MS Windows Home Server

Santa’s Little Helper

If you’ve been good throughout the year then your wishes may had been granted and Santa may have left you a copy of the Windows Home Server software under the tree or if you were really lucky a HP MediaSmart Server or a Tranquil PC.

But hang on, now you have set it up what can you do with it?

We have the answer for you courtesy of all the wonderful resources available to you on the world wide web.

For a quick guide on what Windows Home Server (WHS) can do for you read A guide to Windows Home Server provided by “For Dummies”.

To further enhance your server, add-ins are available which provide additional features or enhance the ones which are already built in. A list of these are available from here and here.

For the latest news on Windows Home Server, dedicated blogs (or weblog’s) are the ideal medium and a list of these are on our side panel under "Blogroll". Four of the most popular are us (MSWHS.com), the official Windows Home Server Team Blog, We Got Served and Home Server Hacks.

If you are stuck and require help then forums are there to help you. The official Microsoft Windows Home Server forums, We Got Served Forums and the MediaSmartServer.net forums which are dedicated to the HP MediaSmart Server units are all there to provide answers.

Other resources which are dedicated to HP MediaSmart Server owners are also available,which are listed here.

Now if after all these links you would rather listen, than read any more, then The Home Server Podcast could be just for you, with it’s weekly format of news, reviews and comment.

And before we go, Microsoft’s Windows Home Server resource has all the details on what it is, with more about it with tips and support.

Now, if their was nothing under your tree related to Windows Home Server it’s properly because you already have one and in that case I’m sure that you have already visited some of these links in the past, and the others can be stored under your “Favorites” for future reference.

Hang on, I can hear some of you saying that you haven’t got Windows Home Server. Well don’t worry because the good news is that you can get a free 120 day trial version delivered for free to your house wherever you live. But the question remains why didn’t Santa deliver one to you?

WHS on MSDN and TechNet Very Soon

It looks like Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1 integrated will soon be on MSDN as was announced at PDC2008, and also on TechNet as well and both within the next few weeks.

Our friend Silver at the website UneIT  discovered the information on special beta pages used at MSDN and TechNet which are designed to hold software before it is placed on the subscriber secure downloads pages.

The beta pages utilize the old subscriber downloads interface and is used for beta software before it is rolled out, which usually takes a couple of weeks, making the pages more like a forecast for new software coming to MSDN/TechNet. Although a little birdie tells me that it could take until Mid January for the software to appear.

NOTE: Sorry we cant publish the links as they are used as internal test pages within Microsoft and are not appropriate for public presentation.

WHS Alternative for the 1 PC Household

If you only have one PC in your household then Windows Home Server may not be the best solution for you (unless you like your storage centralized).

Personal Computer World Magazine online has an article on an alternative to WHS, the Netgear ReadyNAS, where hard drive expansion is looked at as well as the extras which are available for the unit including a Firefly iTunes server and a Bittorrent download manager. The article finally looks at email solutions which work with the unit.

You can read the article here.

The Home Server Show Podcast #27

The Home Server Show podcast #27, is up with a look at the year in review. The last show of this year also has details about an outdated version of the BitDefender installer which could cause your server to become unresponsive.

Show 27 is available from here.

Trial Version of WHS with PP1 available to Beta Testers

PP1If you have been a beta tester for Windows Home Server you may have noticed that Microsoft’s beta resource, Connect has the latest evaluation (trial) edition of Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1 (PP1) integrated.

The download package includes 4 components. The Windows Home Server installation DVD, the dual version of the restore CD, and the Client CD (or connector software) all as ISO images. Also included are the CRC values within a text document in case of download or burning errors.

More details are available from the Windows Home Server site on Microsoft Connect.

Information courtesy of the UneIT blog.