Getting to the desktop

Finally, you're ready to boot up your new server!

Make sure you've got a keyboard, mouse, monitor cable and network cable plugged in.

Start the server and wait through the boot screens and Vista-era black-screen-with-progress-bar splash (why it doesn't use the Windows 7-era splash?), and the OOBE (out-of-box-experience) part of setup will start. Fortunately, this is very short and easy:

1. Accept the EULA(s)

That's it.

Once it gets to a login screen, click the "Administrator" username and it will tell you that you must change your password. Type your chosen password twice, and click the arrow to get in to your new desktop. That was easy, wasn't it!!?

As a side note, I went into my BIOS and disabled PXE boot because it was adding unnecessary time to my boot sequence. Again, this is on a Dell PowerEdge T110. If you don't know what PXE boot is, you probably don't need it, especially on a server preinstalled with Foundation.