Windows Server 2012 (Windows Server 8) Installation

Windows Server 2012, codenamed "Windows Server 8", is the sixth release of Windows Server. It is the server version of Windows 8 and succeeds Windows Server 2008 R2. Two pre-release versions, a developer preview and a beta version, were released during development. The software was generally available to customers starting on September 4, 2012.

In this easy step by step guide, we will learn how to install and activate Windows Server 2012.

Before you start make sure you have the minimum requirements to install Windows Server (Windows Server Requirements):

Processor: Minimum: 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor
Ram: Minimum: 512 MB
Disk Space: Minimum: 32 GB
Other requirements:

• DVD drive
• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor
• Keyboard and Microsoft® mouse (or other compatible pointing device)
• Internet access

 You can then download the evalution copy of Windows Server 2012 from here, Download the ISO and burn it to some DVD:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx?ocid=&wt.mc_id=TEC_108_1_33

Now that we have everything we need, We can Start:

1- Insert the Windows Server 2012 DVD, and once you get the following message press Enter to boot from the setup

2- Wait for a while till the setup loads all necessary files (Depending on your machine, it will take couple of minutes)

 3- Once the setup files are loaded, the setup will start with the following screen. You can change these to meet your needs (the default values should be fine for now)

 4- Once you click Next, you can start the installation, click "Install now"

5- You will see the following screen, wait until it finishes loading

6- In the following setup screen, you will see four options. Select Windows Server 2012 DataCenter Evaluation (Server With GUI).

7- After you click Next from previous screen, Read the License terms, tick the "I accept the license terms" and click Next

8- Now It will ask you for the drive (or partition) you want to install Windows on. Here I'm installing it on the one partition I have here. NOTE: This will remove the content of the partition. Either you create a partition to install windows on, or you can test this on a testing machine

9- Now once we picked our partition, clicking on next from previous screen will start the setup. This process might take a while.

10- Once the setup is done, it will restart and start your Windows Server 2012 for the first time. It will ask you then to set up a password for the Administrator user

11- The setup will finalize your settings, might take a couple of minutes

12- Once the setup is done, you can log in for the first time to your Windows Server, as the screen says, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to log in, and use the password you set in the setup process


13 - Once you Log in, Windows Server 2012 will show the Server Manager

Congratulations! you have now Windows server 2012 Installed with Datacenter.

From: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msgulfcommunity/archive/2013/03/06/installing-and-activating-windows-server-2012-step-by-step.aspx

Other References:
1) Install and Deploy Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831620.aspx
2) Windows Server 2012: Install & Configure Windows Server 2012 using VHD Boot,  http://blogs.technet.com/b/aviraj/archive/2012/10/01/windows-server-2012-install-amp-configure-windows-server-2012-using-vhd-boot.aspx
3)Installing Windows Server 2012 in Core Mode,  http://blogs.technet.com/b/tommypatterson/archive/2012/11/21/installing-windows-server-in-core-mode-step-by-step-part-1.aspx
4)Installing Windows Server 2012 (RC) Step-by-Step,  http://www.petri.co.il/installing-windows-server-2012-rc.htm#