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OOTW / Chapter I - Foundation / 02. Virtualization / 05. Installation / 04. Server2022

Server2022

The entire course, including the exam environment, will use "Windows Server 2022 Standard Evaluation (Desktop Experience)".

Windows Server 2022 | Microsoft Evaluation Center

  1. Download the ISO (Windows Server 2022 Evaluation 64 bit).

  2. Head over to VMware (or whatever software you are using) and create a "New Virtual Machine". Select "Typical" (don't need "Custom").

  3. Click "I will install the OS later" (can save you from headaches sooner or later, trust me).

  4. When prompted for the Guest Operating System, select:

Microsoft Windows  
Windows Server 2022 x64
  1. Give the VM a name and location. I personally keep all machines inside a dedicated directory structure:
OOTW  
└── VM  
	├── Kali  
	├── Ubuntu  
	├── Windows10
	├── Server2022

  1. Create a virtual disk with at least 80GB of storage and choose to store the disk as a single file.

  2. On the next screen, click "Customize Hardware". As mentioned earlier, allocating absurd amounts of CPUs rarely helps. I usually use 16GB RAM, 1 CPU and 8 cores.

Minimum settings I would recommend:

Windows Server 2022 VM  
OS Type: Windows  
Version: Windows Server 2022 x64  
RAM: 8 GB+  
CPU: 2 vCPU+  
Disk: 80 GB Thin Provisioned

  1. Leave the network adapter as NAT for now (we will revisit networking later).

  2. Enable "Accelerate 3D Graphics" and allocate 512 MB of video memory (or the maximum your virtualization platform allows).

  3. Once the VM is created, load the Windows Server 2022 ISO into the virtual DVD drive.

  4. Boot the machine and proceed through the installer.

  5. Select:

Language: English (or your preference)  
Time and Currency Format: Your preference  
Keyboard Layout: US

  1. Click "Install Now".

  2. If prompted for a product key, select:

I don't have a product key

For lab purposes, Windows can be installed and used without immediate activation.

  1. Important - select "Windows Server 2022 Standard Evaluation (Desktop Experience)"

  2. Carry on normally (custom install, delete everything, one partition, and so on).

  3. Set the Administrator password:

Student123!
Student123!

  1. Install Guest Tools (you should already know how by now) and reboot.

  2. Run the following commands to update Defender signatures, reduce signature update activity, disable automatic sample submissions and disable cloud-delivered protection. This helps create a more stable and predictable lab environment while keeping Microsoft Defender enabled:

Update-MpSignature

Set-MpPreference -SignatureScheduleDay 8
Set-MpPreference -SignatureUpdateInterval 0

Set-MpPreference -SubmitSamplesConsent NeverSend
Set-MpPreference -MAPSReporting 0

# You can verify your current versions:
Get-MpComputerStatus | Select-Object AntivirusSignatureVersion, AMServiceVersion, AMEngineVersion
  1. Shut it down and create a snapshot called "FRESH".

This snapshot provides a clean baseline which can be restored later if something inevitably catches fire. Ensure this snapshot is AFTER the machine is turned off - that way you can clone the machine directly from this snapshot.