Archive
Windows 2012 : Converting a Full (GUI version) To Server Core and Vice Versa
For Windows 2012 servers with a full operating system (GUI version) as the base installation:
- To convert a full operating system installation to a server core installation:
- By using DISM cmdlets:
c:\>Dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer
- By using Powershell (run as Administrator):
PS c:\>Import-Module DISM
PS c:\>Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -online -Featurename Servercore-Fullserver
- To convert a server core installation back to a full operating system installation (GUI version)
- By using DISM cmdlets:
c:\>Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer
- By using Powershell (run as Administrator):
PS c:\>Import-Module DISM
PS c:\>Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -online -Featurename Servercore-FullServer,Server-Gui-shell,Server-Gui-Mgmt
For servers with server core as the base installation:
-
To convert a server core installation to a full operating system installation (GUI version)
1. Create an folder called C:\w2012\image
mkdir C:\w2012\image
2. Insert the Windows 2012 media into the optical drive and copy install.wim from
copy D:\sources\install.wim C:\w2012\image
3. Run the following command to retrieve the name or index number of the image:
Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\w2012\image\install.wim
4. Create an folder called C:\w2012\MountPoint
mkdir C:\w2012\MountPoint
5. Run the following command to mount the offline Windows image (Note: index:2 = Standard Edition index:4 = Datacenter Edition) :
Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\w2012\image\install.wim /index:4 /MountDir:C:\w2012\MountPoint /ReadOnly
6. Upgrade the operating system by running the command:
c:\>Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /source:c:\w2012\MountPoint\windows\winsxs
or by using Powershell:
PS c:\>Import-Module DISM
PS c:\>Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell –Restart –Source c:\w2012\MountPoint\windows\winsxs
-
To convert a full operating system installation (GUI version) back to a server core installation
c:\>Dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer