By on September 09th, 2007

Do Beta Testers get a copy of the released version of WHS?

There has been talk over on the Windows Home Server forums about if beta testers would get a free copy of Home Server. As Ken Warren a daily poster in the forums stated:

The WHS team never said that beta testers would get a free copy, although they did say that they would do “something nice” for the testers. I personally think they delivered this by giving us first shot at the homeserver.com dynamic DNS server. Testers who were in the program before August 3rd (2007) were able to get first crack at names in that space, which means that we got (pretty much) the names we wanted.

So no free copy, but we didn’t expect that anyway (did we?). Personally I would just like to be considered in the beta program for Version 2 of Windows Home Server when it is available to beta testers in 2008/09.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on September 08th, 2007

Website Management Add-In Whiist UPDATED 0.78

Whiist the Website Management Add-In for Windows Home Server has been updated to version 0.78

whist

The Add-In allows you to create and manage web content on your Home Server. After installation Whiist adds a “Website Management” tab to your Home Server Console. Using this tab you can easily create and manage new websites, photo albums, and homepage links.

More information, the download and an installation guide is available at Andrew Grant’s site, Andrewlive!

Thanks to Paul Roberts for pointing out the update.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on September 08th, 2007

Access your Shared Folders

You can access your shared folders on your Windows Home Server by either clicking on the “Shared Folders on Server” icon on the desktop or by right clicking the Windows Home Server tray icon and left clicking the “Shared Folders” text.

You may also map your shares to a drive letter on your PCs (client) by using either one of the following:

A: In My Computer, select Tools, Map Network Drive in XP or Computer and Map Network Drive on the header in Vista. Then select the letter you want to assign from the drop-down list, then click BROWSE. This opens a network navigator and you can select your server and the share you want. Finally, before clicking OK select the Reconnect at logon box to make the drive come back next session.

B: Click Start then Run and type cmd for XP. In Vista click the round orb and in the Start Search box type cmd.exe. In the box that opens type this command: NET USE <drive letter:> \\<server name>\<share name>, where <drive letter> is the drive you want to map to followed by a colon, <server name> is the name of your WHS server and <share name> is the share you want to map to. You need to add /PERSISTENT:YES to the end to make the share remains constant when you restart or log back on.

Example:

NET USE S: \\SERVER\Software /PERSISTENT:YES

that’s

NET(space)USE(space)S:(space)\\SERVER\Software(space)/PERSISTENT:YES

 

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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By on September 08th, 2007

HP MediaSmart Servers Datasheet Available

Thanks to HP’s Press Office we have the PDF Data Sheet for the HP MediaSmart Server. Made available for the “Your Life Is The Show” event in New York City it makes interesting reading.

HP_MediaSmart_Server_Datasheet_0001    HP_MediaSmart_Server_Datasheet_0002

HP EX470/EX475 MediaSmart Servers Datasheet. (Right Click and Save Target As…)

 

Hardware • News • Windows Home Server
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By on September 08th, 2007

HP's MediaSmart Home Server Custom Software

Thanks to Terry at We Got Served for leading us to the PC World Magazine article detailing the software that will be included with the HP MediaSmart EX470 and EX475 home servers.

Large OEM manufacturers like Dell, Packard Bell etc like to customize the software experience for the end user. Here is HP’s offering:

Customizing MediaSmart Software

MediaSmart_Server

The Suggested Configuration Steps tab guides you through customizing the server once you’ve connected it to your network. Here you set up user accounts, thereby restricting or permitting access to the server.

Remote-Access

Remote_Access

This remote-access feature enables you to connect remotely to your home server so that you can upload and download files, or access other PCs on the network via a built-in remote-desktop application.

A tool in the MediaSmart Server Console helps you assign your server a common name, either by using the HP Customizable Domain service or by going to Windows Live Custom Domains, where you can assign your server a domain name such as YourName.hpmediasmart.com or YourName.homeserver.com. As you can see via the screen shot TZO.com is also included as one of the options as well.

Media Sharing

Media_Sharing

Photo Webshare for displaying your pics with a slide show experience.

 
Share and Stream

Share_Stream

The iTunes feature that HP has added enables you to configure the server to sync iTunes libraries on connected PCs to the server, creating a single giant iTunes library that the entire household can connect to and enjoy.

Hardware • Other Software • Windows Home Server
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By on September 08th, 2007

OSB and Non OSB?

As you may have noticed when we published the Windows Home Server Part Numbers that Germany had two versions available, an OSB and a Non OSB version. Thanks to the German language Homeserver Blog which led us to the source we now know what the differences are.

For your information we have included a link to a German language page at Microsoft with the details, remember Google can help with a translation.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on September 08th, 2007

Microsoft Hires WebGuide Add-In Developer

Doug Berrett developer of WebGuide has been hired by Microsoft. Doug has now made WebGuide for Media Center free which means that when the version for Windows Home Server comes out of beta we will not have to pay for that either – We just hope that development continues by someone else as Doug following his promotion has decided to stop development of WebGuide apart from providing updates for significant bugs.

WebGuide is an amazing piece of software that allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs and to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Windows XP Media Center edition or Windows Vista Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate PC. 

He will be a big asset to the Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server teams.

WebGuide 

The beta version of WebGuide for Windows Home Server can be downloaded from here as well as a PDF installation guide. (Right Click and Save Target As… )

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on September 07th, 2007

States Pre-Order Windows Home Server

Whoopee! pre-orders are now being taken for Windows Home Server at buy.com for $177.99 . It is temporarily sold out but the site states “Place your order today and be one of the first to receive this product when it arrives!”

UPDATE: Use Google Checkout at buy.com and save $10 on the price and TechOnWeb.com have it to pre-order also @ $163.69.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on September 06th, 2007

Windows Home Server Connect site allowing feedback again

The Windows Home Server Connect site is allowing feedback and suggestions to be posted again.

8aae888a-38ac-47fa-bda4-293177b23408

The Windows Home Server team wants your suggestions and ideas of how to make WHS better.  They rely on the community to vote and rate suggestions to help the team prioritize what is important. 

Before posting take the time to search for existing suggestions prior to submitting a new idea, and remember Version 2 can be a better Home Server with your help.

Remember the Windows Home Server team reviews your suggestions on a periodic basis to understand the top ideas from the community.  Due to the volume of feedback, the team cannot commit to respond to each suggestion.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on September 05th, 2007

AnandTech Previews Windows Home Server

AnandTech, the leading IT source for hardware analysis and industry news has a great 10 page preview on Windows Home server including performance data. Head on over there because Ryan Smith’s article is well worth a read.

News • Windows Home Server
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