How to Use These Notes

Welcome to the release notes for the Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 operating systems. These release notes contain important information that was not available when the documentation for Windows Server 2003 was written. These release notes apply to the following operating systems:

  • The Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003

  • Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

  • Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

  • Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

  • Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

Release notes that start with a list of products apply only to the products that are listed with the note. All other notes apply to all of the operating systems previously listed.

In addition to this file, you should read several other files in the \Docs folder on your operating system DVD:

  • Read1st.htm contains release notes that you should read before you install a Windows Server 2003 operating system.

  • Setup files contain important information about the installation process.

You can find additional information at the Web sites that are listed at the end of this document.

Applications

16-bit applications

Products: Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003

These products do not support most 16-bit applications.

Most 32-bit applications that use 16-bit Microsoft ACME Setup versions 2.6, 3.0, 3.01, and 3.1 and InstallShield versions 5.x install correctly.

No 32-bit applications that are installed by other 16-bit setup programs are supported. If you try to install one of these applications, the message "\Setup.exe is not a valid Win32 application" appears, and the setup program closes without installing or starting the application.

32-bit device drivers

Products: Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003

These products do not support 32-bit device drivers. Applications that depend on 32-bit device drivers will not function correctly and might cause an error during installation or operation. Most 32-bit antivirus programs are affected and should not be installed on computers that are running these products.

If Windows does not start after you attempt to install a 32-bit driver, start the computer using the last known good configuration as follows:

To start the computer using the last known good configuration

  1. Restart the computer.

  2. When the message "Please select the operating system to start" appears, press F8.

  3. Press an arrow key to highlight Last Known Good Configuration, and then press ENTER.

  4. Press an arrow key to highlight an operating system, press ENTER, and follow the instructions.

Note:
Completing this procedure provides a way to recover from problems such as a newly added driver that is incorrect for your hardware. It does not solve problems caused by drivers or files that are corrupted or missing. When you start the computer using the last known good configuration, only the information in the registry key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet is restored. Any changes that you have made in other registry keys remain.

Internet Explorer and 32-bit Web components

Products: Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003

The 64-bit version of Internet Explorer will not load 32-bit Web components from Microsoft, such as the MSN® Money Ticker, or 32-bit Web components from companies other than Microsoft. To load these components, use the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer.

To open the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, click Start, click All Programs, and then click Internet Explorer (32-bit).

Microsoft Agent

Products: Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit version only)

These products provide in-box support for Speech Application Programming Interface (SAPI) version 5.0 engines and programs. To avoid loss of functionality in Microsoft Agent applications that use SAPI version 4.0 speech input and/or output engines, you must install SAPI version 4.0a run-time support and then reinstall the SAPI version 4.0 speech engines, even if they were working with Microsoft Agent before you upgraded. To install SAPI version 4.0a run-time support, click here.

Microsoft Exchange Server

Products: Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit version only); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit version only)

You cannot install Exchange Server 2000 on a server that is running a Windows Server 2003 operating system.

For information about installation requirements for Exchange Server 2003 in domains running Windows Server 2003 operating systems, see the Microsoft Exchange Server Web site.

Change and Configuration

Redirection of new account locations to organizational units

To simplify domain management, you should redirect the default locations for newly created user and computer accounts from the common name to organizational units within the domain. You must redirect these locations if you want to apply Group Policy settings. For details about how to redirect these locations, see article 324949, "Redirecting the Users and Computers Containers in Windows Server 2003 Domains" in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Clustering

Modifying a cluster security descriptor

Products: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

To modify the cluster security descriptor on a cluster that is running either of these products, you must use Cluster Administrator on a server that is running one of these products or that is running a product in the Windows 2000 Server family with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3. If you try to use a server that is running a product in the Windows 2000 Server family or a product in the Windows 2000 Server family with Service Pack 1, the following message appears when you try to save changes:

"Access to the cluster can be granted/denied only to domain users and groups. Please use the Security tab to remove the local users or groups."

For more information, see article 812875, "You Cannot Administer the Cluster Security Descriptor by Using the Cluster Administration Utility" in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Upgrading clusters from Windows NT Server 4.0

Products: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

If you upgrade a cluster from Microsoft Windows NT® Server 4.0 to one of the listed products, you cannot, by default, save changes to a cluster security descriptor.

If you are editing a descriptor using Cluster Administrator, the following error message appears when you try to save your changes:

"The SYSTEM account must always have access to the cluster. Please use the Security tab to add the SYSTEM account."

If you are editing a descriptor using the cluster.exe command-line utility, the following message appears when you try to save your changes:

"The SYSTEM account must always have access to the cluster. Please grant access to the SYSTEM account."

To resolve this issue, see article 812876, "Clusters That Are Upgraded from Windows NT 4.0 Do Not Contain the System SID in the Security Descriptor" in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Note:
To upgrade from Windows NT Server 4.0 to a Windows Server 2003 operating system, Service Pack 5 or Service Pack 6a must be installed first.

Using Network Load Balancing Manager through a firewall

To use Network Load Balancing Manager to manage servers through a firewall, you must set up your Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) to use a specified range of ports and then configure the firewall to allow traffic through those ports as described in the white paper, "Using Distributed COM with Firewalls" on the Microsoft Web site. You must also either allow ICMP Echo Requests to pass through the firewall or start Network Load Balancing Manager with the /noping option. (At a command prompt, type nlbmgr.exe /noping.) For more information about using the /noping option, see the topic "Nlbmgr" in Help and Support Center.

If you do not follow these procedures, the error message "The RPC server is unavailable" or "Host unreachable" will appear.

Directory Services

Upgrade domain controllers running Windows 2000

When using the Active Directory administration tools that are included with Windows Server 2003 to access domain controllers in a Windows 2000 domain, you must upgrade the domain controllers to Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or you must revert to the default client policy for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol on the computer where the Active Directory administration tools are installed.

For more information, see article 325465, "Windows 2000 Domain Controllers Require SP3 or Later When Using Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Internet Services

Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0

Products: Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

Because of increased security measures, the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service) is not enabled by default in these products after you upgrade from the Windows 2000 Server family with IIS 5.0 unless you have completed one of these steps described for IIS 6.0 in read1st.htm (in the /Docs folder on the operating system DVD) before upgrading. If you did not complete the steps described, you can enable and start the WWW service by using the Services snap-in:

To enable and start the WWW service by using the Services snap-in

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  2. In the list of services, right-click World Wide Web Publishing Service, and then click Properties.

  3. On the General tab, in the Startup type list, click Automatic, and then click OK.

  4. In the list of services, right-click World Wide Web Publishing Service, and then click Start.

Ensure that all unnecessary IIS features have been removed or disabled and that the enabled features are configured with the highest security settings that your organization can support.

For more information, see the topics "What’s Changed" and "Security Best Practices" in IIS 6.0 Help.

UDDI Services

Products: Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit version only); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit version only)

You cannot run SQLXML (XML support for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 databases) and Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services on the same computer because SQLXML requires Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 isolation mode and UDDI Services requires IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode.

Do not install SQLXML and UDDI Services on the same computer.

Using IIS with Active Server Pages

The Windows Server 2003 operating systems do not support Active Server Pages that use the mail object Collaboration Data Objects for Windows NT Server (CDONTS.dll) if you perform a new installation. The Windows Server 2003 operating systems include Collaborative Data Objects for Windows 2000 (CDOSYS.dll), which replaces CDONTS.dll.

  • If you upgrade to a Windows Server 2003 operating system, Active Server Pages will use the existing CDONTS.dll file.

  • If you perform a new installation of a Windows Server 2003 operating system, you must copy CDONTS.dll from another computer to %windir%\system32 on the computer on which you performed the new installation.

Microsoft recommends that you upgrade your Active Server Pages to use the new object.

Network and Communications

POP3 servers

If you have configured a computer that is running a Windows Server 2003 operating system as a mail server, you should not stop and restart the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server that is specific to the server that is running the POP3 service from IIS Manager in the Microsoft Management Console. Instead, you should stop and restart the SMTP service, either by using Services Manager or by using command-line tools.

If you stop and restart the SMTP virtual server rather than the SMTP service, all e-mail from the Internet will generate and send a Non-Delivery Report (NDR), and all internal e-mail will be sent to the SMTP Badmail folder. The SMTP and POP3 services will appear to run correctly, and no error message will appear. To restore functionality, you must stop and restart the Internet Information Services (IIS) service as described in IIS 6.0 Help.

Security

Security restrictions on viewing Web pages and running executable files

The default settings in Internet Explorer are more restrictive in the Windows Server 2003 operating systems than in earlier versions of Windows. When you upgrade, any settings that do not match the new default settings will be overwritten. These changes decrease the exposure of your servers to attacks that are launched through Web content. However, users will not be able to view many Web pages correctly when using the default security settings. For users to see these Web pages correctly, you must explicitly grant access. In addition, users will not be able to run executable files from Universal Naming Convention (UNC) shared folders until you have added the shared computer to the Local intranet security zone in Internet Explorer.

For more information about security settings in Internet Explorer, see the online Help for Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration on a computer that is running a Windows Server 2003 operating system:

To view Help information on Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration

  1. Open Internet Explorer.

  2. Click Help.

  3. Click Enhanced Security Configuration.

Online Help includes instructions for changing the security settings in Internet Explorer. To change these settings, you must log on as a member of the Administrators group on the computer for which you want to change settings.

Software updates from the Web

Because of changes to default security settings in Internet Explorer, users might not be able to download updates from the Web to their computers. To download updates from the Microsoft Download Center, from the Web sites listed in Microsoft security bulletins, or from other download sites, users might need to add these sites to the Trusted Sites zone in Internet Explorer. If a Group Policy setting prevents users from adding sites to the Trusted Sites zone, administrators might need to configure another Group Policy setting to add the required sites.

For more information, see online Help for Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration as described in the previous note.

Information about Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

This version of Windows Server 2003 includes SP1. When you install this version of Windows Server 2003, SP1 is automatically installed at the same time.

For additional release notes for Windows Server 2003 SP1, see article 889101 “Release Notes for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

For additional information about Windows Server 2003 SP1, see the Windows Server TechCenter Web site.

Additional Resources

To review the most recent hardware and application compatibility information and to find other products that Windows supports, see the Windows Catalog Web site. To search for technical support information and self-help tools for Microsoft products, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

To obtain the latest product updates, see the Windows Update Web site.

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