Add-In: Router Control

The first public release of the add-in Router Control has been released that allows you more control over your UPnP Internet gateway.

Router Control

Its current main feature is the traffic graph as well as RouterControl online update check and schema upload. More features are to come in future updates, including:

Show and modify UPNP port forwards
Automatic (optional) forward of Home Server Homepage
Support for IP Internet connection (not only PPP)
German translation
Download traffic statistics (CSV)
Automatic (optional) error reporting
Router down notification
Notification on new port forwards

Although this functionality is partly provided by Windows Vista, it lacks features like traffic graphs and monitoring.

More information is available from here.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscription includes WHS

In the October issue of the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription will be one licence for Windows Home Server.

Action Pack Subscription

The Microsoft Action Pack Subscription (or MAPS) is an annual subscription for Microsoft Registered Partners that provides full-version software and sales resources for their internal-use.

From this link click "Welcome Kits and Quarterly Update Kits" and then "Server Software"

Thanks to ?ukasz Foks from http://www.home-server.pl

Renaming the Hard Drives in WHS

Busy blogger Joe DiFiglia ran across an issue where an existing hard drive was imaged to a larger one but the original disk name remained in the Windows Home Sever Console.

Rename Hard Drives

As Joe states:

This poses no problems, but is more of an annoyance than anything.  If you want to change the name, you can.

And the way to do it is documented here.

User Accounts and Shared Folders Technical Brief

Windows Home Server Technical Brief - User Accounts and Shared Folders

Microsoft has just published a new technical brief. The "Windows Home Server Technical Brief for User Accounts and Shared Folders" is a 22 page document in the .docx format which looks at the features, functionality and benefits of the User Accounts and Shared Folders.

First of all we are shown how to create, remove and configure User Accounts. Shared Folder creation, removal and how to access them is next. This is followed by a look at Shared Folder Duplication and it’s disk space usage. Finally using remote access and Shared Folders is taken a look at.

Download from here.

HP Testers Required

How do you fancy testing upcoming products from HP and giving feedback on product usability, features, and roadmap plans?

HP Logo

If so, HP is after your input and suggestions to help design and build better products. Just send a private message from the MediaSmartHome.com site including your name, phone number, email address and mailing address.

More details are available here.

Restoring WHS Windows Firewall

Joe DiFiglia recently had some issues with the Windows Firewall on his Windows Home Server. Even using the "Restore Defaults" under the advanced tab did not restore the firewall to its shipped state. Hours later Joe found the necessary settings within the registry on his Home Server and has made a registry file for those of us who need to restore the firewall settings within WHS to its default state.

NOTE: Editing the Registry incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows Home Server to correct them. Microsoft nor mswhs.com cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry editing can be solved. Back up your registry first, but use at your own risk.

Read the details here.

Windows Home Server Slides

“Camera Owners of the Bay Area” has posted a series of slides from their meeting which they had the other day on Windows Home Server which you may find interesting. They can be downloaded from here.

Danish Windows Home Server Demo

Over on YouTube, we found a video demo for those of you in Denmark. The demo of the Windows Home Server software is presented by a Danish Product Manager

How to Access your WHS Shares Using a Mac OS X

Taimur Asad from website Redmond Pie has written a tutorial on how to access your Windows Home Server shares using a Mac OS X. Taimur shows us step by step how to setup your Mac to access all the shares on the Home Server.

OSX to WHS

Read it here.

Building a Energy Efficient Windows Home Server

Energy Efficient

Ade Miller a Microsoft Development Manager in the patterns & practices group (p&p) has published a series of 4 articles on building a green energy efficient Windows Home Server using low power consumption components:

  • Choosing the Hardware – Choosing low power consumption components for your server.
  • Putting it Together – Assembling the pieces. How anyone can bolt together a basic PC.
  • Installing the Software – Installing Windows Home Server and configuring the BIOS for low power usage.
  • Conclusions – What would I have done differently? How to save more money and how green is it?

    And I must say that is a lovely case!