Windows 2008 Workstation and Live Writer
After quite a bit of work, I’ve finally been able to post a blog entry with my new Windows 2008 Workstation machine. I recently switched laptops, and have been forced to go silent because of the issues of installing Windows Live Writer on Server 2008.
There isn’t really a Windows 2008 Workstation product you can buy. It’s really taking a Win 2008 Server installation and adding some of the Vista features back in. I really couldn’t stand to use Vista as either a home desktop or development machine OS, with all of the UAC and other garbage built in.
Instead of trying to turn things off until I got to a usable point, I started from a stable, clean OS and added what I needed. The best site I’ve found to create a Win 2008 Workstation machine is win2008workstation.com.
Unfortunately, not everything is wine and roses on Server 2008, let alone the 64-bit version of Server 2008. Most applications and drivers that support Vista 64-bit will work, as will most applications (but not drivers) that support 32-bit Server 2008/2003.
At the very bottom of the barrel are applications that don’t support Server 2008 or 64-bit, and prevent their installers from running. Google Desktop is one that provides the installer, but no support. Windows Live Writer, one of the especially heinous installers, has several very annoying aspects:
- The downloaded installer is not an installer. It’s only there to download the real installer (often blocked in corporate environments).
- The downloaded installer prevents downloading of the WLW installer if the OS isn’t supported.
- Beta versions of WLW, if you can still find them, expire and prevent you from installing.
All of this for a simple blog posting application. For now, one of the only places I could find direct links to installers is here:
http://dotnetwizard.net/live/direct-links-for-windows-live-wave-3/
I’m sure Microsoft will find a way to self-destruct these applications for Workstation 2008, but until then, I’ll be happily posting away.