Windows 2003 Post-Install Actions

Once the basic installation recipe has been completed, there are some post-install actions to complete. This recipe covers some of them.

Ingredients

• Windows 2003 installed on ESXi as shown in this recipe.
• About 10 minutes of time.

Instructions

•    Notice the timestamps!
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• Opening notes
  • 0:00 In a prior video, we documented a basic install of Windows Server 2003. In this video we document after-install actions:
  • 0:03 Setting the screen resolution, eventlog review, setting up auditing policies,
  • 0:06 enabling terminal services for administration, checking device drivers, and installing the VMware tools.
  • 0:09 Here is the server, exactly as we left it in the prior video. We are still accessing the server via vSphere's virtual console.
• Take a snapshot (discussion)
  • 0:15 First take a VMware snapshot of the system.
  • 0:25 It's a good habit to do this often, when making changes.
• Login and increase screen resolution (discussion)
  • 0:43 Login as Administrator, using the password set during the installation process.
  • 1:07 There is a nag screen about security updates covering the whole screen - and no way to minimize it!
  • 1:10 We'll be doing system updates in another recipe.
  • 1:13 Click on the reminder bubble to change the screen resolution, which is currently 640x480; far too cramped.
  • 1:16 Windows gives us 15 seconds to accept the current screen resolution. If not accepted, it will revert to the prior settings. In this way we are not left with an unusable system, if problems occur.
  • 1:22 We have reset the screen resolution to 800x600. Still small, but usable for now.
• Check Event Logs (discussion)
  • 1:25 Now we'll have a look at the Event Logs, to see if there are any major problems with the server.
  • 1:30 Open Computer Management. Click "Start", rightclick "My Computer," and choose "Manage."
  • 1:35 Expand the "Event Viewer" node. Click on "System", then rightclick again on "System".
  • 1:44 Select "View", then "Filter."
  • 1:51 At the moment we are not interested in Information and Success events,
  • 1:54 so uncheck them, leaving Warning, Failure audit, and Error event types checked.
  • 2:00 Evaluate the events found, taking corrective action if needed.
  • 2:03 No Errors, Warnings, or Failures. How nice!
  • 2:05 Do the same for the Application Log.
  • 2:24 Here we have some WinMgmt warnings which are minor issues, so no action is taken.
• Setup Security Auditing (discussion)
  • 2:38 Time to setup security auditing.
  • 2:41 Click "Start", then "Run," and enter "secpol.msc"
  • 2:46 It is better to have too much logging than not enough.
  • 2:51 Click the "Audit Policy" node,
  • 2:58 and set all audit policies to log Success and Failure events.
  • 3:44 To ensure the file accesses are logged, set the auditing ACL for each driveletter.
  • 3:49 Click "Start", and then "My Computer."
  • 3:57 Rightclick each hard drive and choose "Properties",
  • 4:03 then the "Security" tab, then the "Advanced" button.
  • 4:11 Click the "Auditing" tab, then click the "Add" button.
  • 4:17 Type "Everyone",
  • 4:24 and check the boxes next to "Full Control" for both "Successful" and "Failed".
  • 4:29 This checks all of the other boxes. Click "OK."
  • 4:32 The entry is added to the ACL.
  • 4:34 Click the box for "Replace auditing entries on all child objects.."
  • 4:36 as shown. Click "OK."
  • 4:40 We are immediately warned that auditing could not be set for pagefile.sys,
  • 4:42 and asked if we wish to continue. Click "Continue."
  • 4:46 It will succeed for all of the rest.
  • 4:49 This audit policy will log a lot, so enlarge the Security Event Log.
  • 4:53 In Computer Management, rightclick the Security log and choose "Properties".
  • 4:58 Set the log size to 100,000 KB (100MB),
  • 5:04 and make sure it is set to "Overwrite events as needed".
  • 5:10 Windows wants the log in 64k incremental sizes. Click "OK."
• Activate Windows (discussion)
  • 5:18 Time to activate Windows.
  • 5:32 Click the key icon in the notification area.
  • 5:42 Click the radio button for "Yes, let's activate Windows.." and click "Next."
  • 5:47 I feel there is no benefit to registering Windows.
  • 5:52 Click the radio button for "No, I don't want to register ..." and click "Next."
  • 5:59 Activation succeeds. Click "OK" to close.
• Enable Remote Administration via Terminal Services (discussion)
  • 6:12 To enable Terminal Services for remote administration,
  • 6:17 click the Start button, then rightclick "My Computer" and choose "Properties."
  • 6:21 Click the "Remote" tab.
  • 6:24 Place a checkmark next to "Enable Remote Desktop.."
  • 6:28 Read and accept the resulting dialog box.
  • 6:32 Optionally click the "Select Remote Users..." button.
  • 6:35 Here we see that Administrator already has remote access, and we have not created any other user accounts.
  • 6:38 So leave it alone for the time being.
• Verify Devices Installed Correctly (discussion)
  • 6:42 Check whether all devices installed successfully.
  • 6:45 Back in Computer Management, click "Device Manager."
  • 6:49 Here we see one device with the yellow exclamation icon, signifying problems.
  • 6:53 I doubleclick the troubled device. There's little information on what it is.
  • 6:57 To find out, click the "Details" tab.
  • 7:00 The Device Instance ID reveals that this is device ID 0740.
  • 7:04 Looking that up at http://pcidatabase.com.
  • 7:13 It's a VMware device.
  • 7:26 We'll resolve that by installing the VMware tools.
• Install the VMware tools. (discussion)
  • 7:42 Rightclick the guest VM in the Vsphere inventory sidebar,
  • 7:47 choose "Guest" and then "Install/Upgrade VMware Tools."
  • 7:50 An informational dialog appears. Read it and click "OK."
  • 7:55 The installation wizard appears. Click "Next" to get started.
  • 8:13 At "Setup Type" choose "Complete." Click "Next"
  • 8:23 Click "Install."
  • 8:37 The installation asks if we want hardware acceleration. Click "Yes."
  • 8:41 The VMware tools installation wizard throws up several windows; no user input is taking place.
  • 8:58 The wizard completes. Click "Finish."
  • 9:06 Follow the directions for setting hardware acceleration (as given in the Notepad window),
  • 9:35 then click "Yes" in the "VMware Tools" dialog,
  • 9:39 which will restart the system.
• Completion
  • 9:42 In another video we will cover manually updating (security patching) the system.

Do you agree/disagree with these procedures? Have more to add? Want to share your wisdom? Add your comments below!