Do not install the Windows feature; 'Desktop Experience' on Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. Kthanksbye!

After a pretty stressful week at work and clocking up 5 hours of overtime, I have learnt two things:

• Back-up before performing server configuration changes - no matter how simple it is.
• DO NOT INSTALL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE on Windows Server 2008.. it's a POS and it will fail and make your life miserable.

However, if you have tried and installed it and experiencing server reboots that result in the following error:

' Failure configuring windows features. Reverting changes' - followed by Windows automatically trying to re-install the service only for this to go on in an infinite loop;

This is how to fix it (well this worked for me):

NOTE: My server is a virtual server and the solution posted below is based on a virtual server environment.

1. Do not remote desktop into the server, log in directly via your VI (Virtual Infrastructure) client.
2. Login as the local administrator
3. If UAC (User Access Control) is turned on, turn it off. This will require a server restart. So at this stage, the Desktop Experience feature has installed and is asking for a restart, and turning UAC off is also prompting for a server restart.
4. Restart the server - watch Windows try and install Desktop Experience only for it to fail again. Windows will then revert the changes. At this point, do not do anything until you see the 'CTRL + ALT + DEL' prompt after Windows reverts the failed install.
5. Login as the local administrator

TADAAAHHHH! Server Manager will load and will not try to install Desktop Experience again. Now should I buy the WD TV Live?