OK, so I’ll admit.. I found this one out by accident. While working on a Windows 2012 Server, the GUI features were removed and brought it back to a Core installation. As much as I like using command line (and PS), it threw me off!

So, to Bring back  the nice-n-pretty Graphical User Interface for Server 2012, the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM) was needed! -Keep in mind, all I had was the Command Prompt (NO PowerShell).

From the Command line:

• Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt /all
• Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /all
• Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /all
• Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /all
• Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /all

Reboot and “Viola! It’s back!”