The Web's Largest Dedicated Windows Home Server Resource by Microsoft MVP Philip Churchill.
Microsoft Windows Home Server - WHS will automatically backup and restore your PCs and allow you to share and access files from any machine in the house as well as giving you remote access to those files and PC’s as well. This site will guide you on your journey of discovery with WHS.
Another comprehensive review of WHS is online. Entitled Windows Home Server – Sysadmin Made Easy!, the 7 page article can be found at the Asian HardwareZone Community website. The review first looks at the minimum requirements for Home server and then goes through the client installation. Backup and restore and user accounts are looked at and shared folders are discussed alongside server storage. Finally remote access and the Windows Home Server community are given exposure.
When installing software on the Server directly, it is fine to use the default installation directory (usually C:\Program Files) especially for utility software like defragmentation tools, anti virus solutions and third-party backup software. But remember the system drive C: has only 20GB allocated to it (in the RTM version), so installing too much software on the C: drive will eat into that space.
You can create directory’s on the D: drive and install to them as long as it is NOT in the D:\shares folder or subfolders. It is best practice to create folder(s) in the root of your D: drive and to stay out of the folders you see already present.
As you can see from the above image, apart from the Program Files folder on the C: drive, I have created an additional one in the root of the D: drive. Also present is an Incomplete folder for torrent files that are in the process of being downloaded.
I posed a question to you readers a couple of days ago regarding the version information displayed on the Resources tab within the console.
My clean OEM install after Windows Update showed the following:
Whilst my friends server and others from the WHS forums were showing:
As you can see my “Windows Home Server Backup & Restore” was the only item which was updated to version 6.0.1500.6 whilst the bottom screen shot shows all components updated to the latest version.
Why? Well, I have the answer for you. I had an anonymous email from a reader stating that my version number of 1500.6 on only the backup component is the correct behavior for an RTM system upgraded via Windows Update. And systems that have all versions showing as 1500.6 are installs built from a “second edition” of WHS that has incorporated the update 941913 from Microsoft.
So all new RTM media from the last few weeks have the Windows Update download incorporated into the CD/DVD media. Tom from Ramblings Of a Home Server User also confirmed this, explaining that a newer version of Windows Home Server was released, known as a Media Refresh.
So, rest assured, in both instances both system are upgraded as expected.
I received an email from one of our blog readers Scott Mathews, who asked the following:
Hey Philip, I’m in the middle of a total redesign of my home network, and only just discovered WHS (I was goggling for “NAS vs USB” and some posts favored WHS).
Part of my goal is to get high quality PC-based audio patched into the stereo — does WHS have any features in that area, or is it more of a home backup solution?
(I’d be totally happy to share the particulars of the solution that I’ve been considering, and I’m totally open to switching to a WHS solution).
thanks! -Scott
UPDATE 1: Scott has rephrased his question with a clearer idea of what he’s trying to do.
Can I get audio out of the WHS box, via USB and/or a sound card?
Here’s the idea: if I can install something like WMP on the WHS box, and can patch the audio out from the WHS box into the stereo, then I can use Remote Desktop to browse and play everything I have stored on the WHS box — my WI-FI laptop becomes a universal control.
That might sound complicated at first, but it’s actually quite simple, and then I could use the WHS box *both* as a storage/backup hub and *also* as a media source to other stuff at home (stereo, etc) — for me, it make the WHS literally twice as useful.
UPDATE 2: Scott aka turnstyle also asked this question over on the WHS forums in a thread entitled Can a WHS box itself play audio?
I’ll hand this one other to you guys (and girls!) to help a fellow reader.
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