change windows 2012 to core mode

downloadFound yourself considering hyper-v? Microsoft has come a long way and is now becoming more popular as a serious contender in the hypervisor area. My preference is still VMware, but some businesses may find their Microsoft allegiance makes hyper-v a valid option.

Note, i do not consider Microsoft a “cheaper” solution in any circumstance. The current state of hyper-v, SDN options, clustering and VMM management falls very short of what VMware has out of the box. Anyhow, if you do choose windows, here is how you remove the GUI – hopefully saving you a little bit of RAM and reducing the running footprint open for attacks and vulnerabilities….

 

 

Powershell commands to convert between the following windows modes;

Full Server -> Server Core with GUI Management (Minimal Server Interface)

Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell -Restart

Full Server -> Server Core

Uninstall-Windowsfeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra -Restart

Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell -Restart

Server Core -> Full Server

Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell -Restart

Server Core with GUI Management (Minimal Server Interface) -> Full Server

Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell -Restart

Note : always use windows firewall. If possible also consider AV solution to further protect your hosts.

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