Windows Home Server Blog

Windows Server 2012 Essentials Release Candidate is now available!

Ning — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 03:20:03 GMT

As we recently announced on the Windows Server 2012 Essentials blog, the Release Candidate is now available for download. Windows Server 2012 Essentials has been designed as the ideal first server for Small Business and Home Offices. Although there will not be a next version of Windows Home Server (WHS), Microsoft is combining the features that were previously only found in WHS, such as support for DLNA-compliant devices and media streaming, into Windows Server 2012 Essentials. WHS customers are encouraged to evaluate our new server offering – you will find most of your favorite WHS features, including support for add-ins, are there, along with some key improvements:

Data Protection

Storage Spaces. Storage Spaces offers easy capacity expansion and resiliency to protect against physical disk failures, which has been a widespread request from our customers and partners. In Essentials, we have integrated this new feature of Windows Server 2012 into the Dashboard and its wizards.
File History. File History stores previous versions of files on Windows 8 client machines and allows users to easily restore them as needed. You can use the Dashboard to configure this feature for all your client computers and store the history centrally on the Essentials server.
Microsoft Online Backup Service. Essentials integrate with Windows Azure Online Backup, making it simple for customers to register their server and perform online backups. This provides an additional layer of protection above local Windows Server Backup mechanisms.
> 2 TB disk support. WHS 2011 did not support disk drives greater than 2TB for backup and restore. This was a common request from customers (especially from Home Server customers) and was added in Essentials.

Anywhere Access

Remote Web Access (RWA). In Essentials, RWA will work well on touch‑first devices, such as the Windows 8 based touch devices, the iPad and Android tablet devices. RWA now supports HTTP progressive download media streaming in additional to Silverlight media streaming. An administrator will also be able to control which shared folders appear in RWA.
Windows 8 client app. We are building a Windows 8 client app for accessing your Essentials server. Windows 8 app enables users to quickly and easily access and control their server. This is our first client app that supports an off-line mode for people who are remote.
Remote Client Join and Connection Monitoring. Essentials allows administrators to see who is (and has been) remotely connected to the server. It also allows client machines to join their server without having to be inside the company network.
SDK extensibility with Web Services. This is more of a developer‑facing feature, but we are very excited about the possibilities this opens up. Essentials has a set of web services that allow developers to write a new set of apps that interact with the server. As an implementation note, we use these services inside the Windows 8 client app and Windows Phone applications.

Media support

We enabled the core media experiences of Windows Home Server 2011 on Essentials, which brings the ability to easily share pictures as well as stream video and music from the server. Media on the server can be shared in a number of ways, including DLNA-compliant devices on the server network, Remote Web Access, as well as the Windows Phone client and the Windows 8 client app.

For a complete list of new features, please see this post. We look forward to talking to you in the Windows Server 2012 Essentials Forum.

Connecting Windows 8 Consumer Preview with Windows Home Server

Ning — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:06:00 GMT

Windows 8 Consumer Preview has been released, we encourage customers testing the new client platform with Windows Home Server. Note this is for testing purpose only. Installing beta product in a production environment is not recommended or fully supported.

Below is the guidance connecting Windows 8 Consumer Preview (CP) to Windows Home Server.

1. Guidance for Windows Home Server 2011

Major functionalities work well when Windows 8 Consumer Preview connects with Home Server 2011, below are 4 known issues you might experience during Beta testing:

Issue 1

You need to enable .net 3.5 on windows 8 in order to join WHS 2011

o Issue 2
Power setting of Client backup may not work.

o Issue 3
The thumbnail of picture folder is not displayed properly on Remote Web Access page.

o Issue 4
When you try to access the share folders from home group joined client computer, you are prompted for credential.

o For how to workaround these issues, please see this Wiki.

2. Guidance for Windows Home Server (2007 version)

Major functionalities work well when Windows 8 Consumer Preview connects with Home Server (2007 version), below are 2 known issues you might experience during Beta testing:

o Issue 1

When the Windows 8 client computer is connected to Windows Home Server, if you use Windows Live ID to log on, you need to provide additional user credentials for accessing the server resources.

o Issue 2

Windows Home Server Client Connector setup may not install the OEM client software.

o For how to workaround these issues, please see this Wiki.

We are actively investigating solutions to ensure compatibility between RTM version of Windows 8 client computer and Windows Home Server.

If you experience additional issues, please discuss with the community, or file a bug on the connect site.

Viridian PC Systems announces two new server models are available to order

Windows Home Server Team — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:36:00 GMT

Viridian PC Systems Ltd have announced two new server models are available to order for Windows Home Server 2011 customers.

The VS-5HA builds on the success of the original VS-4HA, and like that model delivers a low-power solution based on an Intel Atom D525 and features dual Intel network adapters. The improvements are to be found in the chassis. The VS5 range are built inside an all-aluminum chassis sporting clean lines and modern looks and equipped with 5 hot-swap drive bays, all of which are available for data drives, in addition to an internal system drive.

The VS-5HC uses the same sleek aluminum chassis and delivers all the power of Intel’s ‘Sandy Bridge’ line of processors. The entry level model currently sports a Pentium G620T dual-core CPU which delivers a great combination of affordability, performance and efficiency. For those requiring more processing power, a wide range of processor upgrades are available, including the Intel Core i7 2600S. For those wanting a more ‘enterprise’ feel to their server, it can even be upgraded to the Intel Xeon E3-1260L along with ECC memory. All the CPUs selected for our range are low-power variants designed for energy efficiency, even the quad-core Xeon which packs all the features of Intel’s enterprise-level processors yet has a TDP of just 45W.

Like all of Viridian’s servers, the VS-5HC is built using server-grade components designed for 24/7 use, with dual Intel network adapters which support teaming and redundancy. The VS-5HC also features Intel Active Management Technology when coupled with a compatible processor (i5, i7 and Xeon)

Both servers are available pre-installed with Windows Home Server 2011, carry a list of options that include memory upgrades, e-SATA ports, mirrored system drives, data drives and hot-swappable redundant power supplies.

For more information visit the Viridian site at http://www.viridianpcshop.com

PC Specialist to release Windows Home Server 2011

Windows Home Server Team — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:27:37 GMT

UK based custom pc and laptop manufacturer PC Specialist Ltd, have taken the first steps towards entering the Windows Home Server Hardware market.

Using their intelligent configurator, you can quickly scan through the vast range of cases and components to design your perfect Home Server. PC Specialist will then build, test and deliver your custom built Home Server within just two weeks!

Every Home Server from PC Specialist is built to order using the latest hardware from the leading brands such as AMD, Intel, Samsung, and Western Digital so you’re not only getting excellent build quality you’re also getting the latest and most powerful hardware available today!

Start building your Windows Home Server today!

Acer RevoCenter Windows Home Server 2011 based server ready to hit markets!

Windows Home Server Team — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:00:32 GMT

Just announced, the new Acer RevoCenter RC110/RC111 can store all of your digital treasures and share them with family and friends! This compact-yet-powerful storage device features a hardworking processor and hefty hard disk space for your ever-growing collection of photos, sounds, videos, movies and more.

Stay tuned for Acer announcement availability dates for global markets, and feel free to download the RevoCenter datasheet for more information.

Windows Home Server 2011 Learning Bites HomeGroup

Windows Home Server Team — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:31:00 GMT

Windows Home Server 2011 empowers your home network with “Always-on” access to all your files, both in your home and away from your home. Homegroup provides a quick and easy way to enable the sharing of files with-in your home amongst all your Windows 7 PCs. In this Learning Bites video, you are shown how to enable HomeGroup on Windows Home Server 2011 and how to take advantage of some of the more advanced HomeGroup features, such as PlayTo.

If there is something specific you would like to learn more about, please feel visit our Facebook page and post a comment!

To learn more about Windows Home Server, visit http://www.Microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer

Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector for Windows Home Server 2011 Releases

Windows Home Server Team — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:33:20 GMT

Today I am pleased to announce the Release of the Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector for Windows Home Server 2011 (aka Integrating Windows Phone 7 with your WHS 2011 Server).

The Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector add-in enables you to connect to your home, business, or storage server by using your Windows Phone 7 phone. This document provides help for the integration of Windows Phone 7 into Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

After completing the integration of your Windows Phone 7 phone into a WHS 2011 server, you can use your phone to perform remote server management tasks (such as view alerts, manage users, and start and stop backups). In addition, with appropriate permissions, you can use your phone to view or access media files that are stored on the server.

The Phone connecter requires both a server sided add-in which you can download from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=214671 , and a Windows Phone 7 Application which can be downloaded through the Zune Market place on your phone or via your PC. You can simply search for My Home Server to find the application.

For further information you can access the Windows 7 Phone Connector help site on TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh319881.aspx.

Windows Home Server 2011 Learning Bites Remote Web Access

Windows Home Server Team — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:36:40 GMT

Remote Web Access allows you to stream music, videos and pictures remotely over the web to almost anywhere in the world. In essence, Remote Web Access is your personal in the cloud storage space. If you’d like to learn how to setup Remote Web Access or how to use specific features, check out the Windows Home Server 2011 Learning Bites video below!

If there is something specific you would like to learn more about, please feel free to ask below in the comments!

To learn more about Windows Home Server, visit http://www.Microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer

Daniel Mihajlovic’s Tornado and Windows Home Server story!

Windows Home Server Team — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:39:37 GMT

We recently received an amazing story that we had to share! It’s an inspirational story from a family that endured a disaster and highlights how their Windows Home Server helped them start the process of recovering their life. Thanks for sharing with us Daniel. Your words have been inspirational and we’re thankful everyone is OK!

Here’s the story in Daniel Mihajlovic’s own words:

“At 5:30pm on 5/22, my immediate family, my parents, my brother and his friend were sitting down to dinner. We had just started eating, watching the TV, when the news indicated a massive cell moving to the north and east of us. The cell took an almost 90 degree turn and headed towards Joplin. We went outside to look at the weather. It was dark green. We saw debris flying. The first siren sounded, and my wife moved our children to the laundry room. We heard the second siren right before we lost power. And then I heard it; the sound of a train where no train should be. On a train, it's a cool and recognizable sound; on a tornado, it's the most evil thing I've ever heard. I got everyone else in the laundry room moments before the tornado hit. My wife and my brother's friend huddled down by the washing machine with our children; I laid on top of the washer with my stepson underneath me. A tree hit the back of our house and broke our windows in and took out the deck. I heard the front of the house being collapsed in like a beer can. The roof was ripped off our heads. Moments later, the winds stopped as the tornado passed on. We improvised a crude ladder out of debris and an ironing board and climbed out. My parents went to a triage center while my wife, kids, and I walked a mile to try to get out of the storm. We found a woman going our way and hitched a ride the other two miles to my wife’s sister's house. Fortunately, the only injury was a gash on my father’s leg that was treated that night.

After we had some time to sort things out, I moved to recovery mode. My wife is a graphic designer by trade and a family history enthusiast as her hobby. As such, she’s never met a piece of data she didn’t like. I have data that goes back eight years that she uses in her projects. Her laptop is done; there is dirt and insulation packed into every hole on it. The hard drive worked briefly on an external adapter, but stopped shortly thereafter. Fortunately, I back up almost daily with Windows Home Server. Unfortunately, if the backup was bad or the server was damaged, she’s out of eight years of data. Miraculously, the server that houses my Windows Home server made it through with only dry insulation inside of it, and a dent in the top of it. Cleaning it out and running it showed no issues to either software or hardware. The Home Server ran without problems, and I had a working backup that was captured days before the tornado hit. She’s back and working on a new laptop with no data loss. Life is far from normal for us still, but at least our family photos and her work projects are intact. Thank you for such a reliable and easy to use product.”

Windows Home Server 2011 Learning Bites Dashboard Overview

Windows Home Server Team — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:05:00 GMT

Are you curious about Windows Home Server 2011 and would like to learn more? Learning Bite videos provide a quick and easy way to learn more about Windows Home Server 2011 and it’s features! Let me present to you the Dashboard Overview, the first of many videos to come!

Windows Home Server Learning Bites–Dashboard Overview

If there is something specific you would like to learn more about, please feel free to ask below in the comments!

To learn more about Windows Home Server, visit http://www.Microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer

Viridian PC announces their enterprise level Windows Home Server!

Windows Home Server Team — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:55:21 GMT

Viridian PC announced a new release of Windows Home Server 2011 powered systems. These energy-efficient Windows Home Servers are based on enterprise grade hardware and features that are straight out of a data center and into your home!

VS-4HA Colorado Edition 4Tb Specifications :

Intel Atom D525, 1.8 GHz, dual core, 64bit, 1MB cache
2Gb DDR3 800MHz SO-DIMM (max 4GB)
2 x Intel 82574L Gigabit LAN ports
4 x 1Tb SATA hot-swap drives, 1 x internal 160 Gb SATA drive

Key Distinguishing Features:

Dual Intel Network Adapters that support teaming and redundancy
IPMI remote management with KVM over IP
Physical dimensions : 9.85” x 7.88” x 11.82” (H x W x D)

With-in a few weeks, Viridian PC also plans on releasing a more powerful server based on Intel Sandy Bridge processors – more power for great Windows Home Server 2011 features like video transcoding.

Learn more about this great new WHS 2011 appliance and how to get one for yourself at
http://viridianpcshop.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=35_37

Announcing the RC of the Windows Home Server 2011 Windows Phone 7 Connector

Windows Home Server Team — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:55:00 GMT

Today we are pleased to announce the Release Candidate of the Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector for Windows Home Server 2011 (aka Integrating Windows Phone 7 with your WHS 2011 Server). The purpose of this Add-in is to enable Remote Server Management tasks and relay Media Streams for WHS 2011 including:

Alerts

After you complete the authentication steps with the server that you are trying to connect to, an alerts listing is the first panorama item that the application launches into. This feature brings the Alert Viewer that you know from the server, to the phone.

If an alert is displayed white, it is active and included in the alert count. If an alert is dimmed, that means the alert is disabled, and it is not included in the alert count. Any alert item can be clicked to view the full alert text just as on a computer. Contextual menu options include enabling or disabling an alert, and performing a repair action if one was assigned to this alert.

Users

The user-panorama item performs basic user management tasks, including:

Viewing user account details
Enable or disable a user account
Change a user account password

If you disable a user account, that is a reversible action. The moment a user account gets disabled, it causes the same effect as it would if you disable it by using the dashboard. The user’s access to Remote Web Access, the phone application, and any server resources is turned off.

Devices

“Devices” is a panorama item that lets you:

View server-joined computer and Mac details.
View the backup status that every device last reported to the server.
Start or stop a backup for any computer or the server (from the contextual menu).

Media

The Media panorama lets you discover and view streams of media elements that you stored on your server in the appropriate shared folders (such as Music, Video and Picture shares).

Music

MP3 non-Digital Rights Management-protected songs will be streamed directly from the server to your phone. Album art is also transported. Your library is searchable and can be organized in different views to help find what you want fast.

Pictures

“Pictures” has a variety of functions:

Discover all .png and .jpg images that are stored in the Pictures shared folder on the server. Subfolders are recognized.
Open a picture full-screen to view it on the phone.
Save a copy of the picture to the phone, using its original dimensions and resolution (to be viewed later in the built-in Pictures hub of any Windows Phone 7).
Take a picture with the phone’s camera and upload it to the server.
Upload any picture that is stored in the Pictures hub of the phone to the server.

Videos

The “Videos” feature allows you to discover and view videos that are stored on your server in the Videos shared folder.

Even though discoverable by this feature, the variety of video formats is high and not all formats can be streamed. For details about which video formats can be streamed from the server and accepted by the phone, see Supported Media Codecs for Windows Phone.

Live Tile Support

If you pin the application to the home screen of your Windows Phone 7, you will be able to see a variety of at-a-glance information without launching into the application. An opt-in using the settings menu is required.

The at-a-glance information includes:

Count and type of network health alerts.
Percentage of storage use of your main disk.
Server name sending this information.

The Windows Phone 7 application requires both a server sided add-in to be installed on the WHS 2011 Server, as well as Windows 7 Phone application downloadable via marketplace.

For further information, and access to the downloads to start testing today, please visit http://connect.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver. Please note this is a release candidate and as such is for testing purposes only.

Acer RevoCenter powered by Windows Home Server 2011 announced at Computex!

Windows Home Server Team — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:03:35 GMT

Excitement has been building around “What’s Next” with Windows Home Server 2011 and with that excitement comes the Acer RevoCenter!

*Microsoft booth at Computex Taipei

Acer used Computex 2011 (May 31 – July 4) to announced the new Acer RevoCenter powered by Windows Home Server 2011. The Acer RevoCenter was connected with a variety of devices showcasing a true always on Connected Home experience. Many people were interested to see scenarios where they could access their media anywhere in the world from the Windows Phone 7 to their Windows PC.

*Acer RevoCenter as shown in the Acer booth at Computex in Taipei

Steven Guggenheimer also demonstrated Windows Home Server 2011 ecosystem at his keynote. The original video linked below was packed full of Microsoft goodies. If you would like to watch the full video in length, please click here!

Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show “CES”, the Windows Home Server team produced a detailed blog about how Windows Home Server 2011 works with Windows Phone 7. To get a better view on the full feature set, please click here to learn more!

WHS 2011 Online Evaluation Experience Now Available

Windows Home Server Team — Tue, 10 May 2011 02:10:26 GMT

Today I am pleased to say the online evaluation experience for WHS 2011 is now ready. This provides customers the ability to walk through both client and server interaction freely, or follow a suggested demonstration path with the evaluation manual which will also launch with the online experience. Available 24 hours per day, it provides a super simple way to experience WHS without the need for hardware,

Try it out for yourself on our temporary launching site at http://online.holsystems.com/portals/sbs/whs/. Over the next few weeks we will be updating the WHS ms.com website in line with many of our partner GA’s activities and have a full introduction portal to the online experience.

Let me preempt one immediate question I am sure will be asked – When can I download an evaluation version so I can test at home on my own hardware? The answer to this is that we are not currently planning to release a downloadable evaluation version. Some of the embedded third-party codecs we use within WHS 2011 do not allow us to provide a trial version due to licensing agreements. As a result we can only offer an online experience. We are still working with many of our OEM’s on additional evaluation experiences and may have more information in the future on other ways to trial WHS 2011.

Tranquil PC releases LEO HS4 running WHS 2011

Windows Home Server Team — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:49:35 GMT

Earlier this week Tranquil PC announced the release of the Leo HS4 from Tranquil PC, powered by Windows Home Server 2011. The powerful central processor supplied with the Leo HS4 ensures that you will benefit from the latest features supplied with WHS 2011, including on-the-fly media transcoding and fast disk management virtualization.

Leo HS4 Home Server appliance

2TB Low Energy Primary Hard Disk
2GB DDR3 RAM
Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor (i3-2100T 2.5GHz)
Media Kit including PC Restore CD and Server Restore DVD
24 month RTB (return to base) warranty

Learn more about this great new WHS appliance and how to get one for yourself at http://www.tranquilpcshop.co.uk/products/Leo-HS4.html