Having a server that loads the OS

[Zhat]

I realize this is probably pretty easy but I wanted to know how I could have a server in my house or where ever and I could login on my computer and it would be connected to the server but also be on the computer. Basically how can I have it so the computer is connected to the server but its using the hors power of the computer.

[DarrenP]

I realize this is probably pretty easy but I wanted to know how I could have a server in my house or where ever and I could login on my computer and it would be connected to the server but also be on the computer. Basically how can I have it so the computer is connected to the server but its using the hors power of the computer.

You want a domain. To implement that in a household environment, the cost would be astronomical and not worth it. 

[ForsakenLive]

The text is a bit confusing, but I guess you want to use your PC as a terminal?

[Flyguygamer]

You can use something like team viewer to control your pc.

What I would do is set the dmz on your router to you internal ip then use microsoft rdp and connect to your external ip from somewhere else. This requires Windows pro or better.

[omniomi]

Your post could be talking about a few different setups:

 

1. Roaming profile / Remote User Folder

 

In this setup your PC still has it's own OS, it's own application, and it's own horse power is utilised however your personal profile (C:\Users\<your name>) which includes things like "My Documents," "My Pictures," as well as your application settings would reside on the remote computer. The basic setup involves creating a share on the server for your user, setting appropriate security, and then logging in to your PC using a secondary admin account and setting the profile path for your main account to the remote share. (Computer Management -> Local Users and Groups -> Users -> <your user> -> Properties -> Profile -> Profile Path.) 

 

In theory there is nothing special needed to make this work and if you pointed your user on other computers in the house at the same remote profile path your files would follow you from computer to computer but your applications / OS would now. You would want to use static IP addressing on the remote profile machine however so that it doesn't pull a new DHCP lease some day and you log in to a blank profile.

 

2. Thin client / Dumb terminal

 

A thin client (aka a dumb terminal) is essentially a light weight terminal that accesses an OS and applications on a remote server. This is a lot more complicated to setup and requires a specialised server running something like VMWare View along with compatible clients. 

 

3. A plain old file server

 

If you're just talking about the ability to host files remotely you only need to right click folders on the server and select "share" and configure whatever level of security you want.

 

4. A server that you can access by remote desktop for <insert whatever reason.>

 

This would require a server OS or a Pro version of consumer Windows and you would need to enable remote desktop services on the "server." (Computer properties -> Remote -> Enable.) You would then be able to go to the Remote Desktop Client on your PC and connect to the server for whatever reason.

 

6. A Terminal Server

 

It's possible to run apps on a remote server running Terminal Services however this uses the computing power of the remote server not the local machine and it can be prohibitively expensive due to the way licensing for MS Terminal Services works. 

 

7. Something else?

 

Your post is very vague... something else? What exactly are you trying to do? Cite examples of workflow.

 

8. Not Microsoft?

 

If you're using Mac OS X or Linux this information may be wrong...

[Zhat]

Your post could be talking about a few different setups:

 

1. Roaming profile / Remote User Folder

 

In this setup your PC still has it's own OS, it's own application, and it's own horse power is utilised however your personal profile (C:\Users\<your name>) which includes things like "My Documents," "My Pictures," as well as your application settings would reside on the remote computer. The basic setup involves creating a share on the server for your user, setting appropriate security, and then logging in to your PC using a secondary admin account and setting the profile path for your main account to the remote share. (Computer Management -> Local Users and Groups -> Users -> <your user> -> Properties -> Profile -> Profile Path.) 

 

In theory there is nothing special needed to make this work and if you pointed your user on other computers in the house at the same remote profile path your files would follow you from computer to computer but your applications / OS would now. You would want to use static IP addressing on the remote profile machine however so that it doesn't pull a new DHCP lease some day and you log in to a blank profile.

 

2. Thin client / Dumb terminal

 

A thin client (aka a dumb terminal) is essentially a light weight terminal that accesses an OS and applications on a remote server. This is a lot more complicated to setup and requires a specialised server running something like VMWare View along with compatible clients. 

 

3. A plain old file server

 

If you're just talking about the ability to host files remotely you only need to right click folders on the server and select "share" and configure whatever level of security you want.

 

4. A server that you can access by remote desktop for <insert whatever reason.>

 

This would require a server OS or a Pro version of consumer Windows and you would need to enable remote desktop services on the "server." (Computer properties -> Remote -> Enable.) You would then be able to go to the Remote Desktop Client on your PC and connect to the server for whatever reason.

 

6. A Terminal Server

 

It's possible to run apps on a remote server running Terminal Services however this uses the computing power of the remote server not the local machine and it can be prohibitively expensive due to the way licensing for MS Terminal Services works. 

 

7. Something else?

 

Your post is very vague... something else? What exactly are you trying to do? Cite examples of workflow.

 

8. Not Microsoft?

 

If you're using Mac OS X or Linux this information may be wrong...

 

The text is a bit confusing, but I guess you want to use your PC as a terminal?

So at my school. You log in using one of the computers using your username and password. Then after that it connects to the server and loads I think I VM to that PC but still uses the specs of that PC.

[L.E.D]

So at my school. You log in using one of the computers using your username and password. Then after that it connects to the server and loads I think I VM to that PC but still uses the specs of that PC.

 

Your school uses a complicated system for this, usually designed by the school board. They have a main server that has all the student info on it with login info, when you login to a PC it checks that server. You then log in if it is correct, usually it is a bare windows installation heavily modified and restricted. The applications and your 'student' drive are stored on a local server, and all the computers pull the apps from that server. Basically there are shortcuts that are linked to the application directory on the server.The app and file storage is the easy one, user authentication is where it's tricky and I am  not going to dive into that because I frankly don't know enough about it.

[DarrenP]

Your school uses a complicated system for this, usually designed by the school board. They have a main server that has all the student info on it with login info, when you login to a PC it checks that server. You then log in if it is correct, usually it is a bare windows installation heavily modified and restricted. The applications and your 'student' drive are stored on a local server, and all the computers pull the apps from that server. Basically there are shortcuts that are linked to the application directory on the server.The app and file storage is the easy one, user authentication is where it's tricky and I am  not going to dive into that because I frankly don't know enough about it.

I've set up things like this before. On a small scale. Well rather i helped set it up. I set up all the computers, and my boss set up the domain. It's not worth the trouble. Trust me OP. We did maybe 20 PC's and it took like 2 weeks of building computers and setting up the OS's and at least an hour per PC configuring the Domain. My boss did the configuring and has been doing it for almost 20 years now, so for even a trained professional that has the know-how to do this it took a long time. Also keep in mind their bill was more than 10K for the server setup, nevermind the wiping of all the computers and building of the new machines they got. 

[Guest]

I've set up things like this before. On a small scale. Well rather i helped set it up. I set up all the computers, and my boss set up the domain. It's not worth the trouble. Trust me OP. We did maybe 20 PC's and it took like 2 weeks of building computers and setting up the OS's and at least an hour per PC configuring the Domain. My boss did the configuring and has been doing it for almost 20 years now, so for even a trained professional that has the know-how to do this it took a long time. Also keep in mind their bill was more than 10K for the server setup, nevermind the wiping of all the computers and building of the new machines they got. 

That took you longer than it should have..

[omniomi]

I've set up things like this before. On a small scale. Well rather i helped set it up. I set up all the computers, and my boss set up the domain. It's not worth the trouble. Trust me OP. We did maybe 20 PC's and it took like 2 weeks of building computers and setting up the OS's and at least an hour per PC configuring the Domain. My boss did the configuring and has been doing it for almost 20 years now, so for even a trained professional that has the know-how to do this it took a long time. Also keep in mind their bill was more than 10K for the server setup, nevermind the wiping of all the computers and building of the new machines they got. 

 

20 PCs really shouldn't take that long if you're using some sort of imaging server like WDS . Even building a domain from scratch, setting up custom group policy, configuring Windows Server DNS & DHCP, and all that fun stuff should only take a day or two depending on how much other stuff you're doing concurrently. A co-worker and I set up the corporate infrastructure for a recent acquisition in less than a day; Two hyper-v servers, two domain controllers with DNS and DHCP configured, a file server with DFS, a Terminal Server, an anti-virus server, a WSUS server, a package and image deployment server, and a print server. The longest part of the whole thing was waiting for our giant directory to copy to the new domain controllers. 

 

Granted setting up PCs is a pain in the ass but if one can unbox and cable a PC in say ~10 minutes... that's 3 and a half hours to set up the 20 physical machines and then you should image them 5-10 at a time which would take another ~2-3 hours during which you can be configuring group policy, creating your OUs, and so on.

 

There is a difference between being a paid professional who doesn't do office set ups very often and being a paid professional who sets up offices on a regular basis. 

 

That said, you're right about the cost part; Windows Server licensing is expensive and not worth it for home use as far as I'm concerned... There are alternatives to Active Directory such as openldap if one is so inclined however.

 

 

So at my school. You log in using one of the computers using your username and password. Then after that it connects to the server and loads I think I VM to that PC but still uses the specs of that PC.

 

This is likely a combination of Active Directory (the login component) and roaming profiles or it's thin clients (as discussed above).

 

Years ago it wasn't uncommon for schools to use roaming profiles but there has been a recent push towards thin clients... the back-end infrastructure is more expensive but the clients are dirt cheap when purchased in bulk and when setup properly creating a new "computer" is as easy as right clicking a template and selecting "deploy new virtual machine." While it wouldn't be impossible to recreate this in your home it would be impractical and likely very expensive (for Windows environments anyway.) 

 

You can read about thin clients here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client you'll find the costs prohibative and the learning curve steep. 

 

You're better off just using your computer as a computer and if you have a server that you're looking to do something with turn it in to a file server for backups and/or in to some sort of media server.

[DarrenP]

20 PCs really shouldn't take that long if you're using some sort of imaging server like WDS . Even building a domain from scratch, setting up custom group policy, configuring Windows Server DNS & DHCP, and all that fun stuff should only take a day or two depending on how much other stuff you're doing concurrently. A co-worker and I set up the corporate infrastructure for a recent acquisition in less than a day; Two hyper-v servers, two domain controllers with DNS and DHCP configured, a file server with DFS, a Terminal Server, an anti-virus server, a WSUS server, a package and image deployment server, and a print server. The longest part of the whole thing was waiting for our giant directory to copy to the new domain controllers. 

 

There is a difference between being a paid professional who doesn't do office set ups very often and being a paid professional who sets up offices on a regular basis. 

 

That said, you're right about the cost part; Windows Server licensing is expensive and not worth it for home use as far as I'm concerned... There are alternatives to Active Directory such as openldap if one is so inclined however.

 

 

 

This is like a combination of Active Directory (the login component) and roaming profiles or it's thin clients (as discussed above). Years ago it wasn't uncommon for schools to use roaming profiles however there has been a recent push towards thin clients... the back-end infrastructure is more expensive but the clients are dirt cheap when purchased in bulk and when setup properly creating a new "computer" is as easy as right clicking a template and selecting "deploy new virtual machine." While it wouldn't be impossible to recreate this in your home it would be impractical and likely very expensive. You can read about thin clients here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client you'll find the costs prohibative and the learning curve steep. 

 

You're better off just using your computer as a computer and if you have a server that you're looking to do something with turn it in to a file server for backups and/or in to some sort of media server.

I did over-exaggerate a bit. But still I'm no server expert. Hardware? Yes. Software? Hell no. I can work my way around an OS, and all that, but when you get into this stuff. It's  a headache for my ADHD mind. We also weren't imaging we were building from scratch. 

[omniomi]

I did over-exaggerate a bit. But still I'm no server expert. Hardware? Yes. Software? Hell no. I can work my way around an OS, and all that, but when you get into this stuff. It's  a headache for my ADHD mind. We also weren't imaging we were building from scratch. 

 

Fair enough I'm an application administrator... Software and specifically things like Active Directory are what I do. I'm actually working on a pair of domain controllers right now lol.

[DarrenP]

Fair enough I'm an application administrator... Software and specifically things like Active Directory are what I do. I'm actually working on a pair of domain controllers right now lol.

Yeah, i'm just a lowly computer tech... well not anymore... I prefer home OS's and hardware personally. 

[Zhat]

20 PCs really shouldn't take that long if you're using some sort of imaging server like WDS . Even building a domain from scratch, setting up custom group policy, configuring Windows Server DNS & DHCP, and all that fun stuff should only take a day or two depending on how much other stuff you're doing concurrently. A co-worker and I set up the corporate infrastructure for a recent acquisition in less than a day; Two hyper-v servers, two domain controllers with DNS and DHCP configured, a file server with DFS, a Terminal Server, an anti-virus server, a WSUS server, a package and image deployment server, and a print server. The longest part of the whole thing was waiting for our giant directory to copy to the new domain controllers. 

 

Granted setting up PCs is a pain in the ass but if one can unbox and cable a PC in say ~10 minutes... that's 3 and a half hours to set up the 20 physical machines and then you should image them 5-10 at a time which would take another ~2-3 hours during which you can be configuring group policy, creating your OUs, and so on.

 

There is a difference between being a paid professional who doesn't do office set ups very often and being a paid professional who sets up offices on a regular basis. 

 

That said, you're right about the cost part; Windows Server licensing is expensive and not worth it for home use as far as I'm concerned... There are alternatives to Active Directory such as openldap if one is so inclined however.

 

 

 

This is like a combination of Active Directory (the login component) and roaming profiles or it's thin clients (as discussed above). Years ago it wasn't uncommon for schools to use roaming profiles however there has been a recent push towards thin clients... the back-end infrastructure is more expensive but the clients are dirt cheap when purchased in bulk and when setup properly creating a new "computer" is as easy as right clicking a template and selecting "deploy new virtual machine." While it wouldn't be impossible to recreate this in your home it would be impractical and likely very expensive. You can read about thin clients here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client you'll find the costs prohibative and the learning curve steep. 

 

You're better off just using your computer as a computer and if you have a server that you're looking to do something with turn it in to a file server for backups and/or in to some sort of media server.

Thanks! This helped a lot!