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Is it possible to blacklist certain operating systems from being installed on a server?

Example scenarios:

1) There is an existing physical server, with no operating system. Is there a way to block say, Windows Server 2012 from being installed on that server?

2) There is an existing physical server, with a Windows Operating system installed. On top of that is a hypervisor and multiple VM guest accounts. Is there a way to block the guest accounts sitting on that server from installing certain operating systems?

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

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    There's no way that I know of, except: don't give people access to the servers if they're going to do something you don't approve of. What's your need for this? Perhaps if you explain the intent behind it, there might be some other way of handling it. Feb 24, 2015 at 3:35
  • What actual problem are you trying to solve here? Feb 24, 2015 at 3:38
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    "Anyone caught installing an OS I disapprove of will be flogged with a serial cable until I get bored or go drinking for the weekend." Feb 24, 2015 at 4:05
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    The industry standard solution here is to prevent the users from having any physical access to the server, or the virtual equivalent, and to disable boot from removable media or CD-ROM. Feb 24, 2015 at 4:06
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    "Put the servers behind locked doors" and "make it a punishable offence for people to mess with the servers" are solutions. Good solutions. Possibly the only available solutions; people with access to the servers have access to undo anything you do. That's it, game over. Feb 24, 2015 at 5:22

1 Answer 1

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Prevent operating systems from being installed by users period.

Hire administrators that follow procedures and forbid them from installing anything but your approved OS images. Monitor for compliance.

Provide a managed deployment solution instead which provides your pre-selected OS images if users need to be able to re-install on demand.

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