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Windows Server 2008 Server Core : Setting the Environment & Modifying the Hardware Setup

3/8/2012 6:10:36 PM

1. Setting the Environment

Normally you use the Environment Variables dialog box to set both user and system environment variables. However, this option isn't available in Server Core, so you must either set the environment variables in the registry directly or use a command line utility to perform the task.

When working at the command line, you can choose between creating session or permanent environment variables. Use the Set and SetX commands to create session environment variables. Use the WMIC Environment command to create permanent environment variables for the current user . You can't create permanent system-level environment variables at the command line.

Permanent environment variables are those that exist between reboots. Once you set them, you can depend on them remaining in place until you change them. A user-level environment variable affects only the current user. You'll find these environment variables in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Environment key. The default environment variables include Path, TEMP, and TMP.

A system-level environment variable affects everyone that uses the system. You'll find these environment variables in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ Session Manager\Environment key. The default environment variables include comspec, FP_NO_HOST_CHECK, lib, NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS, OS, Path, PATHEXT, PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE, PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER, PROCESSOR_LEVEL, PROCESSOR_REVISION, TEMP, TMP, and windir.

Each environment variable appears as a separate value under its respective key. Use the following procedure to add a new environment variable.

  1. Right-click the appropriate key.

  2. Choose New => String Value from the context menu.

  3. Type the name of the environment variable you want to create and press Enter.

  4. Double-click the new environment variable. You'll see the Edit String dialog box.

  5. Type the value you want in the Value Data field of the Edit String dialog box.

  6. Click OK to complete the process.

At this point, you can use the environment variable as you would any other environment variable. You can also export your environment variables and import them into the registry on a similarly configured machine. Of course, you'll want to be sure that you format the environment variables correctly to ensure they aren't drive letter or hardware specific.

2. Modifying the Hardware Setup

Many of the settings you need to change to control the hardware on your system appear as part of the console or software settings. For example, if you want to control the appearance of the text on your display, you actually need to change the console settings and not the hardware settings. Likewise, if you want to change how the system handles languages, then you need to change the international settings instead of the keyboard settings.

The hardware settings fall into two categories. First, vendors provide specific settings for their hardware. Because there are so many hardware vendors on the market, it's impossible to provide a comprehensive list of vendor-specific settings. Second, generic settings affect Server Core as a whole and they're part of the generic drivers that affect all hardware. The following sections describe this second category of hardware setting. You won't find every generic setting here, but you'll find many that you normally need to set as part of the GUI, rather than access them directly in the registry.

2.1. Video

The video settings are a bit tough to set. It's not a matter of finding the settings, so much as figuring out which settings to change. The best way to proceed is to locate the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) for your adapter. Locating this information means knowing the name of the display adapter. For example, on one system I own, I have a Gigabyte RADEON X300 installed. Searching for this string in the registry netted several hits, but the one that I want is under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\ key. In this case, the information appears as part of the VEN_1002&DEV_5B60&SUBSYS_21021458&REV_00\4&243d7bd0&1&0070 key, but your setup is likely different from mine.

The Device Parameters subkey is the one you want. It contains a VideoID value. The data value contains the GUID for the display adapter. Double-click the value. Press Ctrl+C to copy of the GUID to the clipboard. In my case, the GUID is {2E9CD519-7E88-4189-9745-5389D6D145CF}—your GUID will likely differ from mine. Press Ctrl+F to display the Find dialog box. Press Ctrl+V to paste the GUID into the Find What field of the Find dialog box. If you leave just the Keys option checked in the Look At field, you'll locate the information you need faster. Press OK to begin the search.

Your search should take you to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hard-ware Profiles\0001\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO key. The Registry Editor actually highlights the adapter GUID for which you searched. The 0000 subkey contains the settings you want to change. If you have the ability to attach multiple monitors to your system, you'll see an additional subkey for each monitor and you'll need to change the settings there. For example, the complete key path for the first monitor on my system is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0001\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO\ {2E9CD519-7E88-4189-9745-5389D6D145CF}\0000\Mon10000084.

Table 1 contains a list of the settings you can modify in most cases. After you make a change, you'll need to restart the system to see the difference because Windows doesn't know to incorporate the settings for you.

Table 1. Common Video Adapter Settings
Value NameValue TypeDefault Value
Attach.ToDesktopREG_DWORD00000001
DefaultSettings.BitsPerPelREG_DWORD00000010
DefaultSettings.XResolutionREG_DWORD00000500
DefaultSettings.YResolutionREG_DWORD00000400
DefaultSettings.VRefreshREG_DWORD0000003c
DefaultSettings.FlagsREG_DWORD00000000
DefaultSettings.XPanningREG_DWORD00000000
DefaultSettings.YPanningREG_DWORD00000000
DefaultSettings.OrientationREG_DWORD00000000
DefaultSettings.FixedOutputREG_DWORD00000000
Attach.RelativeXREG_DWORD00000000
Attach.RelativeYREG_DWORD00000000

2.2. Keyboard

Keyboards are pretty much generic from a configuration perspective, so you don't have to spend a lot of time looking for the values you need. In general, you can set all of the hardware configuration settings that you find in the Keyboard applet of the Control Panel. Table 2 shows the settings you can change.

Table 2. Generic Keyboard Settings
Key NameValue NameValue TypeDefault Value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\KeyboardInitialKeyboardIndicatorsREG_SZ2147483648
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\KeyboardKeyboardDelayREG_SZ1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\KeyboardKeyboardSpeedREG_SZ31

2.3. Mouse

The mouse has some differences based on the features you obtain for it. For example, you might have a three-button mouse instead of a two-button mouse. In addition, you have to consider differences for left- and right-handed users. Even so, Windows provides many generic settings for the mouse. You'll find all of the generic settings in Table 3. Most of these settings also appear in the Mouse applet of the Control Panel. Refer to your vendor documentation for specialized settings for your mouse.

Table 3. Generic Mouse Settings
Key NameValue NameValue TypeDefault Value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseActiveWindowTrackingREG_DWORD0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseBeepREG_SZNo
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseDoubleClickHeightREG_SZ4
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseDoubleClickSpeedREG_SZ500
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseDoubleClickWidthREG_SZ4
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseExtendedSoundsREG_SZNo
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseHoverHeightREG_SZ4
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseHoverTimeREG_SZ400
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseHoverWidthREG_SZ4
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseSensitivityREG_SZ10
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseSpeedREG_SZ1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseThreshold1REG_SZ6
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseThreshold2REG_SZ10
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseMouseTrailsREG_SZ0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseSmoothMouseXCurveREG_BINARY00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00

15 6e 00 00

00 00 00 00

00 40 01 00

00 00 00 00

29 dc 03 00

00 00 00 00

00 00 28 00

00 00 00 00
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseSmoothMouseYCurveREG_BINARY00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00

b8 5e 01 00

00 00 00 00

cd 4c 05 00

00 00 00 00

cd 4c 18 00

00 00 00 00

00 00 38 02

00 00 00 00
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseSnapToDefaultButtonREG_SZ0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\MouseSwapMouseButtonsREG_SZ0

The SmoothMouseXCurve and SmoothMouseYCurve settings control the acceleration of your mouse. Given that Server Core isn't a mouse-intensive operating system, you probably won't need to change these settings. However, if you do find that the mouse doesn't work as well as expected in Remote Desktop, where you'll often cut and paste text in the command prompt, you may need to change the settings. One of the better adjustments appears at http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/windowsxp/articles/69/1/Mouse-Permanent-Acceleration-Fix/print/69. However, a search online for either SmoothMouseXCurve or SmoothMouseYCurve will likely turn up a wealth of settings you can try.

2.4. Power Configuration

The power configuration settings control how your computer works with power. For example, you can set the power policy to shut off the monitor after a specific time frame or turn off the hard drives when they aren't being used. The problem is that these policies are set using binary values, which means that you can't do much more than select a particular policy using the Registry Editor unless you have documentation for that binary data. That said, Table 4 shows typical registry settings for the power configuration. Most of these settings normally appear in the Power Options applet of the Control Panel.

Table 4. Typical Power Configuration Settings
Key NameValue NameValue TypeDefault Value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfgCurrentPowerPolicyREG_SZ8
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicyPoliciesREG_BINARY01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03

00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 03 00 00 00 10 00 00

00 02 00 00 00 03 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 03

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00

00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 02 00 00 00 01 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 03

00 00 00 02 00 00 00 04 00

00 c0 01 00 00 00 04 00 00

00 01 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 01

00 01 00 01 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00

00 16 00 00 00
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\ PowerPolicies\0NameREG_SZHome/Office Desk
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\ PowerPolicies\0DescriptionREG_SZThis scheme is suited to most home or desktop computers that are left plugged in all the time.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0PoliciesREG_BINARY01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 01

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 2c 01 00 00

32 32 00 03 04 00 00 00 04

00 00 00 00 00 3d 77 2e f2

07 00 b0 04 00 00 2c 01 00

00 00 00 00 00 58 02 00 00

00 00 64 64 64 64 91 7c

The CurrentPowerPolicy setting is the one of interest. Changing this value changes the preconfig-ured power policy. Table 4.8 only shows one PowerPolicy key setting. A typical computer contains at least five subkeys and you can choose any of them as a power configuration for the computer.

2.5. Network

Network drive mappings are important because they provide access to other resources on the network such as disk drives. Generally, you'll use the Net Use command to map a network drive. However, you can perform tweaks of existing drive mappings or even create new mappings using the registry as well. Table 5 shows typical settings for a network drive mapping. Your drive mapping contains the same keys, but has different data from the data shown in Table 5. A drive mapping doesn't have any default data—only the specific data required to create the drive mapping. The I key in this example is the local drive letter for the mapping.

Table 5. Typical Network Mappings
Key NameValue NameValue TypeTypical Value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\IRemotePathREG_SZ\\\\Winserver\\Drive C
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\IUserNameREG_DWORD00000000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\IProviderNameREG_SZMicrosoft Windows Network
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\IProviderTypeREG_DWORD00020000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\IConnectionTypeREG_DWORD00000001
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\IDeferFlagsREG_DWORD00000004
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