Mailbag 16th November 2010

Have a question or problem?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!

Install Aurora on HP Mediasmart Server EX487

Dale Asks:

Any reason(s) you know why I should not remove WHS from my HP Mediasmart Server EX487 and install ”Aurora” ? My application is more business than personal. Thanks for your consideration.

I can’t see any reason what so ever why this would be a problem, essentially Vail is the same operating system as Aurora and that installs without any issues on the EX487. My advice would be to wait until the final version arrives especially as you will be using it for business use, as you may already know Aurora is still in Beta and has still got bugs, it would definitely be worth the wait in the long run.

Windows Home Server Failed Raid

Tony Asks:

My RAID 0 drive failed so I took the opportunity when replacing the drive(s) to upgrade to windows 7 ultimate 64bit from Vista 32.

I know I cannot do a complete backup from Windows Home Server but must replace file-by-file.

I am an avid gamer and while I know I have to re-install each game I would like to recover my game status/progress on several games if possible. Where do I find these files on Windows Home Server?

When you mount a backup that you want to restore, you will find it opens a mapped drive on Z:\ here you should see the exact file structure your Hard Drive previous had.

For instance if you wanted to retrieve your saved game files from Football Manager 2011 on Windows 7 you would go to “Z:\Users\Username\Documents\Sports Interactive\FM2011\Saved Games\” in Windows XP you would go to “Z:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\Sports Interactive\FM2011\Saved Games\”

Windows Home Server Adding Drive without Formatting & Finding old Disk ID’s

Joar Asks:

A few weeks ago my Windows Home Server did not start up anymore. I am pretty sure that it wouldn’t boot up correctly because when I push the power button it stops immediately.

Then I removed the system disk and connected it to my workstation and run chkdsk \r/f on the system partition only. Inserted it again and my WHS started up again and it was available through remote desktop.

When I now go to the Windows Home Server console >> Server Storage tab, it says system disk is missing and it keep on calculating server storage without result. There is also a new hard drive ready for ”adding” and that must be the original volume. The question is, how can I add the original volume again without formatting it?

What has happened is the Disk ID’s that Windows Home Server has got for your hard drive, is now different from the one it had for the Hard Drive before you have done the CHKDSK on your workstation.

What you will need to do is go into the BIOS of your WHS in order to retrieve the old ID, follow below:

1. Remotely access your WHS using Remote Desktop Connection
2. Start >> Run >> Type “regedit”
3. Drill down to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\Storage Manager\Disks\
4. You should now see something like you can on this screenshot below, each instance under disk, is a hard drive in the WHS data pool, by clicking on each hard drive instance you will see the friendly name of the system drive will be set to System disk, again this is exactly the same as in the screenshot.
   

   Click to enlarge

5. Once you have found the instance marked with the friendly name System disk, the first 8 digits is the old system disk id, make sure you write this down as you will need this later.
6. Now the next bit involves following “ymboc’s” post over at mediasmartserver.net click here, you only need to follow from “Part 3: Updating the WHS Registry” this was written for cloning your system drive to a new/different hard drive, but it fits perfectly for this post to change your drive ID.

Once you have finished with ymboc you have should now be able to see your system drive present in the Server Storage tab and showing as Healthy.

Unable to login to Windows Home Server Remotely!

Max Asks:

I cannot sign in to Homeserver.com from my copy of Windows Home Server. I have my Hotmail account and have access to Messenger, Hotmail and Live.

I do have communications with Homeserver.com in as much as the sign in screen comes up. Windows Home Server says everything is working.

What exactly do I put in the sign in area for a user name and for the password? I have changed my sign in many times without success. Do I have to put ”@hotmail.com” along with my username? Nothing I try seems to make a difference; I still cannot log in.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The first thing to note is that you don’t need to use your Messenger, Hotmail or Live sign in id in order to login to Windows Home Server Remotely, all you need is you username and password that you would normally logon to your PC at home.

Example:
I logon to my PC in my office with the Username: matt and the Password: 123456789, my Windows Home Server web page is available at “matthewglover.homeserver.com”, once I get to this page and it asks for my username and password it is actually asking for the username and password I use to logon to my office PC, so I put in Username: matt and the Password: 123456789 and that then allows me to login.

The only time you need to use your “Messenger, Hotmail or Live sign in id” is when you are setting up your Windows Home Server for remote access; it will then store your IP address on your account and keep it up to date.

Have a question or problem?
I can’t guarantee an answer, but I’ll try. Click “ask a question” above!

Written by
Matthew Glover
www.matthewglover.co.uk

www.lpower.co.uk | Quality Laptop Batteries, 30 Day Money Back Guarantee, 12 Month Warranty.

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