Post-Installation Tasks in Windows Server

This chapter explains some steps to take in Windows Server post-installation, including managing devices and device drivers, checking the registry and the status of services, and taking care of the initial server configuration. As you may notice, this chapter is pided into three parts. The first part explains the importance of device drivers after every installation of an operating system. Tasks such as installation, removal, disabling, update/upgrade, rollback, and other related things concerning device drivers are part of a system administrator's day-to-day job. The second part of the OS registry and services talks about the hierarchical database and the background programs that keep alive the operating system. Topics such as understanding the registry and services and how to manage the registry and services in a server environment are covered in this part. The third part provides instructions on how to perform the initial server configuration. Each topic is accompanied by step-by-step instructions driven by targeted, easy-to-understand graphics.

In this chapter, we will cover:

• Understanding devices and device drivers
• Working with devices and device drivers
• Explaining Plug and Play (PnP), IRQ, DMA, interrupts, and driver signing
• Understanding the registry and services
• Working with the registry and services
• Explaining registry entries, service accounts, and dependencies
• Performing an initial server configuration