Prerequisites for connecting a computer to the server

The following requirements must be met before you connect a computer to the network:

• The installation of Windows Server 2012 Essentials is complete, and the server is running. The Connector software will exit its installation if it is unable to communicate with the server.
  
  
• The client computer is running a supported operating system. For more information, see Supported operating systems for client computers.
  
  
• The client computer is on the same IP subnet as the server that is running Windows Server 2012 Essentials.
  
  
• The client computer has .NET Framework 4.5 installed on it. The Connector software automatically installs it on the computer. For more information, see Connect computers to the server.
  
  
• The client computer meets the following minimum system requirements:
  
  
  1. 1.4 GHz or faster processor
     
     
  2. 1 GB RAM or more
     
     
  3. 1 GB of available hard drive space (a portion of this space is freed after installation)
     
     
• The boot partition (that is, the disk partition where the Windows operating system is installed) is formatted with the NTFS file system.
  
  
• A client computer can be connected to only one Windows Server 2012 Essentials server at any given time.
  
  
• A client computer that is already joined to another Active Directory domain cannot join a Windows Server 2012 Essentials domain.
  
  
• The computer name does not include more than 15 characters.
  
  
• The computer name does not include an underscore (_).
  
  
• The computer’s date and time settings align to the settings on the server.
  
  

For step-by-step instructions to connect a computer to the server running Windows Server 2012 Essentials, see Connect computers to the server.