We run a Windows Server 2003 machine as a domain controller for our network. A few days back, we noticed that it was no longer possible to log in with the Administrator account – the Windows equivalent to root. Questions about how the hell a system can just get itself into a state whereby the root account stops working without any user intervention aside, I thought the best thing to do was to reboot and see what the state of play was. Bad idea.
Our server won’t come back up. It gets just past Preparing Network Connections and then just hangs. Rebooting with Last Known Good configuration and Safe Mode doesn’t help. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a state of foobar.
Basically needing to get the server up and running again as quickly as possible, we opted for reaching for the Windows CD and trying an OS repair. Never a good option, but as I was figuring the whole thing would probably need a full reinstall anyway (from years of bitter experience) I thought what the heck.
Our server is pretty new, and when we spec’d it out we with went with a couple of super fast yet inexpensive Serial ATA discs. SATA is pretty new as far as standards go, but not all that new. Windows Server 2003 is pretty damned new too, but guess what – no native SATA support. This means than when booting from the installation CD, you have to press F6 right at the start to supply drivers for the discs – the drivers were supplied with the mainboard on a CD. But guess what – Windows Server 2003 will only take drivers from a floppy disc. I’m not joking. The only floppy disc drive available is a USB drive which serves most purposes we ever need floppy discs for, but of course, USB isn’t available at that point of the install. So I find an old LS120 super floppy drive, whip the case off the server, and perform an electronic, if not physical installation (read: hanging out the side of the case).
After a long Windows Repair, the machine finally boots up. Fortunately, I guess, the entire Active Directory has been removed so that needs reinstalling. I reinstall, and set up the user accounts with the exact same credentials as before. Fortunately, the client machines don’t notice. Phew – we’re up and running.
I’ll be the first person to admit that Linux is a nightmare to install. It’s fiddly and unintuitive and easy to make mistakes that you can’t back out of. The distros with easy installers are typically aimed at those running workstations rather than servers. The server distros assume you pretty much know what you’re doing, which is understandable but unhelpful if you’re generally clued up but inexperienced. But once it’s installed it justs runs and runs and runs. Windows is easy to install and configure. Windows is also hateful, and will waste you more hours than you’d care to count. Windows is a bitch – and then it dies.
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I keep a Knoppix CD right on top of the server, which I use if ever a box goes down. Bang it in the CD Drive, boot into it, and have a nosey at the logs (text files, simple eh?).
I’ve never tried it, but I assume you can also use WINE to jump into the windows environment and have a root around.
I believe Knoppix can be used as a server as well. Pretty indistructable if you think about it - set up an empty hard drive, boot into knoppix, configure services. Server goes down. Turn off. Turn on. Back to where you were. :)
If it wasn’t for that basic fact I could go floppyless in my PC.
Why Microsoft makes us rely on the most arcane PC technology to effectivly use the newest PC technology is beyond my comprehension. (Read: Micrsoft is too lazy to write code that would allow for the swapping of CDs to get the driver or better yet use that second CD-ROM drive that no PC user has.)
Does anyone know of a way to get RAID drivers or Serial ATA drivers onto a Windows installation CD? Sort of like the way you can Slipstream 2K/XP to install with service packs already applied?
Additionally, as this machine is server standard (meaty with mucho disco), it makes sense to have it as the primary server.
Jason - that would be awesom if there was a way to slip those drivers onto a custom CD. I get the feeling the M$ think that their resellers should be the only ones installing Windows. Why would an end user ever need to reinstall, after all! Window is perfect, remember?! :)
Wouldn’t surprise me though. I’d say try sometime late next week - the developers might have released a new version with the 2.6.0 Kernal.
Yes, I rebuilt without demoting – the bloody thing wouldn’t boot, so there was no way of demoting. To be honest I didn’t really care that Windows 2003 has no SATA drivers, I had my own set of drivers that came with the hardware. The problem was the drivers were on CD (you know, the long standing industry standard removable disc format), which Windows 2003 will not accept. Windows needs the drivers on floppy disc (remember, that old removable disc format with tiny capacity from the 1980s).
If Microsoft ever released an album, it’d be on LP and cassette.
I think thats the best simple distro to start from..
i have found once set up as long as used for set purposes windows 2003 server to be a fine server platform, very stable and reliable, also i have found for a set purpose that my linux servers are great for running email web and webdav… tbf i think its swings and roundabouts windows servers are ok if you set them up and leave them to do the job, and linux probably as more of a developing environment.
Yes I had the same problem with the floppy drive. Who really needs a floppy drive. Anyway to get to the point I discovered a neat little program to alter your windows installation disk.
Nlite (http://www.nliteos.com/) is a free program thats intuitive and easy to use and you can put all of your motherboards drivers in as part of the installation. You can even remove all the crap that microsoft supplies that you don’t really need (screen savers etc…). Trust me. This program is good!
indeed your statment holds true, my windos was, a bitch. and i thought, oh dear. its going to die, and low and behold. next startup…... it didnt start up. and has since been deemed clinically deceased. anyway, i have tried every possible thing i can think of that is supplied with windows to try and repair it. i booted it from another HDD ran a check disk, several times. it comes back saying “repairing orphaned file 001478# or somthing of the sort. does this for about 50 or more files. when i boot it up it still refuses to do my bidding. so, finally i run the repair utility off my XP disk. it writes a new windows. i put in product key, it finished installing, restarts my system….. and has a hissy fit. wont even consider the loading screen. ive tried afew other things, even using recovery console to write a new boot sector which has worked in the past. but windows seems to have compensated for that now and now even my most wily of techneques cannot penitrate its defences. i am almost expecting aa message to come up saying, “Persistance is futile” and so far, it has been.
i can still access the drive and everything on it. but its all the installed stuff i really want. and its the 60 odd Gb of installed stuff i would not like to loose.
so, ahhhh any suggestions on how to beat this disobedient beast of mine?
i know this is alittle past the date of the original post, but this came up as i searched so i thought id ask you as you seem to have an ammount of experience with the windows XP monstrosity
thanks
alex
Here, here ED! I agree with you wholeheartedly! Unix/Linux users are so quick to complain about MS OSs they know nothing about. I have set up dozens of servers in hardware rich and poor environments, the difference is I did some study and my homework and tried to work out my own problems with a bit of structured analysis. Try it! Too quick are novices eager to just try some lame, no idea setup procedure, and then when something fails, as it always does, they get on the net and ask learned peoples the most embarrasing of questions, which illuminate their lack of study to such an extent, one can only really respond with, go and hire someone that knows what they are doing. Then they abuse you! Not demoting your DC before rebuilding it? I mean really, you gotta be kidding. Do you really know what a DC is? Do you know why your calculator gives you an error when you divide by zero? Also why tell ED to take a chill pill? Do you have any idea how much ranting MS users have to listen to from Unix/Linux users just because they are jealous of MS’s massively superior implementations. Deal with it, MS is here to stay. One last point, and a little off topic, if an OS is not worthy of hacking/cracking attempts then it can’t be very good for one thing, and it definitely aint going to stand the test of time. Who would bother trying to sure up a Unix/Linux system that has little foundation as it is.