digilocity

Folks,

Before I start off, let me say that I have nothing against Linux. I just happen to live in Windows and so prefer it as my hosted OS.

As you probably know, most dedicated server hosting providers charge $30+ per month for Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition. Now, as much as I'm sure Microsoft deserves the money, I happen to own a real legitimate license for Server 2003 and so don't feel the need to rent another copy.

My question is this... Can I get a dedicated Linux server and remotely convert it to Windows?

Here’s how I imagine this being done:

1. Shrink the boot partition (containing Linux) from 80 GB (full hard drive size) to about 10 GB. I imagine there is some free bit of software equivalent to PartitionMagic to help me do this.
2. Add a second partition of 20 GB. This will eventually become the C: drive for Windows.
3. Add a third partition of 50 GB for my backups, etc.
4. Prepare an installation of Windows Server 2003 on a computer at home.
5. Make an “image” file of the Windows installation (using some unknown bit of software), and copy it up to the hosted server, probably to the Linux partition.
6. From the Linux prompt on the hosted server, burn the image file onto the second partition (using some unknown bit of software).
7. Mark the second partition as active and reboot.

If this is approach is generally workable, what would be the software for steps 1, 5 and 6?

If it wouldn’t work, any ideas on what would?

Kind regards,

Stephen