DISCLAIMER: Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Beta are not supported on Dell servers at this time.  This is for testing and evaluation only.

If anyone has tried to install Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 Beta on an 11th Generation or a 12th Generation Dell PowerEdge server for testing purposes, they will notice that the storage drivers are not readily available.  Furthermore if you try to use the OS install features of the lifecycle controller or any of the Open Manage tools for OS deployment, you will see that Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 is not listed as a supported OS.  When you try to install the OS using the downloaded bits from Microsoft, the installer will not be able to see the disk drive.  However, it is very simple to install Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 on a 12th Generation Dell PowerEdge server if you follow the steps below:

  • Download the OS image and burn the image into a DVD, copy to a WinPE64 bootable USB flash drive, a network location, or iDRAC7 virtual media and boot from it.
  • Download the driver self-extracting zip file.
  • Run the extractor and save the files to a physical media or a network location. (For this example, we will use e:\dell\perc folder.)
  • During the Windows Setup, Where do you want to install Windows, choose “load driver” options for storage driver.
  • Browse to the folder or network location. In this example, browse to e:\dell\perc folder.
  • Uncheck “Hide drivers that aren’t compatible with this computer’s hardware” box.
  • Press CTRL+A to choose all devices in the list and click next.
  • Choose your partition or create your own partition for Windows install.
  • Proceed with OS installation.

Additional drivers are available.  Please see this blog.  Now you can download the drivers and install them once the OS is installed.