Hello Guys - Win 2003 Enterprise has problems with Directx programs. I do a lot of video editing and file conversions and now have two machines now side by side because 2003 Enterprise with the original set of drivers or DirectX 9.0 is not recognized by most of my fairly current software. Programs that are excellent and inexpensive like WinMPG Video will not work. This is the best quality 720x480 avi to divx converter on the market right now. Just for the fun of it I forced the system to use 8.1 Driver Set - WinMPG ran like a charm but the driver APIs are different and 3D Mark 2001 went untweaked on this very conservatively run P4 3.06 HT from over 15,300 down to 9,500 Winmarks which is like going back to AMD XP2100 in terms of speed. Another program that does not like the change is Mainconcept's MainActor 5.01. Macro Express, which I am lost without, also does not run - it quits like it was dealing with a virus - BugBear or BadTransD - checked for both not there and again ran fine as does MainActor with the forced 8.1 environment which by the way does work exccept you are missing a bunch api that lower system performance by over 1/3. Unfortunately 8.1 or 8.2 is not an apparent option because too many files 2003 really has to have going like Winsocks are disfunctional when 8.1 is installed so M$ has some real work to do to make 2003 desirable from a work station point of view for admins - especially if they handle video. The side affect of all this is that 2003 can and will crash itself because of some of these incompatibilities - I cannot hit ESC anymore in CS without the machine locking up. So do not believe that the M$ Beta Testers really gave 2003 a complete workout - I have had it since it came out and have crashed it at least 20 times here testing what will work and what does not. XP rules this operating system as a workstation until M$ gets the bugs worked out on this. Also the keymapping is slightly different to handle and it is not suppose to be but that one i managed to solve myself :D. Directx 9 is not - oh and if you think you can use the DirectX that comes with the prog - forget that too - alll the progs do not recognize it or the version 9 as being 8.1 equivalent. Forewarned is forearmed - so do not be surprised if you have problems if you are a power user. hi |2es

Forgot to say that the newer Directx 9a version does nothing to improve the above comments. Also, I would be wrong not to say 2003 Enterprise has excellent security and is an excellent web server - make no mistake 2003 has many good points but is just not ready to be a power user workstation and web server combination. hi |2es

You shouldn't be having these problems. Have you enabled Direct3D & DirectDraw? If not click start>run>dxdiag>video to enable it. Make sure to set sound & video hardware acceleration to the max first or you will not be able to enable Direct3D & DirectDraw. Hope this helps, Sandman

Hello Sandman, Thanks for the tip because this might have been a missing for me. I have been working with computers longer than Bill Gates but can still miss things sometimes so again thank you. My Display card and all DirectX hardware accelerations are all enabled on my ATI Pro 9700 and Audigy 2 cards and are working working fine. All the tests in DirectX Control Panel work fine. They are just not backward compatible yet to the extent that customers will want in my opinion. My experience tells me that many, if not most, of the 2003 software problems are attributible to 2003 having to use Directx 9a. This is why I forced the DirectX 8.1 into Server 2003. The operating system is compatible but not with the Directx APIs designed to work with Server 2003. I think MainConcepts' MainActor is working now - I say think because I have not thoroughly tested it - by making it compatible with WinME on the advanced properties tab. However when I do this the benefit of the dual processing appears to lost on the encoding. Using Win2k or XP setting did not here work for me. Unfortunately - This WinME advanced tab setting does not work with Macro Express and Winmpg Convert. This is not an isolated incident - even some of Microsoft's own software is not compatible with Server 2003. We all went through compatibility initially with Win2000 when we changed over form NT and with Win2k Pro as well moving workstations from from Win98SE. Before that it was DOS to Win3.1 and Win 3.1 to Win98. M$ delima is they think they will lose some of the benefits of the new operating system if it is 100 percent compatible, or so they say. I know this is not true because of having forced the DirectX on Server 2003 and that the programs will run but some of the networking features not being available after I did it. At any rate this is M$ Compatibility issues like this are not unusual for new operating. Check out the following links. "The application compatibility monster is again rearing its head as Microsoft Corp. prepares to release the Windows Server 2003 family in April." Link below: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,825467,00.asp "Microsoft Corp. officials defended the fact that some of Microsoft's own applications, like Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000, won't run on Windows Server 2003, saying the development focus with Exchange was how to provide the best messaging and collaboration experience." Link below: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1043653,00.asp My post was mainly to warn people that some pretty good software is not currently compatible or fully enabled with Server 2003 before they threw it on their main video editing machine - lol - like I did; but I like playing with this stuff and having been a beta tester since the CPM Z80 dyas for many companies including M$. I am sure like Win2000 these issues may be resolved over a period of time. In the meanwhile, XP will rule the workstation - not because it is better - but because the programs will run without compatibility issues for the better part. In another post someone said the games were snappy in 2003 which is my experience as well. Server 2003 is a good operating system but has a shortfall in compatibility while the software guys address their issues - many of which are not related to Win Server 2003 but DirectX 9a compatibility issues. M$ could solve many problems if they admitted publicly that DirectX 9a is flawed from a compatibility point of view and made DirectX 8.2 drivers available for the Server 2003 operating system but I doubt they will do this which means compatibility issues for the operating system. Turning back is a sign of having made a mistake and M$ is always very reluctant to admitt it when they screw up. Bottom line imho is the problems are more related to the Server 2003 having to use the DirectX drivers that come with it or DirectX 9a with no option to install DirectX 8.2 drivers that are tested and work. Again do not expect an apology from M$ - but you can expect new Directx 9 drivers for 2003 because I am sure they already know 9a is not the answer to their problems. Amercian corporations are facing to much pressure to hold onto their bottom line to consider throwing away good progs like Enchange that work because a new operating system will not run them. There are also compatible issues in combining Win2000 and Win Server 2003 machines on a network. The heat will continue to get turned up as people try to deploy the new operating system. M$ will bend fast this time because the current economic pressure in the corporate community dictates it. The security is better out of the box on 2003 but the settings to secure the Win2k servers were already in place and just not being utilized properly in many cases by their admins. hi |2es

As you've said some programs will not work on WinS2k3 and of course this is to be expected with any new os. But so far I haven't have any problems with any of the apps I use. I do a lot of video editing (with Vegas 4), a lot of audio editing (with Sound Forge 6) and image editing (with Photoshop 7). All without any problems. I am also a heavy gamer and all of my games that worked in Xp still work. Maybe I've beem lucky but for the most part if it runs in Xp, it will run in WinS2k3. You say that "My experience tells me that many, if not most, of the 2003 software problems are attributible to 2003 having to use Directx 9a. This is why I forced the DirectX 8.1 into Server 2003." Just wondering, how did you force anything? WinS2k3 ships with DirectX 8.1 installed by default. All of the above really isn't the main reason I'm posting again. The real reason is to let you know that Exchange 2000 will infact run on WinS2k3. For the how to download this .doc file. http://winxp.bink.nu/ex2kw2k3.doc I am not trying to discredit your original message, as it is a good point that anyone that plans on using WinS2k3 should know. I'm just posting my experience. Sandman

Good answer from both of you guys. But windows server does have it downside and hi2 you are correct. There are a lot of pre 2000 hardware and some 2001 hardware that will not work in windows 2003 enviroment. If you take that into consideration many companies will choose not to update there system because of old hardware.Overall from a security stand-point I like this over xp (pro). I was a little more partially to windows 2000 because it did offer more flexability then xp. But like you mentioned. I too also have encountered some software nightmare. So far have got them worked out. I have beta tested windows longhorn hi2 and would like to mention that in your situation of video editing I would wait till longhorn is released in 2004. Because it is going to be more geared to such task. The buyer beware and thanks for your follow-up. This will help others make an informed decision. I have switched windows 2003 server and happy so far.