How to initially set up Windows Server 2019

After downloading and installing Windows Server 2019, you will go to the initial setup process. Let’s find out details through the following article!

Add local users

1. Run PowerShell as admin and configure the following:

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

# for example, add [Serverworld] user
# [[email protected]] ⇒ the password you set (replace it you like)
# [PasswordNeverExpires] ⇒ set password never expire(if set default expiration, do not specify this option)
PS C:UsersAdministrator> New-LocalUser -Name "Serverworld" `
-FullName "Server World" `
-Description "Administrator of this Computer" `
-Password (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "[email protected]" -Force) `
-PasswordNeverExpires `
-AccountNeverExpires 

Name        Enabled Description
----        ------- -----------
Serverworld True    Administrator of this Computer

# add [Serverworld] user to [Administrators] group
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Add-LocalGroupMember -Group "Administrators" -Member "Serverworld" 

# verify
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Get-LocalUser -Name Serverworld 

Name        Enabled Description
----        ------- -----------
Serverworld True    Administrator of this Computer

PS C:UsersAdministrator> Get-LocalGroupMember -Group "Administrators" 

ObjectClass Name               PrincipalSource
----------- ----               ---------------
User        RX-7Administrator Local
User        RX-7Serverworld   Local

# if remove an user, do like follows
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Remove-LocalUser -Name "Serverworld" 

2. Run Server Manager and open Tools> Computer Management.

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3. Right-click Users under Local Users and Groups on the left and select New User.

4. Enter Username and Password for new users, then click the button Create. Other items are optional for setup.

5. Once created, the new user is displayed on the list as follows.

6. If you want to set admin rights for a new user, right-click on the user and open it Properties.

7. Scroll to the tab Member of and click the button Add.

8. Assign the group Administrators as follows.

9. Make sure that the group Administrators is added to the list and click the button OK to complete the installation.

Change admin username

If you want to change the admin account name for some reasons such as security, you can change it as follows.

1. Run PowerShell as admin and configure the following:

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

# for example, change the name [Administrator] to [ServerworldAdmin]
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Rename-LocalUser -Name "Administrator" -NewName "ServerworldAdmin" 

PS C:UsersAdministrator> Get-LocalUser 

# changed
Name               Enabled Description
----               ------- -----------
DefaultAccount     False   A user account managed by the system.
Guest              False   Built-in account for guest access to the computer/domain
Serverworld        True    Administrator of this Computer
ServerworldAdmin   True    Built-in account for administering the computer/domain
sshd               True
WDAGUtilityAccount False   A user account managed and used by the system for Windows Defender Application Guard scen...

2. Run Server Manager and open Tools> Computer Management.

3. Open Local Users and Groups> Users on the left and right click on Administrator, then choose Rename on the right. Then, change to whatever name you like.

4. Admin name has been changed.

Change the computer name

The computer name is automatically assigned by default, so please change it.

1. Run PowerShell as admin and configure the following:

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

# for example, change Computer Name to [RX-7]
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Rename-Computer -NewName RX-7 -Force -PassThru 

HasSucceeded OldComputerName           NewComputerName
------------ ---------------           ---------------
True         RX-7                      RX-9
WARNING: The changes will take effect after you restart the computer RX-7.

# for example, change Primary DNS Suffix to [srv.world]
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Set-ItemProperty "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters" –Name "NV Domain" –Value "srv.world" -PassThru 

NV Domain    : srv.world
PSPath       : Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreRegistry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
PSParentPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreRegistry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpip
PSChildName  : Parameters
PSDrive      : HKLM
PSProvider   : Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreRegistry

# restart Computer to apply changes
PS C:UsersAdministrator> Restart-Computer -Force 

# verify
PS C:UsersAdministrator> (ipconfig /all)[0..9] 

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : RX-7
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : srv.world
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : srv.world

2. Run Server Manager and choose Local Server on the left, then click on the section Computer Name on the right.

3. Scroll to the tab Computer Name and click on the button Change.

4. Enter any computer name you like in the field Computer Name and click the button More …

5. Enter the domain name that this computer belongs to.

6. A restart of the computer is required to apply the changes.

7. Computer names are changed normally.