====== Switch Windows Server 2012 between core and GUI ====== ===== Convert initial Core to GUI ===== - Mount the Windows Server 2012 ISO to the host. - open an administrative command prompt - mkdir c:\mount - check your wimfile to determine the correct index for the OS (mine was 4) -the command is dism /get-imageinfo /ImageFile:d:\sources\install.wim - dism /mount-wim /wimfile:d:\sources\install.wim /index:4 /mountdir:c:\mount /readonly - powershell (enter PowerShell prompt) - install-windowsfeature server-gui-mgmt-infra,server-gui-shell –restart –source c:\mount\windows\winsxs - Unmount Wim (dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:c:\mount) - Remove Mount Directory (rmdir c:\mount) Alternative is to install directly from WIM - Install-WindowsFeature server-gui-mgmt-infra,server-gui-shell -restart -Source wim:d:\sources\install.wim:4 ===== Convert GUI to Core ===== This will not remove the install files, so you can later use the single line add-windowsfeature commend (without all the steps above). To completely remove the binary files, add **–Remove** at the end - Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell, Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra - Shutdown –r -t 0 (Reboot) ===== Convert Core to GUI ===== You can do this if you allready have GUI feature files on your system - Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell, Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra -restart - Shutdown –r -t 0 (Reboot)