Hi,

I use windows 8.1 as my main operating system. I really rely on it (Don't even have access to windows 10 apart from vms). Considering that the EOS is near I thought of reinstalling my computer to server 2012 r2, but can anyone give me real experience? Can you really transform it to workstation so nobody would be able to tell that you're using server 2012 insted of 8.1?

 

Thank you.

My computer specs (Is anything really not compatible?)

There is nothing incompatible with your machine. Windows Server 2012 R2 supports any hardware that 8.1 does.

You can transform Windows Server 2012 R2 to look like 8.1, it's actually really simple, easier than you think.

1 hour ago, RayZen said:

easier than you think.

So I can expect everything to “just work”?

 

On 9/30/2022 at 12:00 PM, Jaguarek62 said:

So I can expect everything to “just work”?

 

Yes, there shouldn't be any problem with hardware but some standard Windows features are not getting installed by default on Windows Server, so to get media features and wifi you will have to go to "turn windows features on or off". To enable sound, set Windows Audio startup type in services.msc to automatic. From my experience, the only important feature, that is missing from WinServer is system restore.

For optimal performance you should also change CPU management mode to the one optimized for programs and not background tasks in control panel\system\advanced system settings\performance\advanced

Of course, you might be better to just just use Server 2012 R2 updates on Windows 8.1, after January.  Server 2012 R2 updates will be supplied until October 2023, and then you'll be in the same boat on either OS