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I'm a student with a Mac (10.6.8) and had planned to get Windows 8 from Dreamspark and run it in VMWare Fusion 5 - however Dreamspark have suddenly (this week) removed Windows 8 and I can't get a copy now.

I am just wondering if it is possible to use Windows Server 2012 as an Operating System and would it function the same as Windows 8? I don't know anything about how Servers work or even what they are for, so is this an unrealistic proposition? Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 are still available on my Dreamspark account.

The purpose of needing Windows OS is that my university sometimes provides software that is intended to be run in Windows.

Also do you need anti-virus software if you were running Windows Server 2012 as an OS?

Also if you wanted to find out more about servers and what they do, where would you start (at a very basic level)?

Thanks

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closed as off topic by mulaz, joeqwerty, EEAA, MDMarra, Ward Dec 8 '12 at 17:54

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2 Answers

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Yes Windows Server 2012 will run in VMWare Fusion 5.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/2109998

I'm not sure I would recommend running it as a desktop OS however. It will probably work for all you intend it to be used for, but as you mention its meant for servers and you will probably have a difficult time finding everything you need for daily tasks. It will not be as user friendly as a workstation OS such as Windows 8. You would need antivirus just like you would on any workstation.

As far as what servers are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_(computing)

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You can hammer server 2012 to be quite a desktop - just install the UI, then the desktop experience. Even adds the shop functionality. Never forget - the "Server" is also the desktop used in Terminal Server scenarios. – TomTom Dec 8 '12 at 19:13
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Here's what I would use to modify the server OS to be used as a desktop (you have to do a few things to make it work for daily use)
http://www.win2008r2workstation.com/

If the OS's seem really different to you, then Dreamspark has the Windows 7 OS which should work fine for anything school wants you to run.

Yes use an anti-virus. Use Microsoft Security Essentials.

The way I learned about servers was by configuring them. Click on server manager (it comes up by default on start-up anyhow) and go to "roles" or "features" in the left pane. Start looking around and you'll see the possible configurations.

Here's a nice introductory tutorial on the webserver included (called IIS) with some nice pictures
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-iiswindows/

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