Windows Server 2003 On Your Workstation

posted on 2004-12-08 at 01:00:11 by Joel Ross

Brandon Paddock has a post about using Windows Server 2003 on your workstation. He lists out four reasons why people might want to do so, but missed the reason why I use it: multiple websites. In XP, you can hack it up and get multiple sites, but that's not quite the same.

Most of the feedback (other than mine and Brandon's) has been negative, mentioning what doesn't work. One says apps, and rest talk about video. Personally, I haven't any problems with video, and I am using an odd resolution - 1400 x 1050. I haven't really had any problems with applications under normal circumstances, but I have seen a few oddities.

All of these issues occur (at least as far as I can tell) after I have suspended my laptop and then turned it back on.

First up is Microsoft Outlook/Word. I use Word as my editor, and after suspending, I can't open any Word documents. Also, my cursor disappears when I type emails - so I don't know where I am typing. The solution is easy - kill winword.exe.

Next is WebMon. I'm using that to track pages that I put comments on. After coming back from a suspend, there's a memory issue. Closing and reopening solves that problem.

Last is Skype. If I have suspended, and then enable a second monitor, then disable the second monitor (I have a second one on my desk in the office), I will sometimes get a range check error. Shutting it down doesn't solve the problem either. I have to reboot. But it doesn't happen all the time, so it's not a huge deal.

Lastly is Windows Server 2003 itself. Sometimes, when I suspend, it doesn't come back. It happens very rarely, and I haven't been able to nail down any consistency to it. It probably happens once a month for me, and I suspend my laptop twice a day. I'm really not sure it's Windows 2003, or something else, and I save everything before I suspend anyway, so it hasn't affected me yet.

But to be honest, if I had to do it over again (maybe I will soon), I would load XP, and then load Windows 2003 on a Virtual PC. That, I think, would be more ideal. That way, I can have two conflicting environments (for two different clients - for example, I sometimes support CMS 2001, but most is CMS 2002) available to me.

Categories: General