The Vail Installation Process

Tom from the Home System Integration website has the installation steps pictured on how to install Windows Home Server Vail.

HSI Vail Installation

From configuring the bios so that the Vail media can boot, through to the final boot screen, Tom explains the steps and also takes a look at the hardware requirements too.

You can read it here.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 105

Episode 105 of The Home Server Show is up with in depth discussions with developers Alex Kuretz and Sam Wood.

home_server_show_small

This Developer Deep Dive Edition discuses the guys latest add-in versions and the “Free vs. Fee” model.

You can listen to episode 105 from here.

The Aspire easyStore H341 from Acer

ZDNet UK take a look at the Aspire easyStore H341 from Acer.

acer_easystore_h341

The new model has a better 1.66GHz Atom D410 processor and 2GB of RAM compared to the older H340 model but does consume 10% more power.

More details here.

Aurora – Simple, Confusing but Extendable

Paul Thurrott over at Windows IT Pro takes a look at Windows Small Business Server "Aurora".

Paul says its simple, maybe too simple, that the LaunchPad can be too chatty, the shares are confusing and that extensibility is the key.

Put simply, Aurora lives up to the needs of its stated mission and will be an excellent solution for very small businesses. But where this thing will really come into its own is in the hands of someone who really knows their way around AD and Group Policy…Aurora is a starter server, but lurking underneath the hood is (almost) the full power of Windows Server just waiting to be unleashed…

More of Paul’s Hands-On with Windows Small Business Server "Aurora" can be found here.

The Remote Web Access Interface in Vail

Richard Hay from WindowsObserver.com has part 1 of his Windows Home Server Vail preview up for reading.

Vail Logo

In this first installment Richard takes a look at the Remote Web Access interface in the refreshed public preview of Vail, which you can find here.

Data Protection Month – Win Home Server Goodies

Our friends over at MediaSmarthome.com have kicked off "data protection month"

MediaSmarthome Data Protection Month

To drum up awareness of data protection and security they have teamed up with Proxure to giveaway 2 x EX490’s from HP and several 1-year KeepVault subscriptions to their online backup service. McAfee is also hosting a group on the site to discuss and answer questions about how you can protect your home server and important data from the millions of digital threats in the world, and there will be related articles, polls and discussions going on throughout the month.

More details on the online event are available both from here and here.

Windows Home Server in Afghanistan

Chase Messer is a team leader of a small group of soldiers and is currently serving in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Chase Messer is a big fan of Windows Home Server and has one running back at home in his apartment in Arizona, which he put together himself. Chase got in contact with us here at MSWHS.com with his story:

“…we have a LOT of downtime over here and I noticed my soldiers were just passing around hard drives to share movies, tv shows and things of that nature. I suggested we all put together some money and that I would build us a server to streamline the whole thing. I remembered using your site before during the construction of my own WHS and decided to check it out. That’s when I saw the unboxing of the ASUS TS MINI, looking at that YouTube video I knew it would be perfect for our needs. I have my movies and AnyDVD installed on my home WHS which is VPN’d (using your site) with the new TS mini. Doing this My wife can insert a DVD in the drive in Arizona and it will tell me when it has ripped to the Server. Then I use handbrake to compress that movie to about 500mb and transfer it to my dedicated apache webserver. Then I use a BITS download manager to download the movie and it takes about 4-5 hours which is better than waiting on the 3 weeks it takes mail to get here.

Anyways I just wanted to say thanks from a group of soldiers that enjoys the WHS and your site makes it that much better…”

Sergeant Chase Messer and his team are running the Asus TS mini.

Asus TS mini Home Server

I’m glad we could be of service to you and your team and commend you for the work which you do for us ALL in Afghanistan – Another instance where Windows Home Server just makes life a little easier!

Powerline Network Adapters – Be Blown Away

As a Windows Home Server user ( or at least a potential one), you may be interested in these Powerline network adapters from Western Digital.

Western Digital WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit

Site contributor Robert Stinnett was so impressed with these WD units that he was BLOWN AWAY at the speed and reliability that he got from them, and decided to write a review of them on Amazon, which you can find here.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 104

home_server_show_small

Episode 104 of "The Home Server Show" podcast is up with the latest new add-ins for Vail and WHS Version 1 discussed. That of course is sprinkled with the rest of the weeks Home Server news and views from Dave and the gang.

You can catch episode 104 from here.

Why You Cant Play DRM Content on the Data Vault X510

HP have released a support document for StorageWorks Data Vault X510 owners.

The support document answers the question why the x510 can not play or stream DRM content? This is due to the PC which originally downloaded the content having the only license to enable it to be played/streamed. HP have listed a workaround which uses Windows Media Player to play all of the protected content for which that PC has a license for, which you can read about here.