Installing Windows onto a ProLiant Server but it doesn't detect a Drive except via Linux

[GanstaKingofSA]

Hi,

 

I have a HP ProLiant DL385 which I want to make it run different types of Windows OS's on each separate drive like Windows 10 on One Drive, Windows 7 on another, etc. So I decided to install Windows 10 and it froze. Next I tried Windows XP (Yes I Know Windows XP is End of Life but it is for VM Purposes) and it will say press this button to start installing and it doesn't detect any drive? anyone know how to get Windows to be installed on this thing even if I have to Buy Windows 2000 or 95? Thanks.

 

I did try installing Ubuntu on it and it does detect the drives only windows doesn't recognized it.

[emosun]

those machine should be running windows server otherwise yeah standard xp isn't going to have the drive controller figured out

[GanstaKingofSA]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

those machine should be running windows server otherwise yeah standard xp isn't going to have the drive controller figured out

Ill try to see what I can do to get a copy of Windows Server if it has to be 2003, 2006, etc.

[GanstaKingofSA]

2 minutes ago, RandomGuy13 said:

Does the server have a RAID card? If it does you need to get the RAID drivers and put them on a memory stick, During Windows Server install you can select an option to Load Driver under drive options on the screen that you select the partition that you want windows to install to.

By the looks of it, it may not have one. Might have to open it up. I think its BIOS RAID or something

[Squish4058]

2 minutes ago, GanstaKingofSA said:

By the looks of it, it may not have one. Might have to open it up. I think its BIOS RAID or something

on that note, by reading the version number off the bios and loooking on the website, is the bios up to date.

 

- I have never dabbled with servers so excuse my potential idiocy 

[Edelrat]

Those server do have dedicated RAID controllers. If you want to install "normal" windows, you need to copy the driver for the RAID card to an USB stick, like already mentioned.

Besides that, do you know if the server has more than one CPU? If so, you will need to install Windows Server, since all Consumer or "Pro"-Versions of Windows only support 1 CPU, at least I think so.

 

You were mentioning "VM purposes", so I assume you are planning on running VMs on the server? If so, why not use operating systems like ESXi, and store all your VMs on your disks? This will detect all your hardware properly, and creating/managing VMs is much easier. It is also completely free for home use.

[leadeater]

You need to use Intelligent Provisioning or Smart Start depending on the age of the server to prepare the system and install an OS. You can do it without using it but you have to do things a bit more manually like setup the RAID array and mark it as bootable (must do this and is your problem) and then install all the required drivers.

[Dlog]

You should proably look at running a hypervisor on that box and running those operating systems as virtual machines.

 

Server 2016 Hyper-v server is free https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-hyper-v-server-2016

Vsphere Hypervisor server is free https://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor.html

 

Run those and connect with Rsat or what have you and go to town. If you are a student register with your school email and get the datacenter version of 2016 free to have all kinds of fun.

[GanstaKingofSA]

19 hours ago, MEOOOOOOOOOOOOW said:

Those server do have dedicated RAID controllers. If you want to install "normal" windows, you need to copy the driver for the RAID card to an USB stick, like already mentioned.

Besides that, do you know if the server has more than one CPU? If so, you will need to install Windows Server, since all Consumer or "Pro"-Versions of Windows only support 1 CPU, at least I think so.

 

You were mentioning "VM purposes", so I assume you are planning on running VMs on the server? If so, why not use operating systems like ESXi, and store all your VMs on your disks? This will detect all your hardware properly, and creating/managing VMs is much easier. It is also completely free for home use.

I just noticed that it is running 2 Dual Core AMD Opteron's 285 so yeah I have to install a Windows Server.

 

Yes I am planning to run Different versions of Windows on the 8 drives plugged in. I have never heard of ESXi so I might try that sometime instead

18 hours ago, leadeater said:

You need to use Intelligent Provisioning or Smart Start depending on the age of the server to prepare the system and install an OS. You can do it without using it but you have to do things a bit more manually like setup the RAID array and mark it as bootable (must do this and is your problem) and then install all the required drivers.

is there a way to install it via USB? I found where to download Smart Start