Most software you install has a minimum set of requirements that must be met first. Virtual Server 2005 R2 is no exception. The computer that you are installing R2 on (also referred to as the host computer) must meet a set of minimum hardware and software requirements before you can begin setup.

The minimum hardware requirements include:

• 550 MHz process with L2 cache (1 GHz is recommended)
• CD-ROM or DVD drive
• Super VGA or higher
• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB is required if you are running SBS 2003 Premium Edition or Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition)
• 2 GB of free disk space (4 GB is required if you are running SBS 2003 Standard or Premium Editions

The host operating systems that Virtual Server 2005 R2 can be installed on includes:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional

You also need to consider the guest operating systems that you can actually run inside a virtual machine. VS 2005 R2 supports most versions of Windows including all versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server, with the exception of the Datacenter varieties, and Windows NT 4.0 SP6a.

Finally, if you plan on running the Administration Web site on the computer, you are also going to have to install Internet Information Services (IIS).

Tags: virtual server 2005, r2, system requirement, diana huggins, microsoft, windows