MS Windows Home Server

By Philip Churchill on January 26th, 2010

Add-In: Remote Wizard for WHS Beta 1

Remote Wizard for WHS takes over from the late WebGuide and is an add-in to remotely manage all your Windows Media Center when you’re not home from one convenient web interface.

Compatable with Media Center in Vista, Vista with TV Pack and Windows 7 both 32 or 64-bit, all you need is a Windows Home Server configured for remote access, and at least one Vista or Win 7 Windows Media Center system with a TV Tuner.

Currently in Beta, this Beta 1 version expires March 31st 2010 whilst for the final production version a modest fee will be charged for each copy you license.

You can sign up for the beta version right here.

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By Philip Churchill on January 25th, 2010

The Lenovo IdeaCentre D400 Mini Review

Practically Networked has a review of the Lenovo IdeaCentre D400.

This mini review looks at the design and specs of the D400 as well as its unique features and upgradeability.

The D400’s price tag could be considered a bit high relative to some competing WHS products—example, Acer’s 1 TB easyStore H340, which differs from the D400 mainly in aesthetics…

You can read it here.

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By Philip Churchill on January 25th, 2010

Archiving a Client PC Backup from the WHS Backup

If you are migrating to a new Windows Home Server, then MVP Olaf Engelke has written a great guide for you.

"How to archive a Client PC Backup from Windows Home Server Backup" takes you step by step through the process of archiving single volumes from a PCs backup using Microsoft imaging technologies normally used for corporate deployments.

Since Windows Home Server does not support archiving, you would either have to save the entire backup database or keep the unused computer forever in the console, but Olaf’s solution is
ideal if:

You want to clean up the console from computers which are no longer used, but you do not want to lose the last backup done from that machine.
You want to preserve an important backup without the risk of losing it in case of a corrupted backup database in the future.

Olaf’s comprehensive guide (which requires some basic technical understanding of drive imaging) is available here.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server

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By Philip Churchill on January 25th, 2010

Video Surveillance with WHS

Jim Cheshire writes about his experiences in using video surveillance at home with software which is installed on his Windows Home Server.

Using a Sharx SCNC2607 camera and the LuxRiot surveillance DVR package, Jim has this package running on WHS as a service and client software on his PCs enabling him to record motion detected footage.

You can read the full details here.

News • Windows Home Server

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By Philip Churchill on January 25th, 2010

Buckeye’s Windows Home Server Project

Buckeye on the Overclock.net forums takes us through his Windows Home Server Project, from the parts selected to the completed build.

You can read it here.

News • Windows Home Server

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By Philip Churchill on January 24th, 2010

Tranquil PC SSM in the HP and Acer Home Servers

Tranquil PCs safe server device the SSM is a unique device which can be plugged into a SQA-5H Home Servers HDD1 bay and provides safety for your Home Server in case of hard drive failure etc. But I here you ask, what about whose of us that don’t own a SQA-5H? It may be good news as they have just published this:

The SSM is designed to drop into the SQA-5H HDD caddy. It has not been tested yet in other Home Servers, i.e. HP, Acer, etc Home Servers –if you have a non Tranquil OEM Home Server and are based in UK, and would like to test / evaluate the SSM in your device – please contact research@tranquilpc.co.uk – we will discuss supply of a ‘blank’ SSM (no Tranquil Home Server OS) – whereby you can run your OEM Home Server Restore application, to image the SSM. Please note there would be no SSM Manager application / service running. The purpose of the test is to ensure physical and BIOS compatibility only – the SSM will otherwise function as any HDD1.

News • Windows Home Server

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By Philip Churchill on January 24th, 2010

Add-In: Home Server SMART 1.0.1.21

Home Server SMART is a new add-in which enables you to monitor the health of most of your hard disks attached to your Windows Home Server.

If problems are detected on your attached disks then Home Server SMART will inform you which attribute(s) are critical or problematic, and it presents a summary of problems found. If the problems are serious, Home Server SMART will make a recommendation to you that you replace the disk.

IDE (PATA) and SATA (including eSATA) disks are supported, whilst USB and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) are not fully supported due to the un-standardized manner in which the data is reported.

More details are available from here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server

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By Philip Churchill on January 24th, 2010

Add-In: P80 2.6.6

Version 2.6.6 of the add-in P80 is now available.

Lots of people asked that they wanted to limit who accessed P80, so with this latest version you can now select three different security options:

Public: Anyone can use P80. I mean ANYONE. If someone knows the url for your WHS then they can use P80. This is not recommended, but thought some users could use this option. I take no responsibility for any wrong doing that happens.
Private: Explicitly state which users can use P80. Once this is turned on, no one will have access until you select which users can access P80. Any user who has remote access turned on is available to be selected.
WHS Users (Default): This is how P80 has been used and is installed as. Any user who has remote access turned on can use P80.

Additional features include:

An Options tab is also now available in the WHS console, which from here you can select to bypass the WHS website all together, instead using a dialog box to login to. So users can now directly link to the P80 website without having to login to the WHS website.

German Language is now supported.
P80 now looks for specific words in the descriptions, the field above the computer name for windows machines, for the computers/laptops/servers/etc on your network. P80 will then display the appropriate graphic in the summary screen for that item. Keywords: Laptop, Netbook, Server, Desktop, Workstation, Notebook. If for example you have a severs description as “HP G4 Server – Gaming”, then the server would have an icon displayed as a server in the computers section of the summary screen.

Torrent Downloader – For users who have a torrent application that monitors folders on their WHS for new torrent files. Enter in the folder name in the config screen of P80 and then copy \ paste torrent urls’ in the torrent section of P80’s summary screen. – NOTE – Torrent sites that require username/passwords do not work. This will be in the next version. Also make sure your torrent url has .torrent at the end.

Known Bugs:

On Japanese WHS’s a user can not select a user name to add to the P80 Private group with double byte characters until they first transfer one of single byte characters. Minor bug and want to get this version out.
Torrent Watcher does not work with sites that require user names or passwords.

More details and the download are located here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server

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By Philip Churchill on January 23rd, 2010

Windows 7 may not Start after you Restore the OS after using the WHS Restore CD

Microsoft have published a new Knowledge Base article entitled:

Windows 7 may not start after you restore the operating system from a restore point on Windows Home Server

This KB article explains how to start Windows 7 PC after restoring it with the Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD if the 100MB hidden system partition is missing.