Q & A - Can you turn an SBS 2003 server into a workstation?

Question:

I have an SBS 2003 server with 16 gb of ram, which I would like to demote to a workstation type function on a network with Windows 2008 Server. How could one do that. I'd rather not wipe and reinstall windows 7 64 bits.

Server is about 3 years old.

Answer:

An SBS server can't be a member server. It must hold the FSMO roles and if it doesn't it will reboot on a regular basis. You will also have licensing issues in that if you only run Windows and do not make it a DC or full blown SBS server, the license will expire after 30 or 60 days (can't remember for sure) but it will expire and you will periodically see popup reminders notifying you that you need to complete the SBS install. You would need to load Windows STD or something else with a license on the server.