EasyBCD - Server 2008 Core functional

[iceman]

It would be fantastic if the GUI of EasyBCD could run in Windows Server 2008 Core. I just test installed v1.72 but it failed to work:

 

[mqudsi]

Hi iceman, welcome to NeoSmart Technologies.

Install .NET 2/3/3.5 (either or) on top of Server 2008 core, then try running EasyBCD once more.

Does that do the trick?

 

[iceman]

unfortunately ...No Can Do

The reason is that Server Core does not ship with the .Net Framework (intentionally) and will not allow you to install it ( I tried with both 3.5 and then 3.0).

http://redmondmag.com/features/article.asp?EditorialsID=640
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3209149&SiteID=1

So ...my wish is still in place to somehow code the GUI to play nice in Server Core perhaps like the very nice (and simple) CoreConfiguration GUI was written by Guy Teverovsky :

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/...rver-core-coreconfigurator-to-the-rescue.aspx

 

[mqudsi]

Interesting, really....

A possible solution:

Another limitation with not having IE around is that all of Microsoft's versions of the .NET Framework (the ones for Wintel boxes anyway) require Internet Explorer 5.01 or later. You can still install Mono from Miguel deIcaza and team, and it will serve out ASP.NET content using XSP pages. But for those that prefer the standard configuration of ASP.NET 2.0 that comes out of the box with Server 2008, that's not possible with Server Core... yet. But there is talk of creating an updated version of the .NET 2.0 framework that will work in Server Core for ASP.NET.

EasyBCD may or may not work under Mono on Windows (haven't tried it, but Mono is supposed to run most .NET programs).

 

[iceman]

Well at some point the use of BCDedit.exe with all its command line typing fun starts to sound like a better option. Thanks for your quick replies and information.

Perhaps you could team up with Mr. Guy Teverovsky and in the process of adding this capability to your tool, BCDedit can garner a lot of attention back towards NeoSmart. His little GUI is probably going to end up in the hands of every admin who deploys Server Core. As such, it isn't hard to see that it could pack a big marketing punch. BCDedit is widely recognized already for its superior quality and capabilities, this woud only add to that.

 

[mqudsi]

See, here's the problem. EasyBD is over 25 thousand lines of code. Porting it to Mono is one thing (only requires modification of code to run on a different implementation of the same framework) but getting rid of the .NET dependencies is another - that would require a complete rewrite in standard Visual C++. And, of course, switching from .NET to native VC++ would result in code in the range of 250,000+ lines of code - 10 times as much!

What we can do is perhaps release an alternate, highly stripped-down version of EasyBCD (in MSVC++) for Server Core. Perhaps I say

With regards to market attention - I doubt it'd really make a difference. Most Server Core users probably aren't looking to dual-boot (what's the point of a server that's not running 24/7?) and EasyBCD is already the only tool used to dual-boot Vista with older versions of Windows and/or Linux (which bcdedit cannot do by itself).

Addendum:

Oh, I can't believe I forgot - you can manage the Windows Server Core for most tasks manually.

Just copy C:\Boot\BCD to a flash drive, run EasyBCD on another PC. EasyBCD | File | Select BCD Store -> F:\BCD (the file you just copied). Make any modifications you need w/ EasyBCD, exit.

Back on Server Core just run

bcdedit.exe /import F:\BCD