWare drivers. Clicking on VM | Install VMWare Tools will not get you very far on its own. Instead, you need to undertake a command line installation of the tools.
First, to load the tools in your D: drive (presuming that you only have a C: drive configured for core, click on VM | Install VMWare Tools.
Next, transfer to your d: drive by typing d: and pressing return. Once there, list the contents of the d drive by use of the dir command.
Note that you can see setup.exe. Now, simply type setup and press return. Bizarrely, you will now be in the GUI based setup as normal.
Simply click on next, next, Install to complete the installation.
Tags: Virtualisation, Windows 2008
