Installing Windows Server 2003 R2 on Dell PowerEdge 1950

Windows Server 2003 R2 is old! So old, that it doesn't have the RAID drivers for an old server like the Dell PowerEdge 1950. Annoying! So here's what you need to do to get R2 to install. You will need a USB stick that you can sacrifice as it will be wiped in this process and you will need a copy of Windows Server 2003 R2 on CD. You CANNOT use virtual media!!!!

1. Get into the server’s BIOS and changed USB Flash Drive Emulation Type from Auto to Floppy Emulation.

2. Log on to the servers DRAC, select Virtual Media and select Detached. Select Virtual Flash and select Disabled. Save these changes.

3. Download the Dell USB Key F6 Driver Utility from here.

4. Plug the USB stick in to your Windows PC.

5. Unpack the Dell USB Key F6 Driver Utility and then run the USBKeyPrepF6 utility. This will format your USB stick to look like a floppy.

NOTE: You will no longer be able to see the contents of this stick in Windows!!! I used Linux to do the next steps, but I believe DOS will work too.

6. Download the PERC 5 RAID drivers from here.

7. Unpack the PERC 5 drivers and copy them on to the USB stick.

9. Plug the USB stick into the front USB slot of the server.

9. Put the Windows Server 2003 R2 CD into the CD-ROM of the server and boot off it. When you see the prompt at the bottom of the screen that says Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver, you guessed it, press F6!

10. When all the known drivers have loaded, you will be prompted to press S to load additional drivers. Press S...derrr! This should see the PERC drivers on the USB stick. Follow the prompts from there!

You're done!