Windows 2008 R2 out via volume licensing

[DMcCoy]

There is a crashing issue with ESX/ESXi 3.5/4.0.

 

At least on Dell servers, mine are certainly crashing

[Nick_Parker]

is it possible to update/upgrade 2008 to 2008 R2?

[Theblacksheep]

Nick: Yes.... i've got 4 2008R2's, but you'll need 15GB free on the drive.

 

DMcCoy: Seems dell related. Lots of Dell mentions on the vmware forums too. HP BL480C here, both ESX4.0 and ESX3.5 (all up to date as of last week) no 2008R2 software crashes.

[DMcCoy]

Nick: Yes.... i've got 4 2008R2's, but you'll need 15GB free on the drive.

 

DMcCoy: Seems dell related. Lots of Dell mentions on the vmware forums too. HP BL480C here, both ESX4.0 and ESX3.5 (all up to date as of last week) no 2008R2 software crashes.

 

Got an HP server on the thread now. It's not instant and must be something to do with the graphics drivers. I managed to install and configure fine, it just happens when browsing folders in explorer when connected with the vmware console.

[Theblacksheep]

Got an HP server on the thread now. It's not instant and must be something to do with the graphics drivers. I managed to install and configure fine, it just happens when browsing folders in explorer when connected with the vmware console.

 

Cheers, i'll give it a good go tomorrow.

[DrCheese]

It's not instant and must be something to do with the graphics drivers.

Yup, it will be this

VMware Self-Service- Disable SVGA drivers installed with VMware Tools on Windows 7

 

"If you plan to use Windows 7 as a guest operating system, do not use the SVGA drivers included with VMware Tools. Use the standard SVGA driver instead."

 

2008 R2 = Windows 7 server

[DMcCoy]

Ah, a convenient KB has appeared after everyone said it was crashing!

 

It's not a fix, but a usable workaround for the moment, although it really is quite unpleasant without the accelerated vmware driver.

[cookie_monster]

BIG icons for control panel, no classic control panel.

 

and really slow to load MMC consoles as well

 

I thought you could switch on classic start menu though!

[DMcCoy]

and really slow to load MMC consoles as well

 

I thought you could switch on classic start menu though!

 

Hah! you should try them on VMs with old hardware.

 

They were the main reason I abandoned moving to 2008 with our 32 bit 3.0GHz Xeons (old, single core, hyperthreading, non VT)

 

Much snappier on the Nehalems

[PiqueABoo]

Isn't it a pita that exchange 2007 isn't compatible with the R2 release.

 

Not really - for me an Exchange box only ever runs Exchange and considering how massive/complex that can be (subject to your functionaility requirements), I'm just not that interested in the OS.

 

And if it did run on 2K8 R2 you'd still need an earlier 32bit Windows box with the Exchange Management stuff for PST imports/exports and so on.