When you need to hack the Registry on a Server Core box in order to make a setting that you’d normally make through the GUI (if there was one), it’s often helpful to make the desired setting on a “full” server box while running a Registry monitoring tool, in order to figure out what Registry value or values you need to set.
In years past, my preferred Registry spy was REGMON from the friendly guys at System Internals, now absorbed by Microsoft. Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovitch have folded REGMON’s functionality (along with its sibling FILEMON) into “Process Monitor,” a free download. (You don’t want “Process Explorer” for this purpose, although it is another useful and interesting tool.)
The basic technique is to fire up Process Monitor on a full Server 2008 box; configure the tool’s filter to include Registry writes, but NOT reads; then make the setting you need for your Server Core box, via the GUI on the full Server 2008 box. Process Monitor will log the Registry value or values that get changed or added. You can then hop over to the Server Core box, run REGEDIT, and make the changes manually. As always with Registry edits, take appropriate precautions, such as exporting the containing key before changing any values, and bowing deferentially in the direction of Redmond, Washington.
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