By on October 29th, 2007

Add-In: AutoExit 2008 for Windows Home Server

After being in beta for the last few months, today sees the launch of the final version of AutoExit 2008 for Windows Home Server.

This add-in can be used to shut down and reboot machines in your home network. Wake On Lan is also supported, enabling you to easily boot up machines remotely. These actions can be executed per machine or for all machines.

Other handy features are the ability to send messages to the different machines, configuring the timeout/message and support for opening a Remote Desktop session to the remote machines and to the server.

AutoExit2008

Statistics are kept of all actions, so that a detailed trace can be viewed on when certain actions were executed.

AutoExit for Windows Home Server is free and does not need registration.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on October 29th, 2007

HP and Microsoft MediaSmart Server Webcasts

HP and Microsoft are making available four free webcasts that will unveil and demo the long-awaited MediaSmart Server.

In addition to a live demonstration at these educational events, you’ll also hear from consumer technology industry experts, like Rob Enderle, Rick Doherty, Paul Thurrott from SuperSite for Windows, and Ed Bott from ZDNet on how the explosion in media consumption is driving the need for the new home server category. Reps from Microsoft will also be on-hand to respond directly to audience questions related to the new Windows Home Server software.

Registration is now open for the upcoming 60 minute events:

Date Time Guest Expert

Thursday, November 8th

4:00-5:00PM (PT)
7:00-8:00PM (ET)
Other

Rick Doherty – Envisioneering

Friday, November 9th

1:00PM-2:00PM (PT) 4:00-5:00PM (ET)
Other

Rob Enderle –
The Enderle Group

Tuesday, November 27th

10:00AM-11:00AM(PT) 1:00PM-2:00PM (ET) Other

Paul Thurrott – Supersite for Windows

Thursday, November 29th

8:00AM-9:00AM (PT), 11:00AM-12:00PM (ET) Other

Ed Bott –
ZDNet

For the time in different country’s/time zones click on “Other” under the “Time” category to be taken to time and date.com

Thanks to ?ukasz Foks for the information.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on October 29th, 2007

Add-In Home Base now Open Source

Aleksei Nipirakis has started to place you source code to his add-in Home Base onto SourceForge.net.

The add-in that allows your Mobile Phone to download files from the Home Server and lets you blog from your phone as well is now Open Source GPL and will enable other developers to build and develop onto it.

http_sourceforge

http://sourceforge.net/projects/whs-homebase/

add-ins • Other Software • Windows Home Server
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By on October 29th, 2007

Add-In – Windows Home Server Event Monitor

Dave Mercer has developed a new add-in. Windows Home Server Event Monitor monitors the event logs and sends them in a single email at a fixed frequency, with the ability to send some events immediately (e.g. remote login failures).

Event_Monitor  

This is an Alpha release and Dave would love to hear your comments, suggestions and bug reports.

He also plans to add the following in later releases:

  1. WHS Health Event Monitoring (to fill the blank real estate on the right side of the console).
  2. S.M.A.R.T Monitoring of the disks.  Particularly interested in disk temperatures and predicted time to failure.

Download

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on October 27th, 2007

HP MediaSmart Server Data Sheet Available

Over on the HP MediaSmart Server page at HP, they now have a link to the data sheet for the EX470/EX475 models.

MSS EX470 EX475 r2a sl 10 12 070001    MSS EX470 EX475 r2a sl 10 12 070002

Thanks to Josh Pearl for the info.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on October 27th, 2007

Give Grandma and Grandpa Access To Your Photos Even Though They Are Thousands of Miles Away

One of the “silent features” of Windows Home Server is the ability to give people access to your shared folders even though they aren’t even in your household.  You don’t need to associate user accounts with computers, which means you can create as many users as you need in WHS and them assign them permissions on individual folders.  Using the WHS web interface, these people can now access your server and browse shared folders — a perfect way to give grandma and grandpa access to see the latest photos of your family from afar!

Using the web interface, they login with the username and password you have given them and then go to the Shared Folders tab.  From there the can view your files, download them to their local PC’s and view or print them off.  You can even give them write permissions which will allow them to upload files — a perfect way for an extended family across the country, or across the world, to share photos and have a “central family server” for storing them on!  The best part about it, it doesn’t matter if they use Windows, Mac, Linux or an old Amiga — as long as they have a web browser and Internet access they can connect up.

Just one more way Windows Home Server helps keep your home, and your family, connected.

Guest Blogger

Robert Stinnett
www.robertstinnett.com

Remotely • Windows Home Server
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By on October 26th, 2007

Mac Leopard and WHS do NOT Play Nicely

Mac

On the SuperSite for Windows back in January 2007 Todd Headrick, the WHS Product Planner told Paul Thurrott in his Windows Home Server Preview that Mac users could access the WHS shared folders as they would any other Windows share and that WHS would be a great back-end store for Time Machine. The name of the new backup feature in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Microsoft’s own WHS page said that “Mac users have the ability to save to and remotely access Windows Home Server”.

But despite what was said you cannot use your Windows Home Server shared storage as a backup target for Time Machine.
Cristopher Price explains that:

Apple killed SMB (Windows Sharing) support for Time Machine, that’s what. So, basically, Time Machine can’t see the Windows Home Server shares… or any other PC drive shares. Support has been scaled back to AFP (Mac OS) file sharing only.

So, It was planned to be in there but due to bugs and crashes SMB was withdrawn at the last minute from Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on October 26th, 2007

avast! WHS Edition AntiVirus Updated to 3 Beta

Out a couple of days later than expected is beta 3 of avast! WHS Edition. The first dedicated antivirus add-in for Windows home Server.

avast
This latest beta version 4.7.18, 10/16/2007 has:

  • Yet another attempt to set the firewall exceptions correctly on all OS’s
  • GUI improvements (WHS Console)
  • Minor fixes
  • Updates in the AV engine (new unpackers etc.)
  • Still missing: help files, and full localization of the WHS Edition (although some languages are already available in beta 3)

Both console and client machine downloads are available and support is available from the avast! 4 WHS section of the avast! forums.

add-ins • Other Software • Windows Home Server
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By on October 26th, 2007

Firefly Add-In

Firefly is an open source media server software that enables you to stream music from the Roku Soundbridge and iTunes. Developer Nic Bedford has ported the current windows system tray application from Firefly into an add-in that can be run directly from the Windows Home Server console.

libraryjl3  

serverov3

Download: http://www.nicbedford.co.uk/files/InstallFireflyWHS.msi

Copy the msi file to your WHS (\\SERVER\Software\Add-Ins) and then install it via the WHS console settings tab.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on October 25th, 2007

Microsoft Knowledge Base Updated

The Microsoft Knowledge Base has been updated to include new article 943908, How to turn off the Backup feature in Windows Live OneCare. When a computer that is connected to the network is running Windows Home Server, it is recommend that you turn off the Backup feature in Windows Live OneCare and use the Backup feature in Windows Home Server.This Knowledge Base article describes two methods on how to accomplish this.

News • Windows Home Server
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