Today, we're going to take a default
installation of Windows Server 2019 Standard and make it look and feel like
Windows 10. Most similar to Windows 10 Build 1809, the server version is much
more security-oriented and less graphical than Windows 10, so many of the
changes that I make in this video are geared toward loosening some of those
restrictions, and making it prettier.
Now you won't be able to make it exactly
like Windows 10 – for example, you won't have access to the Microsoft Store – but
you will be able to install and run most applications including games and Windows
10 drivers. So why would anyone want to use a powerful Windows Server version
that might cost an order of magnitude more than the desktop version? There
could be a variety of reasons… including setting up a testbed environment… using a free academic license from
Microsoft's former Imagine program… or, due to the vagarities of licensing, it just may
be more cost effective to use what you have, instead of buying more licenses. If you want to use Windows Server as your
day-to-day operating system, you'll first want to make sure that you select the
Desktop Experience during installation. The core install has a minimal user
interface, so you don't want that if you want the look and feel of Windows 10. Once you've installed the OS,
we can start tweaking the UI. Let's begin with the password. The first thing that you'll notice is the login screen,
which requires a control-alt-delete before you can enter your password.
Another thing
that you may notice is that password complexity is enforced. Here, I'm entering
a password that has uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as numbers. If
we go back in time a bit to the installation of Windows Server, you were
asked to enter a password for the Administrator account. If you enter a
simple password with lowercase letters only, it'll complain, and then you need to enter a
complex password. Only then will it let you continue. OK, back to the present. To remove the Ctrl-Alt-Del requirement, I'll use
the Server Manager's Tools menu to do this, but keep in mind that with Windows, there's a
hundred ways to skin a cat: you can use the Start menu, PowerShell, the command
prompt, and so on, to make changes to the settings.
In my case, I'll just choose
Local Security Policy… and then expand Local Policies… click Security Options… scroll down one page… and double-click on "Interactive login: do
not require CTRL-ALT-DEL. The default setting here is a double
negative, where *not* requiring control-alt-delete is disabled. So you'll want
to choose Enabled to remove the restriction. To disable the complex
password requirement, you'll need to expand Account Policies, click Password
Policy, double-click the entry, and then we'll Disable the complexity requirement. While we're here, let's change the Maximum
Password Age. By default, it's set to 42 days, which means you'll be required to change
your password in 42 days.
We'll set that to zero and click
OK to exit the dialog. Now let's test our changes. I'm going to go to
the Start menu to launch the Control Panel, where I'll open my Administrator account, and change the password. Let me enter
my old complex password… and then enter a short password
consisting of lowercase letters only.
And you can see that it
does indeed let me change it. Now when I go back to the login screen, I
can simply press a single key instead of control-alt-delete and enter my simple
password. But before I login though, let's look at another annoyance. If you look at the login
screen in Windows 10, you'll see three icons in the lower right hand
side of the screen. What's missing in Server 2019 is the ability to shutdown
or restart the computer. What this means is that in order to shut it down, you'll
need a login first, and then go through the motions of shutting down Windows.
Let's enable that icon on the login screen. So after you login, from the Tools menu in Server
Manager, choose Local Security Policy again… and navigate to Local Policies
and Security Options, as seen here. Scroll down several pages and look
for an option called "Shutdown: allow system to be shut down
without having to log on." Open it up… enable it… and click OK.
Now, when you go back to the
login screen to enter your password, you'll see the power icon that will
allow you to shutdown or restart your machine before you even log on. When you attempt to
to shutdown or restart Windows, Server 2019 will always ask
you for the reason, and that's to write that entry to a log. Remember,
Windows Server is designed to run 24/7, so shutdowns aren't
supposed to happen frequently. To remove the tracking, you'll want to go to
the Start menu and simply type "gpedit.msc," and click the returned result. This launches
the Group Policy Editor… and let me enlarge the window a little bit… and in the navigation tree under Computer
Configuration, expand Administrative Template… then click on System. Scroll down a bit, where you'll see an entry
for "Display shutdown event tracker." As you can see, it's not configured by
default, so you'll want to open it up… click Disabled… and hit OK.
Now when you go to shut down, it'll obey your
click immediately, just like in Windows 10. One thing that's readily apparent in
Server 2019 is the absence of audio. After all, it's a server – you're not
supposed to be listening to music or watching movies on a server machine. To
enable audio, simply right-click on the red speaker icon, and just click Sounds.
It'll complain that it can't play any sounds because the Windows Audio Service
is disabled, so it'll ask you if you want to start the service – after which you hit Yes. Notice that the speaker icon no
longer has a red X on it, and when you attempt to play any sounds… you'll be able to hear them.
This next setting makes a fairly
noticeable difference in the appearance of Windows. So far you may have noticed
that all the windows and dialog boxes have looked kind of flat. There's no drop shadows… there's no animation when you minimize and restore… dragging and dropping doesn't
show the content of the window… and the Start menu just pops into existence,
instead of smoothly sliding into view. To make everything look nicer, let's go to
the Start menu and launch the Control Panel. Let's click System and Security… System… and finally the Advanced System Settings, where we'll hit the Settings button
under Performance. You'll want to click the option for adjusting for Best
Appearance, and in the list below you'll see all of the user interface elements
that are affected by that option. While we're here, let's tab over to
Advanced, where there's another setting for performance. The server version of
Windows is optimized for services, so go ahead and click Programs, which will
optimize for applications which have actual user interfaces. Click OK, and
you'll immediately notice a drop shadow appear under each window.
And if you play
around with Windows a bit, you'll notice all the other UI enhancements. Here's a quick and easy
setting that affects audio and video quality. From the Server Manager,
pull down the Manage menu and select Add Roles and Features.
In the wizard that pops up, go ahead and click Next several
times until you reach the Features screen. After you scroll down the list,
mark the checkbox next to Media Foundation, where it'll display a short blurb about
what it does, and hit Next, and then Install. This will take a few minutes, so I'll throw some pizza rolls in the
toaster oven and take a quick break… After it completes, you'll
now have Media Foundation. By default, Windows Server locks down
Internet Explorer pretty tightly. In fact, when you start IE and visit a fairly
simple website like google.com, you'll see several dialog
boxes relating to security. Eventually, it will load the page. So if you want to loosen those restrictions,
you'll need to go back to Server Manager…
I'll go ahead and close this dialog… and then navigate to Local
Server on the left navigation bar. On this screen, you'll see a property
called IE Enhanced Security Configuration, which is set to ON by
default. Simply click that setting and set both options to OFF
in the following dialog. Now, after you launch Internet Explorer again
and type in google.com, the website will load immediately without nagging you. Of
course, you can bypass all this if you simply install a third-party browser, since
the IE security settings wouldn't apply to it. This is a really simple one: when
you log in to Windows Server 2019 the Server Manager launches immediately
upon load. Let's turn that off by going to the Manage menu and selecting "Show
Manager Properties," then check the box for "Do not start Server Manager
automatically at logon." The next time you log in or restart the machine, the Server
Manager will no longer start automatically. So this video will get you
started with the most annoying restrictions and the most visible
changes in the user interface for Windows Server 2019. Keep in mind that
we're decreasing the built-in security of Windows Server, but if you plan to use
it on a day-to-day basis, that is the trade-off you need to ask yourself to
make.
There are probably hundreds of other tweaks to make it look and behave
more like Windows 10, so I may make a Part 2 to this video if there's enough interest. Leave your suggestions in the comments below. I hope you enjoyed – Thanks for watching!.
