Guide to the System Applet (Control Panel) in Windows Server 2008
The System applet provides access to general system properties. You also can open the System
applet by right-clicking Computer and choosing Properties. The first page of the System property applet provides basic information about your system, including OS version, installed memory, CPU type, and registration information.
Clicking Advanced Systems Settings loads the Systems Properties dialog box. The first tab is the
Computer Name page.
Computer Name
The Computer Name tab is the place to go to change the workgroup or domain to which the computer is assigned, as well as to change its computer name. You also can change the primary
DNS suffix for the computer, as well as its NetBIOS name.
Hardware page
The Hardware page offers a handful of features for controlling the system’s hardware and resource settings. In Windows Server 2008, drivers can be signed digitally by Microsoft to certify that the driver has been tested and meets certain compatibility criteria defined by Microsoft. Clicking Windows Update Driver Settings opens a dialog box you can use to configure driver installation. You can choose between the following:
- Check for Drivers Automatically (Recommended).
- Ask Me Each Time I Connect a New Device Before Checking for Drivers.
- Never Check for Drivers When I Connect a Device.
TIP: You can configure driver signing behavior through Group Policy.
Advanced page
You can use the Advanced page of the System properties applet in the Control Panel to configure performance options for the computer, to view and set environment variables, and to configure system startup and recovery options.
User Profiles
User profiles store a given working environment, including desktop configuration, mapped drives and printers, and other properties. When a user logs on, the user profile applies the desktop configuration and other properties. User profiles are most useful for providing a consistent user interface for each user even when other users share the same computer. They're also useful for providing a consistent UI for users who log in from a variety of computers (roaming users).
A user profile comprises a registry file and a set of folders. The registry file applies settings to
the UI such as mapped drives, restrictions, desktop contents, screen colors and fonts, and so on, and is a cached copy of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER portion of the registry. The folders include
the user's My Documents, My Pictures, and other folders stored under the Documents and Settings folder for the user.
The three types of profiles are personal, mandatory, and default. Personal profiles enable users to modify their working environments and retain those changes from one logon session to the next. Mandatory profiles enable certain configuration changes (subject to restrictions in the profile itself), but those changes are not saved for future logon sessions. The only difference between a personal profile and a mandatory profile is the profile’s file extension. Personal profiles use a .dat extension for the registry file portion of the profile, and mandatory profiles use a .man
extension.
A default profile is preconfigured by Windows Server 2008 and is applied for new users that log on with no pre-existing profile. The profile then is stored as the user’s profile for later logon sessions.
You specify a user's profile through the user’s account properties when you create or modify the account. You use the Local Users and Groups MMC console to create and modify local accounts and use the Active Directory Users and Computers console to create and modify domain accounts in the Active Directory. The Profile tab of the user’s account properties specifies the path to the user's profile, the logon script, and other properties. When the user logs on, Windows Server 2008 applies the profile located on the specified path.
TIP: You access user profiles through the Settings button in the User Profiles group of the
Advanced tab in the System property sheet.
Creating a profile
Windows Server 2008 provides no specific utility for creating user profiles. Instead, you first log
on as the target user to a system with similar video hardware as the user’s target workstation
(because video settings are stored in the profile and you need to ensure compatibility). You configure the working environment as needed, mapping drives and printers, setting desktop schemes, and so on. When you log off, the profile is stored locally along with the user’s folder
structure.
Copying profiles
In order to copy a user profile from one location to another, you use the User Profiles page of
the System object in the Control Panel. Open the User Profiles page on the system from which
you’re copying the profile. Select the profile from the list of profiles stored on the computer and
click Copy To. Select the local folder or network share where you want the profile copied and click OK.
Supporting roaming users
A roaming profile is the same as a local personal profile except that the profile is stored on a
network share accessible to the user at logon. You specify the UNC path to the user’s profile in
his or her account properties so that when the user logs on, the profile can be applied regardless
of that user’s logon location. If a profile exists on the specified path, Windows Server 2008 applies that profile at logon. If no profile exists on the specified path, Windows Server 2008
creates a new profile automatically, stores it on that path, and uses the profile for future logon
sessions.
Creating a mandatory profile
You create a mandatory profile in the same way you create a personal profile, but with one additional step. After you create the profile and copy it to the target location (such as the user’s local computer or a network share for a roaming profile), change the name of the profile’s registry file from Ntuser.dat to Ntuser.man.
Performance options
Click Settings under the Performance group on the Advanced page to display the Performance
Options dialog box. The Visual Effects tab enables you to configure a variety of interface options
that can affect overall system performance. In the default configuration, 2008 disables all visual
effects except visual styles on windows and buttons. Essentially all of the visual effects are eye
candy and have no significant administrative benefit, so you should leave them turned off.
You can select options on the Advanced tab to optimize the system for applications or background services. In most cases, you’ll select Applications for a Windows Server 2008 Workstation or Background Services for a Server.
The Performance Options dialog box also enables you to change the system’s virtual memory
allocation (size of the system’s swap file) and space allocated to the registry files. Why change
swap file size or location? The swap file is used to emulate memory (thus the term virtual
memory), making the system appear as if it has more physical memory than it really does. As
memory fills up, Windows Server 2008 moves memory pages to the swap file to create space in
physical memory for new pages, or it swaps pages between physical and virtual memory when
an existing page stored in the swap file is needed. Windows Server 2008 automatically selects
a swap file size based on physical memory size, but in some cases, you might want to increase
the swap file size to improve performance. You also might want to move the swap file from the
default location to a different disk with greater capacity or better performance (such as moving
from an IDE drive to a SCSI drive).
Click Change on the Advanced tab of the Performance Options dialog box to access the Virtual
Memory dialog box, shown in. Select a drive for the swap file, specify the initial and maximum sizes (Windows Server 2008 will resize as needed within the range), and click Set. Specify the maximum registry size in the field provided and click OK to apply the changes.
TIP: Changing the maximum registry size doesn’t change the size of the registry. It imposes a maximum size that when reached, causes Windows Server 2008 to generate a warning message that the maximum registry size has been reached.
Environment Variables
Click Environment Variables on the Advanced tab to open the Environment Variables dialog box, which you can use to view, delete, and add environment variables. The variables you define
in the upper half of the page apply to the user who currently is logged on. Variables defined in
the bottom half apply to all users.
Startup/Shutdown options
The Startup and Recovery page enables you to configure boot options, how the system handles a system failure, and how debugging information is handled. The options in the System Startup group enable you to specify which boot option is selected by default and how long the boot menu is displayed. These settings are stored in the Boot.ini file, located in the root folder of the drive on which the boot loader is located. You can edit the file manually with a text editor to change values if you prefer.
TIP: Click Settings in the Startup and Recovery group on the Advanced tab to display the
Startup and Recovery dialog box.
The System Failure group of controls determines how Windows Server 2008 reacts when a system failure occurs. The system always attempts to write an event to the system log, if possible. If you need to see the blue screen of death after a system failure to gather information
for troubleshooting, deselect Automatically Restart.
Use the Write Debugging Information group of controls to specify the action Windows Server
2008 takes to create a memory dump file when a system failure occurs. Microsoft support engineers can use the debugging information to determine the cause of the failure and recommend or develop a fix for the problem.
Remote tab
The Remote tab, shown in, controls Remote Desktop/Terminal Services access to the server, as well as Remote Assistance.
The Remote Assistance group enables you to allow remote users to connect to the server through the Remote Assistance feature. If you click Advanced, you can enable or disable the option Allow This Computer to Be Controlled Remotely. When this option is enabled, a remote user is allowed remote control over the server; disabling the option allows the user to view the
server but not control it. You can also set the period of time during which a Remote Assistance
invitation can remain open.
TIP: You can send Remote Assistance requests with MSN Messenger or by e-mail.
Remote Desktop is, essentially, a stripped-down version of Terminal Services. Enabling the Allow
option in the Remote Desktop group allows remote users to initiate a Remote Desktop or Terminal
Services connection to the server. Click Select Remote Users to specify the users that can log
in through this service.
Windows XP and Vista include a built-in Remote Desktop client that you can use to connect
to Windows Server 2008. In addition, users can employ a Terminal Services client to connect
to the server through Remote Desktop. The Remote Desktop Web Connection ActiveX component
enables Internet Explorer users to access a computer hosting Remote Desktop connections through their Web browser. Remote Desktop Web Connection is included with Windows XP
and Vista and is available for download from Microsoft's Web site.
As handy as it is for remote control and management, Remote Desktop has security implications.
TIP: If you're having problems getting Terminal Services clients to connect to Windows Server 2008 running Terminal Services, be sure to enable the Allow Users to Connect Remotely to This Computer option on the Remote tab of the System Properties sheet. Disabling this option prevents Terminal Services clients from connecting, even if you've enabled access through Group Policy.
Tags: bios,drivers,memory,network,virtual,system applet
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