I am currently running server 2003 on my server. I recieved an evaluation copy of Server 2008 Enterprise... containing 2 disks. My system is a 32 bit... In installing the disk the system goes through the boot up process... past recognizing the hot swap hard drives leading to the next step which is recognizing that there is a disk in the DVD/CD drive. Which it does not do... it stays idle with a cursor waiting to read.... anything... and stays in limbo. If I shut down the server... install the 2003 server disk... and reboot the system... the process runs past the recognition of the hot swap hard drives... the system recognises that there is a disk in the drive and the screen reads "press any key to boot to CD"... which when I do, the server reads the CD and installs server 2003..... Again... the server is not recognizing the disks for the installation of enterprise 2008. My server is an X series IBM 345. running two 2.8 dual processors. I have 4GB of memory... with four 73GB hot swap hard drives on a 32 bit system. I contacted the group who sent me the evaluation edition of 2008... they sent me an aditional set of evaluation disks. which work in the same fashion... I was directed by the Microsoft agent on line help to download the evaluation version on line. Which I did.. it takes 5 hours for the download. Which I did about 7 times in the past 4 days. The end result with the on line download which I have to run the set up flie from the downloaded file extracted from the ISO image that will not open without a proper program. Which I extracted with Winrar. I ran the set up file from the extraction ... server 2008 starts installation... the past few days I have installed 2008 7 times... each time in a different manner. starting off the first time with collecting all updates before the installation begins as well as configuring to include previous files from 2003 server to running the custom installation which states that it will not include previous files and data. All to no avail. the server 2008 installs... completes it's processes and re boots... only to a screen that exhibits a green loading worm that works its way accross the small line at the base of the screen labeled Microsoft Corporation below it. Reading that the system may take hours to configure or install... I let that loading window process for 6 hours to no avail. I had to shut down the computer... re boot... and boot to the previous windows system... which uninstalled the 2008 and took me back to server 2003. I have literally spent 7 full days downloading, creating iso disks, and running the operation set up over and over again and searching through the FAQ researching answers to this problem before I bring this to your forum... It seems like the server is not recognising any DVD format disks in the boot process but does recognise CD disks... (the hardware reads the DVD/CD device as a "Teac CD-224E" the device type is recognised as "DVD/CD drive".... and after complete installation of extracted downloads the operating system does not reload and begin.. Ready to go on with further testing... :)

Installing Windows Server 2008 isn't generally this painful. Do you have access to another system to test out an installation to rule simply scope this issue as a problem with your current system? Is the computer up to date on Firmware? I would also recommend that you verify that your hardware is on the HCL (Hardware Compatibility List - http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx). Also if this is 2008 32 bit, you can easily install this on a computer running Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, VMWare Workstation, or another Virtualization app available. If its 2008/2008 R2 x64, you can still virtualize but not with VPC 2007, you can use VMWare on a 64bit computer. Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

hello lancersdad, Here's what I would try. Go out an get an external USB DVD ROM and try booting off that (if the hardwrae supports it, check the BIOS). I have seen where a CD/DVR will break and not read DVD's but it will still read CD's. If you never get to the point where you are prompted to press any key to boot from theCD ROM with a CD ROM but not with the DVD, then my guess is that either your DVD image is bad or the DVD reader has a problem. Another thing you can try is to get a USB flash drive and burn a bootable image of the ISO file to that and boot of that (if the hardware supports it). Cheers Miguel Fra / Falcon ITS Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase Sharepoint Site

Hi, I agree with JM. I have never heard this painful experience. According to the description, it seems that there are some hardware compatibility issue with your computer, you may check the compatibility of the computer, you can also try to install Windows Server 2008 in a virtual machine or on another physical computer to check whether you get the same issue. By the way, you can check the following guides with texts and pictures. How to Install Windows Server 2008 Step by Step http://www.petri.co.il/how-to-install-windows-server-2008-step-by-step.htm Windows server 2008 Step By Step Installation guide http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-server-2008/windows-server-2008-step-by-step-installation-guide/ Important Note: This response contains a reference to a third party World Wide Web site. Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. Microsoft does not control these sites and has not tested any software or information found on these sites; therefore, Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. There are inherent dangers in the use of any software found on the Internet, and Microsoft cautions you to make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any software from the Internet. Best Regards, Vincent Hu