If you are an I.T. person, becoming familiar with Hyper-V is not an option (IMHO). Here are some screen shots of Windows Server 2012 Essentials (based on the Release Candidate version), running as a guest in a 2012 Hyper-V GUI environment — all on an 8GB HP MicroServer system! I will use W2012e to refer to the Windows Server 2012 Essentials platform.
#1 – 2012 Hyper-V Parent Metro Screen – note that after enabling the Hyper-V role, a Metro App is automatically added.
#2 Clicking on the icon starts up the 2012 Hyper-V Manager Window. Note that I have two guest sessions, Windows Server 2012 Essentials (W2012e), and a single Windows 8 client workstation.
#3 Double-clicking on the W2012e guest, will start up the W2012e session, and is ready for me to sign in. One trick to remember: don’t use Ctrl-Alt-Del from a guest session! Instead use Ctrl-Alt-End to logon.
#4 And after logging in,
#5 .. we will see the W2012e Metro-styled Start page. You will see that I’ve added the Dashboard to the main screen.
#6 Clicking on the Dashboard icon will bring up the W2012e Dashboard program, from where we can manage our server, adding users, configuring backups, installing SSL certificates, and more!
More posts to follow on the Windows Server 2012 Essentials product …