MicroNugget: How to Reduce the Server 2012 Installation Footprint

In this video, James Conrad covers reducing the installation footprint of Windows Server 2012. Whether on a core or a full installation of Windows Server 2012, there will always be several unused features in any installation. Cleaning them up can free up a lot of disk space.

For organizations that are heavily invested in virtualization or use a lot of hyper-v virtual machines, the amount of bloat that comes along with unused features of Windows Server 2012 can result in a lot of disk space going to waste. The features aren't unused in error — they might be things like a DNS server that we know in advance we'll have no reason to ever use as a DHCP server or a remote desktop server, or maybe we have a DHCP server that we don't ever want to be a Certification Authority or Domain Controller.

Windows Server 2012 stores all these features in the same directory, which makes finding them easy, but it also makes removing them a breeze when you're looking to free up a lot of that virtual hard disk (VHD/VHX) space.

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