Power Pack 1 for Windows Home Server
Today at CES 2008 in Las Vegas Microsoft announced details on Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 (PP1). Formally known as UR1 or Update Release 1, PP1 will be available for free via Windows Update/Microsoft Update when it becomes available in the first half of this year (2008).
So why a Power Pack? This minor release for Windows Home Server is more than a Service Pack (which should only contain bug fixes and improvements to existing features) as it also includes additional features, so the WHS Team choose Power Pack as the naming convention from the Xbox team.
So, what’s in there?
Vista 64 bit Support
With PP1 installed the Windows Home Server Connector can now be installed on home computers running Windows Vista x64 operating systems, which is good news for the Vista 64 bit users.
Windows Home Server Connector
Functionality is now added to detect that the version of the Windows Home Server Connector software is aligned with the version of Windows Home Server software. So users using an outdated version of the Connector software will be prompted to update the copy either on the server or client machine.
Other details include the Connector setup infrastructure has been revamped to support upgrade and servicing. The Connector tray icon should no longer cause a flickering issue when auto-hide task bar is enabled and better guidance is now provided when the home computer clock and home server clock differ significantly during the Connector installation.
Backup the Server
Another new feature is that you can now backup the server itself by backing up your server’s shared folders and the backup database to an external hard disk. While adding a hard drive to the Windows Home Server, you are now presented with an option to use the hard drive for backing up the home server. Once this option is selected, the home server will appear in the Computers & Backup tab, where you can decide what you want to store on this external hard drive.
Remote Access
When adding/editing a user in the Home Server Console, in addition to enabling remote access for that user, there is now a drop down list box that allows the home server administrator to specify whether the user will have access to the computers tab, the shared folders tab, or both tabs when logged in with Windows Home Server Remote Access.
A new ‘Views’ drop-down list is added for the Shared Folders tab in remote access which allows the files in a shared folder to be displayed either as a list of files (‘Details’ view) or as thumbnails (‘Icons’ view). In ‘Icons’ view, the majority of the picture files will be represented as a thumbnails, and the rest of the non-picture files and folders will be displayed as large icons.
File upload functionality has been improved for users of Internet Explorer 6 and 7 and users can drag and drop multiple files directly into an upload area or select multiple files in the open file dialog for upload. Additionally upload progress reporting has been improved, with the addition of a progress bar and individual file upload status and the ability to cancel the multiple upload has been added as well.
When downloading multiple files, the users are now given the option to package the files in a self extracting executable (.exe) file in addition to being able to store them in a ZIP file.
Finally the Routers and Domain name configuration details dialogs in the Remote Access Settings page have been reworked to include more descriptive status, and contextual help links for failed tests and the ability for large file uploads to complete before the remote session times out has been implemented.
Backup Database Repair Wizard
If the backup database on the home server has an inconsistency error, the user can now use the backup database repair wizard to correct this error. The repair wizard can be launched either through the Backup page in Settings, or by clicking on the backup database inconsistency error notification.
WHS Power Management
A new option has been added to the Windows Home Server Connector tray icon that allows the user to enable or disable the home computer from waking up for backup if it is in sleep or hibernation mode.
Media Sharing
Windows Media Player playlists pointing media files stored on a home server should now play correctly via Windows Media Connect when these playlists are copied over to a home server and shared out via media sharing.
Add-In Crashes
The Windows Home Server Console has been made more resilient to poorly written Home Server Add-Ins and should eventually load even if one or more installed Add-Ins is not functioning correctly.
More Languages Supported
Chinese and Japanese are now supported in Windows home Server.
All looks good to me. It seems that the WHS Team has answered most of the suggestions in this first update and fixed many of the bugs too, but we are going to have to wait for a few months yet until we can get it (as explained earlier) as at the moment it is only available for beta testing to Microsoft employees and to MVPs – What a good start to the New Year 
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I love the cadence the WHS team has in getting updates out the door. The sooner they get this out the door and resolve that potential corruption issue..the sooner they go full steam on v2. Hopefully if they have enough resources that work has already begun.
Well, it’s nice to know Microsoft is finally getting around to providing Vista 64bit support. However, it’s taken such a long time for this…
It nice to see WHS getting the option to backup to an external hard drive too, which brings me to the question, “When will WHS DATA CORRUPTION issue be either resolved or FIXED?
Also, despite WHS offering a backup Database Repair Wizard, shouldn’t this glitch had been FIXED rather than to cope with inconsistency errors?
I’m excited about WHS, as a NAS devised for us “home users”. However, since WHS still hasn’t resolved the DATA CORRUPTION problem, I am considering to purchase the working and functioning Netgear Squeezebox/ReadyNAS 1TB bundle! Because, this NAS solution offers RAID, and supports HD streaming!
For anyone wanting to compare WHS to Netgear’s Squeezebox ReadyNAS bundle:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/06/slim-devices-infrant-tech-offer-squeezebox-readynas-bundle/
Hello, I am the MVP for media center at Taiwan.
Also the beta tester for WHS PP1.
PP1 didn’t support Chinese, only add Japanese.
The facility to back up the shares on the WHS is very welcome (and essential). It will be even more welcome if it’s possible to back up to another NAS located remotely from the WHS rather than an external HDD connected via a 1-2m USB cable and so in the same physical location as the server itself.
Hi Jesse Lin,
Chinese will be available in the final version.
Hi Miles,
Why don’t you post this as a suggestion if you have not already on connect.
Hi Philip
Yes, I might just.
However this post on the MS WHS Community Forum:
http://forums.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver/showpost.aspx?pageindex=2&siteid=50&postid=2656689&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=1
suggests that this backup facility is simply a manual file copy routine rather than an automated backup with no refinements such as scheduling or incremental backups. We’ll have to wait and see what it actually does.
Geat Idea. Will be avabile in 32 bit system?
I really like your blog..It always something different and interesting keep posting more…Thanks