Turn the system power on and insert the Windows Server 2008 DVD into the drive. If you receive a prompt asking you to select from what location to boot, choose the option to boot from the CD. The system will boot and begin the initial installation procedure.  Choose the correct language, time and currency format, and keyboard input method, and then click Next.

Click the "Install now" button in the middle of the screen.

When you click the next screen, you are prompted for your product key. You do not have to enter the key now, but you will be required within a certain amount of time to enter a valid key once installation is complete. Enter your key if you wish and then click Next. Note that if you don't enter a key now, make sure that when you choose an edition to install (on the next screen), you choose the edition that corresponds to the key you will enter later; otherwise, you may need to reinstall.

If you did not enter a key, the screen will appear, asking you to select the edition of Windows that you purchased. (If you had entered a key, Windows would have automatically chosen the correct edition based on the contents of your key.) Choose which edition of the product—including the standard installation or the Server Core flavor—to install. Then, click Next.

Read the terms of the license agreement. If you accept (which, of course, you have to do to continue installation), check the box and click to continue.

The "Which type of installation do you want?" screen appears. If you were running this installation from within Windows, the Upgrade selection would be enabled, allowing you to move to Windows Server 2008 with most of your programs, files, and settings intact. This is not the recommended path; here, in this example, we are completing a clean installation onto a formatted, blank disk. In this case, the only available option is Custom. Click "Custom (advanced)" to continue.

A screen listing your current disk partitions will appear. You can delete, create, and format partitions to your heart's content here. Once you have at least one partition with 15 GB or more of disk space on it, you can click Next. If you haven't yet formatted, Setup will handle that.

Finally, files are copied and settings are finalized. This process can take a little while, up to 30 minutes, so feel free to step away.