Windows Mail, Windows Media Player, and Other Features in the Desktop Experience in Windows Server 2008

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

There are a number of desktop features such as Windows Mail that are not installed by default on Windows Server 2008. Instead, you can install them all together by installing the Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008. Because they are optional features that typically are not installed on a server in a managed environment, this section of this whitepaper does not describe these features in detail. Instead, it provides links to information about how these features communicate across the Internet as part of Windows Vista. The way the features communicate as part of Windows Vista is the same as the way they communicate when installed as part of Windows Server 2008.

The following table lists the features in the Desktop Experience that communicate across the Internet, either as a primary or secondary capability of the feature. It also provides links to topics that describe the ways that the features communicate across the Internet.

Feature in Desktop Experience Information about how the feature can communicate across the Internet

Windows Calendar

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=106413 (see the information about Windows Calendar only)

Windows Defender

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=106410

Windows Mail

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=106411

Windows Media Player

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=106412

Windows Photo Gallery

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108081

(see the information about Order Prints Wizard only)

The Desktop Experience also includes the following features, which do not include capabilities for communicating across the Internet:

  • Windows Aero™ and other desktop themes

  • Video for Windows (AVI support)

  • Windows SideShow™

  • Disk Cleanup

  • Sync Center

  • Sound Recorder

  • Character Map