I. Create silver accounts on www.xbox.com for each server instance that you plan to create. Make sure you remember their email addresses and passwords.
II. Insert the Halo 2 for Windows Vista DVD into your computer.
III. Connect to your server as an administrator via Remote Desktop.
IV. Map your DVD drive as a network drive on the server, or copy the DVD contents from your local computer to the server.
V. Install Halo 2 Dedicated Server on the server by running Startup.exe and electing to install the dedicated server component.
VI. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/games/halo2/ and click Support.
VII. Download the latest Halo 2 Update and Games for Windows – Live Update to the server.
VIII. Install the Halo 2 Update and Games for Windows - Live on the server.
IX. Copy your custom playlists to the server.
X. Copy your custom maps to the server. If you installed to the default location, the location for custom maps will be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo 2 Dedicated Server\Custom Maps.
XI. Open a Command Prompt and change directory to your Halo 2 Dedicated Server installation, for example cd \Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo 2 Dedicated Server.
XII. Create your Halo 2 Dedicated Server service instances. For example, for just one instance you can enter h2server –live –createservice. To create up to 8 different instances, you can enter commands such as h2server –live –createservice –instance:2. For more information about creating services, including how to create LAN instances for system link play and how to run from the command prompt rather than as a service, enter an h2server command with no parameters.
XIII. Log off and log back onto the server so that you can access the new instances.
XIV. Connect to your Halo 2 Dedicated Server service instances, by opening a command prompt, navigating to your Halo 2 Dedicated Server directory, and running h2admin –live or h2admin –live –instance:2, etc. For more information about h2admin, including how to administer LAN instances for system link play, enter an h2admin command with no parameters.
XV. Configure each Halo 2 Dedicated Server instance:
a. To set the server instance to sign in automatically, set the Live account for each instance with a live autosignin command, such as live autosignin youremail@yourdomain.com. If you do not wish to sign in automatically, use the live signin command, such as live signin youremail@yourdomain.com.
b. Enter the password twice to cache the credentials.
c. Enter a live key command with your Activation Key, for example live key ABCDE-12345-ABCDE-12345-ABCDE.
d. Set your desired Privacy level.
i. By default, privacy is set to open. You can verify this by entering a privacy command with no parameters.
ii. You can set the privacy level to gold-only with the command privacy gold.
iii. You can set the privacy level to invite-only with the command privacy VIP. To allow other players to join a VIP game, you need to add their gamertags to a list. Use the command help VIP to learn how add gamertags, remove gamertags, display the list of currently allowed gamertags, and clear the list of gamertags.
e. Enter a play command to load a playlist, such as play c:\yourplaylist.hpl. Refer to the Halo 2 Dedicated Server Read Me document to learn how to create playlists.
f. Enter a status command to display the current status of the server. Verify that the server instance is signed into Live and is playing the correct playlist.
XVI. Disconnect from Remote Desktop.
XVII. You’re done! Enjoy Halo 2 for Windows Vista!