[HOW-TO] Install HQPlayer on Windows Server 2012 R2

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On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 11:09 AM, Mouna said:

I have a question installing HQP on Win server 2012 r2 minimla server and win server 2016 Gui which I use both - since I installed a Kaby lake CPU I get the message when I want to follow Phils setup recommendation that these updates are not for this windows version - both on win 2012r2 and win 2016 Gui - and that I should upgrade to windows 10 to solve this issue - does anyone know a workaround for this -  I would appreciate that very much since I want to use HQP with Roon - I can install HQP anyway but it is not working because there is an issue with the volume - no sound - and in the Roon Zone the symbol for Volume is lit which is not lit in the JPlay Zone....

thank you all in advance also for the many questions and answers here and everywhere around Phils AO from which I learned a lot....

I've got an idea why the two KBs referenced in Phil's procedure may not install against WS 2012 R2: there has been more than one release of Windows Server 2012 R2 OS from Microsoft.

 

Checking my Windows Server 2012 R2 downloads from MSDN I found two ISOs released at different dates:

 

en_windows_server_2012_r2_x64_dvd_2707946.iso (4,168,560KB) - released 9/9/2013

 

en_windows_server_2012_r2_with_update_x64_dvd_6052708.iso (5,271,376KB) - released 12/15/2014

 

My guess is anyone having installed the original (2013) Windows Server 2012 R2 will most likely need to follow Phil's procedure to install the two KBs before HQPlayer will install properly.  In contrast, the newer (2014) Windows Server 2012 R2 image is likely to have integrated the functionality of the two KBs, making them unnecessary and possibly even fail to install, with "these updates are not for this windows version" error.  It may be possible to tell these two WS 2012 R2 releases apart by checking the date stamps of the installation files on the DVD installation media.  I have no DVD installation media as I work only with downloaded ISOs extracted to USB flash drives for OS installation, so someone else with DVD media will have to do this checking.

 

Another thing about Intel's latest Kaby Lake and Apollo Lake platforms: Intel and Microsoft support ONLY Windows 10 OS with these platforms.  I discovered this the hard way.  Last month I force installed Windows 7 into a Kaby Lake platform with Core i7-7700T CPU, and very quickly got this nasty message:

 

UNSUPPORTED HARDWARE

 

Your PC uses a processor that is designed for the latest version of Windows.  Because the processor is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates.  Please select the "Learn more" link to address this situation.

 

Bottomline: with a Z270 / Kaby Lake platform, only Windows 10 and supporting device drivers can work.  Windows Server 2016 *may* also install, as it is the server equivalent to Windows 10.  Most of the time, Windows 10 device drivers can install against Windows Server 1016.  Windows Server 2012 R2 (equivalent to Windows 8.1) will likely be problematic, and Intel has not released any Kaby Lake platform device drivers (such as Intel graphics) for Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.  Even if the above message does not appear, there will be a bunch of devices without drivers which will show up as yellow bangs in Device Manager.

 

Being somewhat of a glutton for punishment on occasion, I may actually put my statements above to a test: install Windows Server 2012 R2 into my Apollo Lake NUC6CAYS PC.  I already know it won't be pretty, but the exercise will provide me a good data point.

 

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1 hour ago, tboooe said:

GREAT and timely post!  I was going to upgrade my old i7-3770s processor to an i7-7700 so that I can comfortably convert to DSD512 with HQP.  I was planning to upgrade the mobo and processor and just plug in my existing SSD with Server 2012 R2 on it.  From this post, it sounds like the upgrade wont be so plug and play for me?  I really do no want to upgrade to Windows 10 or Server 2016 at this time since everything is working well in my system.

I just booted my Apollo Lake NUC6CAYS into Windows Server 2012 R2 with an existing SSD, and Device Manager shows 14 yellow bangs.  Since Intel did not release Windows 8.1 device drivers for this NUC there is really no hope of properly resolving the yellow bangs for these device nodes.  I plan to disable all these devices.  From what I can tell, the box is still running WS 2012 R2 normally, and updates from Windows Update are still coming in, so perhaps those yellow bang devices are not essential.  No Intel graphics driver for Win8.1 is available for this box, though.

 

I do not have a Kaby Lake system (the test I ran with Win7 & Kaby Lake was at work), but I suspect the situation should be similar between Kaby Lake and Apollo Lake.  At least the nasty message I got in Win7 did not appear with Windows Server 2012 R2.

 

The ability of a Kaby Lake mobo to run WS2012R2 is probably on a case-by-case basis, and largely depends on whether Win8.1 device drivers are available.  It may be necessary to disable some devices in BIOS for which there are no Win8.1 drivers.  Any remaining yellow bang devices may need to be manually disabled in Device Manager, especially if you run AO.

 

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17 minutes ago, tboooe said:

Thank you very much for the reply.  I just dont want to invest the money on a new mobo and cpu only to find out that it wont be plug and play with SSD already running Server 2012 R2.  I guess I will just stick with my old i7-3770s and adjust HQP down to DSD256 when converting from higher sample rates (I dont have a problem converting to DSD512 from redbook which is 99% of my library anyway).

If you go back one generation for Intel core logic, i.e. Skylake e.g. Core i7-6700/6700K, Intel has both Win10 and Win8.1 device drivers so Windows Server 2012 R2 is much better covered.

 

It is specifically Intel Kaby Lake / 7th gen Core and Apollo Lake platforms that have only Win10 device drivers, so Windows Server 2016 would be a better OS to run for these.

 

Also, I don't think you will encounter WS2012 R2 OS boot or PnP issue with your SSD connected to a Kaby Lake mobo.  As long as the mobo SATA controller is set to AHCI mode and the Microsoft inbox AHCI driver (MSAHCI.sys) is in use I would expect the SSD to cross boot successfully with a Kaby Lake mobo.  It's more of what other devices on the motherboard that will end up as yellow bangs with Windows Server 2012 R2.  Graphics is not a boot critical device, and I've run WS2012R2 on various Skylake, Braswell and Broadwell platforms without an Intel graphics driver installed.  The only issue I'm aware of is HQPlayer not displaying its splash screen at launch, when the system runs the "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" driver.

 

 

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I just found this Microsoft article:

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/help/4012982/the-processor-is-not-supported-together-with-the-windows-version-that

 

It would appear that Intel Kaby Lake 7th gen Core processors and Windows Server 2012 R2 are subject to Microsoft's lockout as well.  Assuming this is the case, Windows Server 2016 becomes the only kosher server OS to run on Kaby Lake or AMD "Bristol Ridge" Ryzen processors.

 

Apollo Lake (Celeron J3455) is not on the list, and so far security updates for WS2012R2 from Windows Updates are working properly.

 

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54 minutes ago, tboooe said:

I was originally going to get i7-6700 but didnt think it was enough of an upgrade from my i7-3700s. I want to make certain I have enough horsepower to convert anything to DSD512 without relying on CUDA offload. Thoughts on the capability of the i7-6700?

Core i7-3770S: 4C/8T, 3.10/3.9GHz, 8MB cache, 65W

Core i7-6700: 4C/8T, 3.4/4.0GHz, 8MB cache, 65W

Core i7-6700K: 4C/8T, 4.0/4.2GHz, 8MB cache, 91W

Core i7-7700: 4C/8T, 3.6/4.2GHz, 8MB cache, 65W

Core i7-7700K: 4C/8T, 4.2/4.5GHz, 8MB cache, 91W

Core i7-7800X: 6C/12T, 3.5/4.0GHz, 8.25MB L3, 140W

 

You may be right that i7-6700 doesn't look like enough of a step-up from i7-3770S, but it really depends on how much more horsepower over i7-3770S you will need for HQPlayer upsampling to DSD512.  Without CUDA offload, you may need to consider a processor with higher core/thread count, such as the i7-7800X, or i7-7820X, which requires a LGA2066 mobo with X299 chipset.