Windows_Server_2016

Windows Server 2016 with GUI on AWS EC2

Amazon EC2 offers easy launch of Windows Server 2016. If you are not sure which variation of Windows Server to run, see the FAQ. The instructions here are for the version that includes a full GUI, i.e. including Remote Desktop, Notepad, Windows File Explorer and IIS Manager on the local machine.

1. Use SVN to checkout the WebHub appliance files locally. In particular, you need at a minimum, a copy of all the files in trunk\PowerShell\WebHub_Appliance_PS in a local folder named WebHub_Appliance_PS. The name of the parent folder does not matter but the instructions here assume that the parent folder is PowerShell. (Or download a ZIP of the head revision from Source Forge. Or svn checkout the entire PowerShell tree, understanding that only some of the files will be used.)

2. MKDIR a folder named exactly Custom and located exactly parallel to WebHub_Appliance_PS. The Custom folder and the WebHub_Appliance_PS folder MUST share the same parent folder. (Fine print: on the machine where you run these powershell scripts, the custom folder MUST be named Custom. On your local development machine where you are preparing the files, you can use any folder name.)

3. COPY WebHub_Appliance_PS\Initialize.ps1 to Custom\Initialize.ps1

4. Use notepad or equivalent to edit your custom\Initialize.ps1 file. Review each line. At a minimum, fill in your own ZaphodsMap context for the server and make sure you are happy with all the path names. Near the end of the file, you will find a large comment saying to DELETE the remainder of the file in the customized copy. DO THAT. Otherwise the .ps1 files call each other in an endless loop. (If you want to see some examples of customized copies, look in the WebHubDemos project under the Source folder.)

5. Launch the AWS EC2 instance and connect to the machine over remote desktop. ( video instructions )
6. On the server, MKDIR C:\Temp\PowerShell
7. Use Windows File Explorer Copy+Paste to copy the Custom and WebHub_Appliance_PS folders to the server so they are both located under C:\Temp\PowerShell.
8. Make sure you have all your target drives available. The default is to use drive D. This can be done by using an EC2 volume attached to the machine or by shrinking C on disk 0 to make a D drive. If you want everything on C then make sure your Custom\Initialize.ps1 has changed the default from D to C.

Now you are ready to run the first BAT file in the WebHub_Appliance_PS. Double click the BAT on the server to run it.