Personalizing the Desktop on a Windows Server 2008 Server Core install
As mentioned in a previous blog post, a Server Core install of Windows Server 2008 does not include Explorer or the MMC. However, it does have a GUI for logon and the command prompt is typically showed in a windows with a graphical background. You also have a screen saver with a password prompt and some of the other basic elements of a Windows desktop. You can avoid most of that by configuring your command prompt to go full-screen/character-mode, but what if you want to stay graphical and customize the desktop? While there is no control panel to configure those, the settings are still there, buried in the registry.
IMPORTANT: This post contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, check http://support.microsoft.com/?id=256986.
The default desktop configuration in Server Core should be fine for most people. You get the standard background color, the standard screen saver and a 10-minute delay before your screen gets locked. However, I work a lot on virtual environments for demonstrations and that brings a number of challenges. First of all, I usually need to differentiate between the multiple virtual machines I am running, and setting a unique background color helps. Second, I typically do not want to lock the screen on every guest OS every 10-minutes, since I already lock my host OS screen.
You will find that most if not all these Control Panel settings end up in "HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl Panel" in the Registry. You can use REGEDIT.EXE (GUI) or REG.EXE (command-line) to check it. The two specific setting I was looking for were there. For the background color, you need to update the "HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelColorsBackground", changing the default RGB value of "29 95 122" to something like "150 150 150" for a nice gray color. To disable the screen saver, you can simple change the value in "HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopScreenSaveActive" from the default 1 to 0. Be sure to logoff and log back on to apply these changes.
The only two control panel you have in Windows Server 2008 Server Core (at least in the June CTP) are the ones for date/time and regional settings ("control.exe timedate.cpl" and "controle.exe intl.cpl"). If you need anything else changed, you'll have to either put in the registry yourself or use a nice Group Policy to do it for you. If you just wanted to take a peek at what you can do, I included below the data I gathered with a REG "HKCUControl Panel" /S command from a default install of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Core June CTP.
Be careful with your registry...
| Key Name | Value Name | Value Type | Value Data (default) |
| HKCUControl PanelAccessibility | MessageDuration | REG_DWORD | 0x5 |
| HKCUControl PanelAccessibility | MinimumHitRadius | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelAccessibilityOn | On | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelAccessibilityOn | Locale | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ActiveBorder | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ActiveTitle | REG_SZ | 10 36 106 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | AppWorkSpace | REG_SZ | 128 128 128 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonAlternateFace | REG_SZ | 181 181 181 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonDkShadow | REG_SZ | 64 64 64 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonFace | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonHilight | REG_SZ | 255 255 255 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonLight | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonShadow | REG_SZ | 128 128 128 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | ButtonText | REG_SZ | 0 0 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | GradientActiveTitle | REG_SZ | 166 202 240 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | GradientInactiveTitle | REG_SZ | 192 192 192 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | GrayText | REG_SZ | 128 128 128 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | Hilight | REG_SZ | 10 36 106 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | HilightText | REG_SZ | 255 255 255 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | HotTrackingColor | REG_SZ | 0 0 128 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | InactiveBorder | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | InactiveTitle | REG_SZ | 128 128 128 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | InactiveTitleText | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | InfoText | REG_SZ | 0 0 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | InfoWindow | REG_SZ | 255 255 225 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | Menu | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | MenuText | REG_SZ | 0 0 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | Scrollbar | REG_SZ | 212 208 200 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | TitleText | REG_SZ | 255 255 255 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | Window | REG_SZ | 255 255 255 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | WindowFrame | REG_SZ | 0 0 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | WindowText | REG_SZ | 0 0 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelColors | Background | REG_SZ | 29 95 122 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ActiveWndTrackTimeout | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | BlockSendInputResets | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | CaretWidth | REG_DWORD | 0x1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ClickLockTime | REG_DWORD | 0x4b0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | CoolSwitchColumns | REG_SZ | 7 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | CoolSwitchRows | REG_SZ | 3 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | CursorBlinkRate | REG_SZ | 530 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | DragFullWindows | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | DragHeight | REG_SZ | 4 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | DragWidth | REG_SZ | 4 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | FocusBorderHeight | REG_DWORD | 0x1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | FocusBorderWidth | REG_DWORD | 0x1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | FontSmoothing | REG_SZ | 2 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | FontSmoothingGamma | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | FontSmoothingOrientation | REG_DWORD | 0x1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | FontSmoothingType | REG_DWORD | 0x2 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ForegroundFlashCount | REG_DWORD | 0x3 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ForegroundLockTimeout | REG_DWORD | 0x30d40 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | LeftOverlapChars | REG_SZ | 3 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | MenuShowDelay | REG_SZ | 400 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | PaintDesktopVersion | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | Pattern | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | RightOverlapChars | REG_SZ | 3 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | TileWallpaper | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | WallpaperOriginX | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | WallpaperOriginY | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | WallpaperStyle | REG_SZ | 2 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | WheelScrollChars | REG_SZ | 3 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | WheelScrollLines | REG_SZ | 3 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ScreenSaveActive | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ScreenSaverIsSecure | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | ScreenSaveTimeOut | REG_SZ | 600 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktop | SCRNSAVE.EXE | REG_SZ | C:Windowssystem32logon.scr |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | BorderWidth | REG_SZ | #USR:Control_PanelDesktopWindowMetrics |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | CaptionFont | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | CaptionHeight | REG_SZ | -270 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | CaptionWidth | REG_SZ | -270 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | IconFont | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | IconTitleWrap | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | MenuFont | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | MenuHeight | REG_SZ | -270 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | MenuWidth | REG_SZ | -270 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | MessageFont | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | ScrollHeight | REG_SZ | -240 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | ScrollWidth | REG_SZ | -240 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | SmCaptionFont | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | SmCaptionHeight | REG_SZ | -180 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | SmCaptionWidth | REG_SZ | -180 |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | StatusFont | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics | Shell Icon Size | REG_SZ | 32 |
| HKCUControl PanelInput Method | Show Status | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInput MethodHot Keys�0000010 | Key Modifiers | REG_BINARY | 02C00000 |
| HKCUControl PanelInput MethodHot Keys�0000010 | Target IME | REG_BINARY | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInput MethodHot Keys�0000010 | Virtual Key | REG_BINARY | 20000000 |
| *** other Hot Keys defined here *** | |||
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | Locale | REG_SZ | 409 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | LocaleName | REG_SZ | en-US |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | s1159 | REG_SZ | AM |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | s2359 | REG_SZ | PM |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sCountry | REG_SZ | United States |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sCurrency | REG_SZ | $ |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sDate | REG_SZ | / |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sDecimal | REG_SZ | . |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sGrouping | REG_SZ | 3;0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sLanguage | REG_SZ | ENU |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sList | REG_SZ | , |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sLongDate | REG_SZ | dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sMonDecimalSep | REG_SZ | . |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sMonGrouping | REG_SZ | 3;0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sMonThousandSep | REG_SZ | , |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sNativeDigits | REG_SZ | 123456789 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sNegativeSign | REG_SZ | - |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sPositiveSign | REG_SZ | |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sShortDate | REG_SZ | M/d/yyyy |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sThousand | REG_SZ | , |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sTime | REG_SZ | : |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sTimeFormat | REG_SZ | h:mm:ss tt |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | sYearMonth | REG_SZ | MMMM, yyyy |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iCalendarType | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iCountry | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iCurrDigits | REG_SZ | 2 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iCurrency | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iDate | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iDigits | REG_SZ | 2 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | NumShape | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iFirstDayOfWeek | REG_SZ | 6 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iFirstWeekOfYear | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iLZero | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iMeasure | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iNegCurr | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iNegNumber | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iPaperSize | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iTime | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iTimePrefix | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternational | iTLZero | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelInternationalGeo | Nation | REG_SZ | 244 |
| HKCUControl PanelKeyboard | InitialKeyboardIndicators | REG_SZ | 2147483648 |
| HKCUControl PanelKeyboard | KeyboardDelay | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelKeyboard | KeyboardSpeed | REG_SZ | 31 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | ActiveWindowTracking | REG_DWORD | 0x0 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | Beep | REG_SZ | No |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | DoubleClickHeight | REG_SZ | 4 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | DoubleClickSpeed | REG_SZ | 500 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | DoubleClickWidth | REG_SZ | 4 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | ExtendedSounds | REG_SZ | No |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseHoverHeight | REG_SZ | 4 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseHoverTime | REG_SZ | 400 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseHoverWidth | REG_SZ | 4 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseSensitivity | REG_SZ | 10 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseSpeed | REG_SZ | 1 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseThreshold1 | REG_SZ | 6 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseThreshold2 | REG_SZ | 10 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | MouseTrails | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | SmoothMouseXCurve | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | SmoothMouseYCurve | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | SnapToDefaultButton | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelMouse | SwapMouseButtons | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelPowerCfg | CurrentPowerPolicy | REG_SZ | 0 |
| HKCUControl PanelPowerCfgGlobalPowerPolicy | Policies | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| HKCUControl PanelPowerCfgPowerPolicies� | Name | REG_SZ | Home/Office Desk |
| HKCUControl PanelPowerCfgPowerPolicies� | Description | REG_SZ | This scheme is suited to most home or desktop computers that are left plugged in all the time. |
| HKCUControl PanelPowerCfgPowerPolicies� | Policies | REG_BINARY | *** binary data snipped *** |
| *** other Power Policies defined here *** |
Comments
- Anonymous
January 01, 2003
After playing with the remaining Control Panel applets it's time to look at how Server Core looks on - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Windows Server 2008 Server Core의 디스크 관리 측면에 대해서 포스팅하기로 했었는데, 오늘은 조금 재미있는 글을 써볼까 합니다. 디스크 관리는 내일이나 모레 - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Windows Server 2008 から提供される Server Core というインストールモードでは、入力インターフェースとしてコマンドプロンプトのみが提供されます。すなわち、ローカルでは、ほぼ全ての操作をコマンドから実施する必要があります。コマンドが苦手な方は、リモートから