Happened to set up a Server 2008 R2 Core machine today, so here’s a quick overview of the steps I followed.

Install drivers

If you need to install any drivers, browse to the folder containing the inf file and do pnputil –i -a pathtoinffile.

Configure the network

View the network interfaces and IP addresses:

C:\Users\Administrator> ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7899:eba3:3a3b:d76c%29
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.215.108
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::708d:a236:8ee3:ad47%3
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.15
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.2

C:\Users\Administrator> ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7899:eba3:3a3b:d76c%29

Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.215.108

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::708d:a236:8ee3:ad47%3

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.15

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.2

Rename the interfaces:

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection" newname=EXT-LAN

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection 2" newname=INT-LAN

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection" newname=EXT-LAN

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection 2" newname=INT-LAN

An alternate way of viewing IP addresses and interfaces, using the netsh command as above:

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 show addresses

Configuration for interface "INT-LAN"
DHCP enabled: Yes
IP Address: 169.254.215.108
Subnet Prefix: 169.254.0.0/16 (mask 255.255.0.0)
InterfaceMetric: 5

Configuration for interface "EXT-LAN"
DHCP enabled: Yes
IP Address: 10.0.2.15
Subnet Prefix: 10.0.2.0/24 (mask 255.255.255.0)
Default Gateway: 10.0.2.2
Gateway Metric: 0
InterfaceMetric: 10

Configuration for interface "Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1"
DHCP enabled: No
IP Address: 127.0.0.1
Subnet Prefix: 127.0.0.0/8 (mask 255.0.0.0)
InterfaceMetric: 50

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 show addresses

Configuration for interface "INT-LAN"

DHCP enabled: Yes

IP Address: 169.254.215.108

Subnet Prefix: 169.254.0.0/16 (mask 255.255.0.0)

InterfaceMetric: 5

Configuration for interface "EXT-LAN"

DHCP enabled: Yes

IP Address: 10.0.2.15

Subnet Prefix: 10.0.2.0/24 (mask 255.255.255.0)

Default Gateway: 10.0.2.2

Gateway Metric: 0

InterfaceMetric: 10

Configuration for interface "Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1"

DHCP enabled: No

IP Address: 127.0.0.1

Subnet Prefix: 127.0.0.0/8 (mask 255.0.0.0)

InterfaceMetric: 50

View & set the DNS servers:

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 show dnsservers

Configuration for interface "INT-LAN"
Statically Configured DNS Servers: None
Register with which suffix: Primary only

Configuration for interface "EXT-LAN"
DNS servers configured through DHCP: 8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
Register with which suffix: Primary only

Configuration for interface "Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1"
Statically Configured DNS Servers: None
Register with which suffix: Primary only

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers name="INT-LAN" static 10.0.0.1 primary

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers name="INT-LAN" 10.0.0.2 index=2

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 show dnsservers

Configuration for interface "INT-LAN"

Statically Configured DNS Servers: None

Configuration for interface "EXT-LAN"

DNS servers configured through DHCP: 8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

Configuration for interface "Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1"

Statically Configured DNS Servers: None

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers name="INT-LAN" static 10.0.0.1 primary

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers name="INT-LAN" 10.0.0.2 index=2

Disable an interface:

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface set interface name="EXT-LAN" admin=DISABLED

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface show interface

Admin State    State          Type             Interface Name
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enabled        Connected      Dedicated        INT-LAN
Disabled       Disconnected   Dedicated        EXT-LAN

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 show addresses

Configuration for interface "INT-LAN"
    DHCP enabled:                         No
    IP Address:                           10.0.0.2
    Subnet Prefix:                        10.0.0.0/24 (mask 255.255.255.0)
    Default Gateway:                      10.0.0.254
    Gateway Metric:                       1
    InterfaceMetric:                      5

Configuration for interface "Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1"
    DHCP enabled:                         No
    IP Address:                           127.0.0.1
    Subnet Prefix:                        127.0.0.0/8 (mask 255.0.0.0)
    InterfaceMetric:                      50

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface set interface name="EXT-LAN" admin=DISABLED

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface show interface

Admin State State Type Interface Name

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enabled Connected Dedicated INT-LAN

Disabled Disconnected Dedicated EXT-LAN

C:\Users\Administrator> netsh interface ipv4 show addresses

Configuration for interface "INT-LAN"

DHCP enabled: No

IP Address: 10.0.0.2

Subnet Prefix: 10.0.0.0/24 (mask 255.255.255.0)

Default Gateway: 10.0.0.254

Gateway Metric: 1

InterfaceMetric: 5

Configuration for interface "Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1"

DHCP enabled: No

IP Address: 127.0.0.1

Subnet Prefix: 127.0.0.0/8 (mask 255.0.0.0)

InterfaceMetric: 50

Disable IPv6 (thanks to):

C:\Users\Administrator> reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpip6Parameters /v DisabledComponents /t REG_DWORD /d 0xffffffff

1	C:\Users\Administrator> reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpip6Parameters /v DisabledComponents /t REG_DWORD /d 0xffffffff

Set computer name

Find the computer name (using either of these methods):

C:\Users\Administrator> echo %COMPUTERNAME%
WIN-SI8S2885F22

C:\Users\Administrator> ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : WIN-SI8S2885F22
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

C:\Users\Administrator> echo %COMPUTERNAME%

WIN-SI8S2885F22

C:\Users\Administrator> ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : WIN-SI8S2885F22

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Rename (and reboot):

C:\Users\Administrator> netdom renamecomputer WIN-SI8S2885F22 /newname DC2-2008

This operation will rename the computer WIN-SI8S2885F22
to DC2-2008.

Certain services, such as the Certificate Authority, rely on a fixed machine
name. If any services of this type are running on WIN-SI8S2885F22,
then a computer name change would have an adverse impact.

Do you want to proceed (Y or N)?
y
The computer needs to be restarted in order to complete the operation.

The command completed successfully.

C:\Users\Administrator> netdom renamecomputer WIN-SI8S2885F22 /newname DC2-2008

This operation will rename the computer WIN-SI8S2885F22

to DC2-2008.

Certain services, such as the Certificate Authority, rely on a fixed machine

name. If any services of this type are running on WIN-SI8S2885F22,

then a computer name change would have an adverse impact.

Do you want to proceed (Y or N)?

The computer needs to be restarted in order to complete the operation.

The command completed successfully.

Activate Windows

Enter license key:

C:\Users\Administrator> slmgr.vbs /ipk

1	C:\Users\Administrator> slmgr.vbs /ipk

Activate:

C:\Users\Administrator> slmgr.vbs /ato

1	C:\Users\Administrator> slmgr.vbs /ato

I will talk about adding features later.