Compatibility between Dell PowerEdge R720 & Windows Server 2003

Engy Boles,

I apologize, the R720 and the other 12th generation servers don't support 2003 as the host OS.  A solution to this is to use virtualization (VMware, Xenserv, Hyper-V, etc) and install 2003 on a VM. That is the only supported way to install 2003 on one of the newest servers.

Let me know if this helps.

As Chris said, you are MUCH better off using virtualization.  Is there a "good" reason you have to put 2003 directly on the hardware?  Which RAID controller do you have?

Dear Sir,

It is RAID 5

Putting 2003 is a request from client , i think he need it to postpone some applications upgrading for a while.

Regards

Engy

Shouldn't be any real reason they can't go virtual.

RAID 5 is your RAID level, not the RAID controller - if you want to try to install 2003, one of the biggest obstacles is the RAID controller - we need to know which one you are using.

Dear Sir

let me ask you about the recommended RAID controller to use for avoiding obstacles in installing 2003

B.R

Engy

There may not be any.  I'll give you a list of drivers to try, but I can't list every possible driver for every possible controller.  Which controller do you have?   Let's start with that.

Hello! We have the same problem, we need to install the server 2003 to r720, RAID-controller: PERC H710 Mini

Let me first reiterate that you are MUCH better off installing 2003 on this server as a virtual machine.  Is there a reason you are not doing so?

You can try the driver for Server 2008x86 ... it has a textsetup.oem file, which would be required for use with 2003 ... it may still not be compatible:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r720?driverId=1MWCX&osCode=WLHS1&fileId=3230165114&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SF

You could also try the XPx86 drivers for the H710 used in the Precision T7600 workstation ... it is designed for "client" operating systems and the H710 firmware is slightly different ... it may or may not work:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/precision-t7600?driverId=DV6JF&osCode=WW1&fileId=3285745595&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SG

For both of the above files, you MUST use the "Hard Drive" version of the driver, and you MUST run it to extract the contents before using.

You can do ONLY one of the following with the driver files:

1.  Put the drivers on a floppy and load them during Windows Setup at the F6 prompt, or
2.  Use nliteOS.com to integrate the driver files into the 2003 installation media (will create a new CD).

In EITHER case, you MUST configure RAID BEFORE attempting to install ... the H710 does NOT support non-RAID, so even with working drivers, Windows CANNOT see any disks unless they are first configured/initialized in a RAID array.  Also, the RAID array you are installing to CANNOT be larger than 2TB.