If you’re trying to install a Server 2008 RODC and you’re getting this error:
A read-only domain controller cannot be installed at this time because default domain groups could not be created. The error was: Unable to contact PDC in domain.
… don’t forget that your PDC role must be held by a machine running Server 2008. Open up ADUC on a 2008 box and transfer the PDC role to the server and you should have better luck.
I took the plunge yesterday and registered for the Server 2008 Beta Exams, 71-646 and 71-647. Combined with some tinkering of the Betas and RC’s of Server 2008 and the free Server 2008 eBook I might have a chance of doing alright. I’ve got nothing to lose since the exams are free with the voucher codes. I guess we’ll find out just how well I do in about 2 weeks.
If you’re planning on taking the exams yourself I’d recommend checking the Microsoft Preparation Guides first:
The other day I grabbed the latest RTM of Windows Server 2008 to try out in Virtual PC The installation process went smoothly and without incident, but once I got logged into the machine the processor of my host OS was spiking at 100% any time I would click anything in the 2008 VM. I figured installing the VM additions would resolve this, but no luck. I double-checked my power settings on the host OS and everything looked in order so I was stumped.
So when I finally fired up task manager in the 2008 machine I found the culprit: TrustedInstaller.exe was consuming 80-90% of the guest OS CPU. After some investigating, apparently this process manages software updates within Vista/Server 2008 platforms. Since I’m only planning on running this as a test OS I just went ahead an killed the process. I don’t need no stinking updates! We’ll see if this adversely affects anything else, but at least I can now run the VM at a reasonable speed.