Thinkpads Forum

Hey guys,

Thought I would share my success with installing Server 2008 on my W500.


I used this website http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpress/ as my guide, and it worked flawless.

I used the 64bit vista drivers from the lenovo site and all installed without a hitch.

I used this tool http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordp ... converter/ to adjust common settings that make your life easier in server 2008.

It is a very fast OS, I am really impressed so far, I don't think I will be going back to Vista.

I have had the chance to install this list of software as well (all successful):

Adobe CS4
JRE
Flash
Live messenger
7zip
Moon AV
Valve orange box
Active Iso



So all in all very cool.

Very nice. How does switchable graphics work under 2008? I plan to upgrade from 2003 to 2008 in a few months once I've done a little more software testing under Virtual Machines.

Win2008 would also be a variant for me so that would be also interesting for me.

thanks
Greetings from Switzerland

I'll be doing my upgrade late next week, as I've got the time. I'll report back after that with results.

It seems like a $1000 option. Are people getting access through site licenses or some other route? Is it good enough that people are paying for it?

awolfe63 wrote:It seems like a $1000 option. Are people getting access through site licenses or some other route? Is it good enough that people are paying for it?

The best way to get Server is to be a Tech Net subscriber. The $300 or so yearly fee allows for lots of downloads of nearly every operating system and many other programs. Office 2007 for example would be included in the subscription.

Go to their site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx for more info.

Server runs great (even faster than the now bloated XP) on every machine I have, including a "lowly" R50p.

It's a little "geeky" to set up as a workstation, but if you have just medium skills you will succeed.

Beats the pants off Vista, for sure!

I'm betting that Windows 7 will be nothing more than Server 2008 but with a consumer friendly GUI.

Thanks.

In some parts of my job, it would be useful to be able to "evaluate" full versions of software. For others, it might not be an honest approach. It is an interesting option to have.

Hello,
Following the links sixstyle posted i installed Win 2008 on my new W500.
Everything works well but I have 3 devices in the Device Manager that are marked as "other devices" and are not installed: PCI memory controller, PCI serial port, PCI Simple communications controller.

Any idea where i can find the driver for this devices? (for me they are something related with the chipset, i installed the intel drivers but nothing changed).

Thanks

wimps25 wrote:Hello,
Following the links sixstyle posted i installed Win 2008 on my new W500.
Everything works well but I have 3 devices in the Device Manager that are marked as "other devices" and are not installed: PCI memory controller, PCI serial port, PCI Simple communications controller.

Any idea where i can find the driver for this devices? (for me they are something related with the chipset, i installed the intel drivers but nothing changed).

Thanks

You probabably already know this; right click the device and then select update drivers. This will initiate a search on the web which might find and install the drivers you need.

Another little trick I use is to copy the "Driver Store" folder from a Vista install to a USB drive (it's pretty big) and point your device manager to that folder. This is how I got three or four things running on my Server installs. Server does not seem to have as extensive a driver list as Vista has.

Guys, how do you make Lenovo onscreen display feature work under Server 2008?

Marin85 wrote:Guys, how do you make Lenovo onscreen display feature work under Server 2008?

There are some Lenovo features that will not work on Server. Many hot buttons like Fn+F12, etc. just are not going to be there. It's easy to compensate, however. Windows key and then type shutdown /h will hibernate the system just fine.

On some of my machines Fn+F4 will do sleep just fine. Depends on the machine.

Lenovo hotkey drivers, etc. should work. The XP versions work fine under Server 2003. I don't see why the Vista ones wouldn't work on 2008, as 2008 is very similar to Vista. XP and 2003 don't even share a kernel.

Great link. I put Server 2008 on my old X30. It works very well, considering the age of the machine

Ok guys,

I know you are all doing evaluations here for windows 2008.
I just wanted to know what the cheapest windows 2008 server license is?

Cheers

I think $1000 or so. It's actually cheaper to get the $600-700 MSDN subscription, then you get access to 2008, and quite a few other products.

Everyone should be aware that these developer packages have license restrictions in the U.S. For example,

"Software provided through MSDN Subscriptions is licensed for design, development, test and demonstration of your applications."

Use your own judgment as to whether your intended use is within this scope.

I am glad people are having success with this.

I have everything working in the device manager except:

Ethernet Controller
and
PCI Simple Communications Controller.


I just cant be bothered with them, as I don't use them. I am sure I just need to download the driver from the lenovo site.


A note:

FN + F keys functions are working for me.

This might seem a bit naive but you guys are paying upwards of $1000 for a new OS?

You guys must not be the typical computer use

What are some reasons for forking over $1000 and installing Server08?

Again if this sounds like a dumb question...its b/c im dumb when it comes to such things (OS's, not questions!)

nykobing06 wrote:This might seem a bit naive but you guys are paying upwards of $1000 for a new OS?

Indeed! Who is saying we are paying for it?!

Personally, I have access to all the Windows Server OSes through work, so I can run whatever works best for me.

Marin85 wrote:

nykobing06 wrote:This might seem a bit naive but you guys are paying upwards of $1000 for a new OS?

Indeed! Who is saying we are paying for it?!

Sneaky!

I took the plunge. Finished moving myself to Server 2008 Enterprise x64 (from Server 2003 Enterprise x86) this morning. Works beautifully, no problems so far. Of course, getting bluetooth working was "fun", but at least it works now. If any of you have questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

Oh yeah, and switchable graphics works fine under 2008.

Sorry if this might sound crazy... is there a similar way to use Vista x64 drivers under XP x64? I just installed XP x64 on my W700 and since Lenovo doesn't support that OS I'm having some issues with drivers.

Most of them I think should work. At least that was how I once managed to make a decent setup of XP 64bit on my ThinkPad. A few things (like onscreen display) didn´t work though.

I ended up going to Dell for the Quadro driver support... how funny is that? In my case most drivers for Vista 64 don't work... oh, well... sorry for the off topic

Why not going directly to nVidia

Marin85 wrote:Why not going directly to nVidia

nvidia doesn't provide mobile graphics drivers on their site.

True, I must have missed the fact that the graphic card is a professional mobile Quadro card.

sixstyle wrote:I am glad people are having success with this.

I have everything working in the device manager except:

Ethernet Controller
and
PCI Simple Communications Controller.


I just cant be bothered with them, as I don't use them. I am sure I just need to download the driver from the lenovo site.


A note:

FN + F keys functions are working for me.

sixstyle,

I think the PCI Controller is the Ricoh 4 in 1. I believe I used the Vista for this. I finally got rid of all the exclamation marks in device driver, but
it does take some work. The one that says ethernet controller may be part of the blue tooth driver group. Blue tooth is also difficult. I can get pda to communicate with the laptop with blue tooth, but I can't sync them using windows mobile, with blue tooth. I can sync them with the usb cable just fine.


I tried to instal Xp64 before I did the Server installation, and the drivers were almost impossible; particularly the display driver that I couldn't make work no matter what I did. Server 2008 is much easier as most of the Vista drivers will work.

headsup is totally right... getting the drivers to work on my W700 under XP x64 was impossible. Probably doing so with a W500 will get you nowhere too. Just few would install. Even the Quadro driver from Dell would not work (I tried also changing the videocard on the Bios from integrated to PCI Express but this didn't help either!)

I'm afraid my only option is to downgrade to Vista x64 (can't use Linux, sorry!) if I want to use my full 4 Gigs of Ram