HP MediaSmart Servers $150 off – Two Days Only

Starting today – Wednesday 26th August 2009 for TWO DAYS ONLY, if you buy either the HP MediaSmart EX485 or the EX487 directly from HP you will get an instant rebate of $150.

Just click here.

MSS Money Off

So if you are in the market for a HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server, now is a good time to buy.

The Xtreamer Player – A Real Cheap Solution for Media Streaming

xt_TV

This cool little device has just been announced…..

The Xtreamer player is the cheapest way to play and stream HD (MKV H.264) movies or user-generated videos, listen to high-quality digital music and show high-resolution slideshows of your family photos on your TV. Experience the spectacular picture quality of HD video and crystal clear sound clarity of digital audio.

Simply put, this tiny box, approximately the size of a small book, or a 3.5" Hard Disk, will play back almost all Media Files, up to 1080 HD !

  • Play back of Network stored files, ie from a Windows Home Server or NAS
  • Playback of local Hard Disk files (the unit can hold a 2.5" Hard Disk)
  • Playback of local files from USB sticks
  • Serving of local files to other players (it’s a server too)
  • Internet file experience (ie Youtube, weather, themed sites, ie cooking)
  • Simple to connect to HDMI or SCART TV
  • Wired or wireless operation (WiFi network and active antenna (£25.00) required)
  • Simple operation
  • AVAILABLE to pre-order later this week (or reserve now)

wiringA

UK stockist, UK support !

RESERVE an Xtreamer TODAY – theXtreamer.com are now accepting reservations for the next batch of units to be delivered.  If you reserve a unit, you will be the first to be able to order and receive the Xtreamer during the first week of September.  All reservation messages / orders will also receive a FREE WiFi option -  normally costing £25.00 !! 

Launch price for the Xtreamer is a cool £99.00 incl VAT ! (+ £8.00 carriage) – don’t delay, reserve yours.

UPDATE: Mine is coming next week so I will do a full review then, it does look cool!

ADDITIONAL UPDATE: The website can be found here. The proper website is now live and accepting orders.

Building another Windows Home Server on a Friday night – PART ONE

This article is the first of a three part series of my building and setting up a Windows Home Server for a remote location. The parental units just bought a vacation home and I am going to build a WHS to run and watch the house while they are not using it. The WHS will control the lights, sprinklers, and cameras in addition to the regular duties of a Windows Home Server.

WHS parts in the Garage

Background

This WHS will be my fourth WHS system that I monitor and my second home build. I am choosing to build because I had previously bought an OEM WHS from Newegg that should have been used for another installation. Since I already have the software, I bought an Inspiron 530 from the Dell Outlet and will use that for the WHS. Size is of no importance on this install and the larger case will actually be of benefit as you will see later in this article series.

Since I have already written articles on each facet of this installation this series will focus on the process of working your own system and configuration. It is all about the planning and getting the good deals. Seriously.

Equipment Needed

  • WHS OEM software
  • New or Used PC (that meets minimum requirements)
  • My Standard Six Add-Ins
  • mControl Add-In
  • Assorted Insteon Power Modules, PowerLinc and Irrigation Controller
  • Linksys Internet Home Monitoring Camera
  • Uninterruptible Power Supply (pretty much mandatory for remote locations)
  • Six Pack of Beer (optional as always but preferred for this installation)

Price Considerations

The WHS I am building for this install is going to cost me $198.03 plus the cost of the WHS software I had already purchased a few months ago. The total cost for these two components is $307.77. In a normal situation I would suggest a refurbished EX470 from HP at $379 with 25% Bing current cashback putting your total at about $321. I would also suggest a LX195 when they go on sale for about $300. Honestly though, I love hardware so although I have bought the EX470 and LX195 for my family I like the bigger cases and options for my home built systems.

Options

When I built my first system last year I did not get a DVD drive. The DVD drive is required for a standard WHS install. So, this brings up the question of what are really the requirements. Being my second build I looked through the outlet to find some of my basic requirements:

  • 32 bit Intel processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • DVD Drive
  • Second SATA Bay

I have not collected any data for average Add-In memory usage but 2GB seems to be the minimum for me to run my Standard Six Add-Ins. You may want more if you plan on using McAfee or other virus software.

Mental note: The USB drive WHS installation is also an option for smaller case builds (no DVD) but will not be used in my install.

IMPORTANT: These are just my requirements but should be considered the minimum for any standard WHS build. The actual requirements from Microsoft can be found at:

How To Install And Set Up Windows Home Server

I like the larger Dell cases since they often have room for additional cards, drives and SATA cables. The large cases have plenty of room to work in but often trade off on power and fan noise. Since this is a remote location I do not care about the noise or power deltas.

If you look at the inside of the case below you can see that I can add in PCI cards, more RAM and even another SATA hard drive for little cost. In addition, since this box is a normal PC, it has the VGA outputs so I can do everything directly on the WHS. I usually use the Console or RDC but every once in a while (at home) I want to use the monitor on my home built.

Look at all the pretty numbers

Mental note: If you can get a system with a upgraded operating system you can use that license for another machine. For example, if you bought a outlet Vista Premium machine you could use that OS to upgrade an old XP Home machine that you already have. Since you are erasing the OS and the partitions you no longer need the OS.

I ordered my Dell and it arrived on Saturday morning via Fed Ex.

dell

Other Equipment and Hardware

In addition to the WHS installation I am going to add mControl with cameras, lighting and irrigation modules. I will also consume the beers over multiple Friday nights so please do not try and drink them all in one night. Well, if they are light beers then it might be all right.

Since this install will be at a remote site I want to take everything I need with me. If I plan ahead I will not need to buy anything and play full price at a retail outlet. I have 7 more business days before the trip so I am looking around for a few more small parts before I drive up to the house. In addition, I am also going to upgrade one of my SATA drives and will use that drive as a secondary drive in the new WHS. Recycle and Reuse. Seriously.

I will be back next week with the second article where I discuss preparation of the additional equipment and provide links for detailed data on each item.

I am not ready to set the pig on fire. Not quite yet.

Viva WHS. Seriously.

See you next Friday night.

Timothy Daleo

Review of the HP SimpleSave SD320A Portable Hard Drive

As you may know, we have reviewed both desktop hard drives and portable hard drives here at Using Windows Home Server, and we have our hands on one of the new HP SimpleSave SD320A portable hard drives and its time for the review.

IMG_1262

HP say “the HP SimpleSave external hard drive series for customers needing a simple and automatic back up for photos, video, music and data. “

The new SimpleSave hard drive family consists of two products, SimpleSave Portable, available in 320 and 500 GB capacities, and SimpleSave Desktop, available in 1 and 2 TB capacities. Both devices feature pre-installed backup software. SimpleSave is so simple that anyone can use it. The software automatically finds and backs up the data on the PC, and after the first backup, automatically updates the backup with file changes whenever the computer is idle.

A single SimpleSave drive can be used to backup all the PCs in the home, with data from each PC clearly identified by name on the drive to make finding and restoring a specific PC’s data is a snap.

The SimpleSave hard drives are designed with heat-dissipating cases that stay cool and run quietly without a fan.  The SimpleSave Portable is powered by the PC’s USB 2.0 port and does not require an external power supply. In addition, the 2.5-inch portable model is designed with a shock-resistant case to protect the drive from the bumps and jolts of everyday usage.

Other features include:

· Generous storage space:  The ultra portable 2.5-inch SimpleSave portable is available in 320GB and 500GB. The 3.5-inch SimpleSave Desktop ships with 1TB or 2TB of storage.

· Hundreds of file formats supported:  Supports the most common file types for photo, music and documents including, jpg, mpeg, bmp, gif, tif, mp3, aac, xls, ppt, doc, pdf, tax, qdf and many more.

· Frequent backup update: Backs up new and changed files every time the PC is idle for five minutes.

· Plug-and-play storage: Connect it to a USB port and it’s ready to use.

· Support for large files: NTFS file system offers improved support for metadata and use of advanced data structures, improving performance, reliability and disk space.

· Two-year warranty

The SD320A drive is small, quiet, and has the same glossy black look about it as the HP MediaSmart servers. In fact, if it wasn’t for the HP SimpleSave logo on the front you would think it was just any other portable hard drive.

IMG_1266IMG_1267

The only connector on the whole of the drive is the USB connector on the back. It is completely powered by USB so there are no extra power cables to have to carry along with you.

IMG_1269

INSIDE (AND OUTSIDE) THE BOX

The box itself is small and only contains the SD320A drive, and USB cable and a quick installation guide.

IMG_1261 IMG_1263 IMG_1264 IMG_1265

USING THE SD320A

Connecting up the SD320A was a breeze – well it should be really, it’s only a single USB cable connected to the SD320A and the other end into the computer you want use with it.

If this is the first time you have connected the SD320A to a computer, Windows will automatically install the relevant drivers for you.

Driver installation

At this point, two separate AutoPlay boxes pop up, one for the HP software and one for the drive itself.

CD Drive autoplay HP SimpleSave autoplay

While some may find this a little confusing, this is the norm on most USB storage devices these days. Effectively you have a virtual CD (that contains the relevant software) and then the drive itself (which also contains the HP software and the documentation).

Ignoring the HP SimpleSave drive itself for the moment, we shall start up the software by running the HPLauncher software offered to us via the virtual CD drive (the N drive in my case).

HP SimpleSave logo

The first thing that comes up after the pretty HP SimpleSave logo screen is the licence agreement.

Licence Agreement

This is a nice feature, after you have accepted the agreement, you are presented with the Welcome Screen, and a countdown clock telling you that the backup will automatically begin.

23-08-2009 15-15-00

Because I wanted to be specific about what I wanted backed up, I clicked on My Options. From here you can select the file types and locations that will be backed up.

23-08-2009 15-15-09 23-08-2009 15-40-42

You can leave the defaults, which is just about everything everywhere, or you can be very specific. In my case I want to back up all my music.

23-08-2009 15-15-21 23-08-2009 15-16-27

Once I have selected what I want backed up and from where, I just need to click the Start button.

23-08-2009 15-16-39

The backup is prepared for me – basically this is the program going and checking my drives for the chosen files.

23-08-2009 15-16-47

I can then see a summary of what will be backed up.

23-08-2009 15-18-05

I can look a little bit deeper if I want and even exclude items if I wish.

23-08-2009 15-18-38

Then again, it’s just a case of clicking the Start button and waiting while it performs the backup. You can see the status along the way.

23-08-2009 15-18-49 23-08-2009 15-22-43

So just sit back and relax – you will be told when the backup is complete.

23-08-2009 15-31-25

If you do want to see the report, clicking the View Report button will fire up Notepad and show you some information.

23-08-2009 15-31-42

Now the backup part is only the beginning. You will at some point want to recover something from the backup. You will notice next time the software starts that you have two extra buttons there were not there before – Explore and Restore.

23-08-2009 15-51-13

Explore is useful for finding the file you want to restore before going into the restore function – although to be honest, it it just as quick, if not quicker to just fire up the restore process, and then look that way, although the explore option does allow you to access the file if you want to play them back for example.

23-08-2009 15-51-28

When you click on Restore you just have to pick the backup you want to use, what you want to restore (you can restore everything or just a single file, or any combination in between).

23-08-2009 15-42-48 23-08-2009 15-42-58

Then you just need to decide where you want to restore to – the original location or somewhere else. This is very useful as you may not want to overwrite what is already there.

23-08-2009 15-43-59

Then you just wait while the restore takes place.

23-08-2009 15-44-14 23-08-2009 15-44-53

And as with the backup, you can see a report at the end if you wish.

23-08-2009 15-45-08

CONCLUSION AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Well it is so simple to use that even my Dad could use it. Just plug it in, select what you want to back up, and just wait while it backs up for you. So, it actually does exactly what it says on the tin – Saves Simply!!!

It is really easy to select or rather unselect what you don’t want to backup with a simple few clicks. The software is easy to use and is clean and simple to understand. It tells you how much space you need and how much is remaining, so no worries about getting half way through and it running out of space, then the pain of having to manually clean up files so that you can start the backup again.

If you want to gain access to anything that you have backed up it is easy as well, just open the folder on the drive and hey presto! It really is a dream to use.

You don’t have to use the software either, if you just want to copy and paste something to the drive you can. But obviously you have to go find the bits you want to copy yourself, where as the software will search all your drives to find “music” or “photos” or whatever you want.

The retail prices are as follows (for the US): SimpleSave Portable:  320GB, $119.99; 2.5-inch hard drive, 500GB, $149 and the SimpleSave Desktop:  1TB hard drive , $149.99; 2TB hard drive, $329.99.

Amazon have some good deals already on the drives, the 320GB is $75.95 and the 500GB is $119.99 at the time of writing.

So what are you waiting for? Go get one now! This is highly recommended.

My Windows 7 Book is Finished

Well, for those of you who may be interested, and I’m sure that isn’t many of you, I have now finished my Windows 7 book and it is going back to the publishers tomorrow to start the print run 🙂

Win book_

The book – Windows 7 – Tweaks, Tips and Tricks, published by Babani should be the shops soon (even though Amazon show it at 15th November!)

The book is a full colour collection of hints and tips and some gotchas to get the most out of Windows 7. It is 120 pages long and will retail for £6.99.

I will be running some giveaways for the book once they have come back from the printers, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you really really want to pre-order it from you Amazon, you can by clicking here.

KeepVault version 3.15 Now Available

As you may know, we are fans of KeepVault from Proxure, which is a great add-in that allows you to backup offsite over the Internet.

We did a review of KeepVault 3.0 a few months ago which you can see here.

Proxure have released a new version of KeepVault, version 3.15, today August, 21.  Here are the updates:

· Up to 50% increase in upload speed

· Includes new KeepVault Connector WHS add-in allowing you to sync files from any PC (either local or internet) to your WHS for protection.  Another step forward making the WHS the center of your data protection strategy.

KeepVault 3.15

Download link:

http://www.keepvault.com/builds/current/KeepVaultWHS.exe

And for more information on KeepVault, and Proxure, click here.

The Home Server Show Podcast 53

Dave over at the Home Server Show podcast has just released show number 53.

home_server_show_small

This week’s show includes:

Diehard’s Wish

Home Server Builder Specials

My hard drive failure

Backing up SBS clients to WHS

Dish Network for Media Center cancelled?

New Lenovo D400 WHS

Warranty service for your MediaSmart Server

How to replace your MediaSmart Server Power Supply

You can listen to the MP3 here for click here for other formats.

Enjoy 🙂

MSWHS is Currently Off the Air

Phil over at MSWHS.com has asked me to put out a quick post for him to apologise that MSWHS.com is currently off the air.

If you try to go to Phil’s site you will see a message from WordPress saying that the blog has been suspended for a violation of their Terms of Service.

MSWHS front image

Phil has asked me to point out that he doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong and that the site will be up and running, and better than ever, within the next 7 days.
UPDATE : It’s all back online now!

Installing the AutoExit Add-In to Windows Home Server on a Friday night

Recently I wrote about my five Core Add-Ins for my standard Windows Home Server installations and I am about to add a sixth Add-In to the list. The AutoExit Add-In is one of those rare gems that does not get a lot of attention. This Add-In can save you a lot of time and frustration on your home network.

Asoft About Screen

Background

I am one of the luckiest men on Earth. My wife lets me purchase all of the computer equipment I want. We have two work laptops (VPN networked but not a part of WHS for security reasons), two personal laptops, a photo editing workstation, a laptop in the garage and a HTPC (Home Theater PC) all networked via gigabit to my homebuilt WHS. There are only two of us which means at any given time five of the seven Dell PCs are not being used. Each one has a purpose and I would not change anything, however, keeping them all backed up is a pain in the ass. Is my WHS not doing its job? Let me explain…

We try to save electricity so whenever the PCs are not in use we have them turned off. While the electrical savings add up, so do the WHS warnings about these systems not being backup. The warnings are more of a nuisance since they do get backed up on the weekends when I turn them all on. Some days I am on every computer but some days I am only on one or two. With WHS I can access my movies and media from any PC in the house and even if I do start a PC I will not leave it on all night just to backup. Here is my weekly backup protocol…

I wake up on Saturday morning and head right to the office. I press the power button on my main workstation. I then spin my chair around and press the button on my personal laptop. I then walk out to the kitchen, prep my wife’s coffeemaker and walk out to the garage to press the power button on the garage laptop. I grab a Diet Coke from the garage fridge and walk back inside to the living room where I press the power button on the Hybrid. I walk back the office, set down the Diet Coke and by this time the main workstation is ready for my fingerprint. I repeat the entire walk logging in to each system. Now my house is not big so I am not really complaining about the walk but I would love a better process.

Upon my return to the office I log into the WHS console and back each system up remotely. Once all of the backups are complete I run the WHS BDBB, walk out to the living room and watch Enterprise on my Moxi DVR (not networked) until my phone beeps me when backup warning clears or my wife wakes up, which ever comes first. Unless I am out of town I do this EVERY Saturday. Should I use mControl for the coffeemaker? I could start the brewing from Windows Media Center. Maybe in another article…

Mental Note: You do not have to log in to Windows to start the backup. You can start the backup as soon as the PC becomes available. I log in to each PC to make sure I have latest automatic updates.

Earlier this week Andrew Edney posted a quick update about an Add-In that allows WHS to control your Windows PCs.  I decided to put all other topics on hold until I could get this Add-In reviewed. I cannot wait to see what this Add-In can do for my system and for yours!

Equipment Needed:

AutoExit Add-In from http://www.asoft-ware.com/

Two Beers (optional as always)

Add-In Description

Information about the Add-In comes directly from the ASoft website at http://www.asoft.be/

The website says the following about AutoExit:

  • Shut down your machines over the Windows Home Server network.
  • It can be used to shut down, reboot machines in your home network from within the console.
  • Wake On Lan is also supported, this enables you to easily boot up machines remotely.
  • You can put the machine into hibernation, sleep, log off the user or lock the machine.
  • The server can also be shut down from the toolbar now.
  • You can execute these actions per machine or for all machines.
  • Changes in AutoExit 2009 (minor update):
    – Wake On Lan all clients.
    – Send a message to all connected clients.
    – Warn users when the server is going down.
    – Support for Windows 7.
    – Possibility to the Wake On Lan port to send to.
    – Possibility to enable easy logging on the client side.”

As I mentioned earlier, I first became aware of this Add-In when the AutoExit update was posted by Andrew at:

https://moviesgamesandtech.com/2009/08/12/new-version-of-autoexit-add-in-for-windows-home-server/

Ok, AutoExit looks like a great Add-In, but is it worthy of changing my “Favorite Five” to a “Standard Six”?

Lets set this pig on fire!

Download and Installation

Downloading is easy. This Add-In works like a regular Add-In so save the file to your Software/Add-Ins folder. Just click on the following link:

http://www.asoft.be/

Once you have completed the download open the WHS console and Install the Add-In.

WHS Add-In Screen

Once the WHS console has restarted you can log in to WHS and verify that the installation is complete.

Configuration and Setup

Most of the configuration of this Add-In is done on each machine you want to control from the WHS console. When you first access the Add-In from the WHS console you get the following message:

AutoExit Dialog Box

Unless you need a reminder, click on the “Don’t show this dialog again” check box and click on OK.

WHS Console with Dialog Box

I am going to go to each PC and run the “autoexitclient.exe” file on each system. Below I am doing screen shots of the XP machine in the garage.

During the download and installation a new folder was created called “AutoExit” with the client installer file. Open the Shared Folders on Server and navigate to the \\XXXXX\Software\AutoExit folder. Double click on the file and follow the installation instructions.

AutoExit Client Screen

Once you have completed the installation click on Finish.

AutoExit Setup Complete

My garage system is running XP Home so I will not be able to use the remote desktop function of the Add-In on this system. The system will still respond to the other functionality of AutoExit. Right mouse click on the tray icon and choose Diagnose to see information about your system.

AutoExit Diagnose

Once I have installed the software on the garage PC I go back to office and the WHS console and see the status of this machine on the network. I have omitted the IP address and the MAC address from the pictures. WHS Console AutoExit

I right mouse on the PC and get a list of actions for this system.WHS Console AutoExit

The status of the PC only shows if the PC is online and does not tell whether the PC has had the AutoExit client software installed. You can right click on each machine but it will not control the system until the client package is installed. Interestingly enough the Remote Desktop option does work with systems that support Remote Desktop Connections (RDC).WHS Console AutoExit

Mental Note: The Remote Desktop function from within the Add-In does not require the the Add-In software to be installed first so if your system supports Remote Desktop then you can actually remote in to install the software and save yourself a trip to the PC!

I log in to my HTPC from within the AutoExit Add-In.AutoExit RDC

Through this RDC, I navigate the PC to the server folder and run the AutoExit software.AutoExit RDC Installer

Once the installation is complete you can control your systems as needed and as defined by the operating systems. As you can see below, my wife never leaves her laptop on overnight so this Add-In will be of great benefit to our network and WHS.

WHS Console AutoExit

Everything seems to be working well with the connections however I did experience some issues with the XP machines when they would Hibernate instead of sleeping. Asoft states in their documentation that this is a Windows issue and not from the Add-In. I just unchecked the Hibernation button on the XP machines and they now do not Hibernate when directed to go to sleep.

The Wake On Lan function (WOL) is also available but will not be discussed in this article. I am not going to touch your BIOS and you probably should not either. To enable my WOL I am using DCCU 3.0 from Dell since my five laptops are all Latitude series machines.

For more information on the Wake On Lan functionality please see the Guidelines document in the AutoExit folder and then your manufacturers documentation.

There is also as cool message feature but I doubt I would use it.

AutoExit Message

Conclusion

For anyone with multiple systems in their home network this Add-In is a must. AutoExit is not just about the “Exit” but also about the ease of access to all of your systems. I am going to add AutoExit to my core list of starting Add-Ins for my future installations. Thank you to Asoft for such a rockin’ Add-In.

I would have named this Add-In AutoConnectRemoteOffShutSleepDesktopExitLogLockandSend, (ACROSS DELLS) but that is just me because I am a Dell guy. I guess AutoExit works too.

See you next Friday night,

Timothy Daleo

How To Set Up a Domain Name for Windows Home Server Remote Access

Another step along the way to having remote access for your Windows Home Server is that you need to select a personalized domain name for your Windows Home Server which makes it easier for you to remember the URL to connect to your Windows Home Server when you are away from home. For example, if it was available, I could use edneyfamily.homeserver.com. The only part of the domain name I need to choose is the edneyfamily part.

Because the personalized domain name is used to access your Windows Home Server over the Internet, it has to be unique, so try and think of something that is easy for you to remember and means something to you. Make sure you think of a couple of different possibilities just in case the domain name you want has already been taken by someone else.

All of the following steps are performed from the Windows Home Server Console, Settings, Remote Access tab. And for additional information, this walk-through assumes you are running Windows Home Server Power Pack 2 – if you are running an earlier Power Pack then these steps may appear a little different to what you see. Go download and install PP2 now.

Firstly, ensure that Remote Access is turned on. If it isn’t just click on the Turn on button (in which case you can skip the next step).

Remote 1

From the Domain Name section, click the Setup button.

Remote

This will launch the Set Up a Domain Name wizard.

Remote 2

Note: You will need a Windows Live ID to set up a domain name.

Click Next to continue.

You must now sign in to Windows Live to continue.

If you don’t already have a Windows Live ID it is easy to create one. See the Creating a Windows Live ID section later in this article.

Enter your Windows Live ID e-mail address and password to sign in to Windows Live.

Remote 3

Click Next to continue.

The next screen of the wizard is the Privacy Statement and Agreement.

Remote 4

Note: As you are being asked to accept the agreement, it is a good idea to read it and make sure you are happy to agree. If you are not happy to agree then you cannot use the remote access facilities of Windows Home Server.

Read the Windows Home Server Privacy Statement and the Windows Live Custom Domains Addendum.

Click the I accept button (assuming you accept).

Click Next to continue.

On the next screen you must type in the domain name you would like to use.

Remote 5

Type in the domain name you would like to use in the Domain Name box.

The domain name can contain the following:

  • 63 characters maximum
  • Letters, numbers, or hyphens. The name must begin and end with a letter or a number.

You can only register one domain name per Windows Live ID you have.

Click the Confirm button to check that it is available to use. If it is not available you will see the message telling you so.

Remote 6

Don’t worry if the domain is not available, just choose another one and try again.

If the domain name is available it will be displayed on the screen – just click Finish.

You will see confirmation that the domain name has been set up.

Remote 7

Tip: Make a note of the URL so that you can access your Windows Home Server. It will be http://domainname.homeserver.com followed be either /home for the homepage over port 80 or /remote for the remote access login page over port 443 (which will also start with https:// instead of http://).

Click Done to complete the process.

There is also a button called Configure, which enables you to either release the current domain name or choose a different domain name.

Remote 8

Creating a Windows Live ID

Having a Windows Live ID is a pre-requisite for creating a domain name for use with Windows Home Server, but don’t worry, its simple and only takes a couple of minutes.

To create a Windows Live ID, just follow these steps:

Using Internet Explorer or any other Internet browser, visit https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf?lc=2057 which is the Windows Live ID website.

Select the type of Windows Live ID you want to create. For the sake of this example, I will select Sign up for a limited account.

WL ID1

The next steps involve you having to create an e-mail address and password to use a Windows Live ID credentials.

WL ID2

Enter an E-mail address in the box provided – you only need to enter the text before the @.

Note: The e-mail address can contain letters, numbers, periods, hyphens and underscores.

Enter a password in the box provided.

Note: The password must be a minimum of six characters in length – as you type the password you can see from the password strength visual how strong your password actually is.

Type in the characters that are displayed in the picture – this is used as a security mechanism to stop automated programs from creating accounts.

Click the Continue button.

The next screen contains the terms of use and online privacy statement.

WL ID3

Type in your e-mail address that you just created in the box and click the I Accept button to continue.

The last screen confirms that you have created your Windows Live ID.

WL ID4

Click the Continue button to complete the process.

You can now use this newly created Windows Live ID for creating the Windows Home Server domain.

You can also use this Windows Live ID for any other purpose that requires a Windows Live ID.

How to Manually Configure Your Router for Windows Home Server Remote Access

So you have checked to see if your broadband router can be automatically configured for you by following this article.

If your broadband router doesn’t support UPnP or cannot be configured automatically, don’t worry, you can manually configure the port forwarding on your router, it’s just quicker and easy if it’s all done for you.

Caution: Configuring port forwarding on your router may be different to the steps that are about to be described, so check your router documentation before continuing to ensure that you don’t make any mistakes.

  1. Connect to your router (you may need to check your documentation to find out how to do this).

Note: The following example is using the BT Home Hub router so it is likely to be different for your router.

  1. Click on the Firewall icon to access the Firewall settings on the router.
  2. Click on Firewall Settings so that you can make changes to the firewall.

Manual Router Config 1

As it is very unlikely that there will already be a application defined that allows the three specific network ports through the firewall then you will need to add a new user-defined application.

  1. Click on Add a new user-defined application to display the Edit Application dialog box,.

Manual Router Config 2

  1. Enter a name in the Application Name box. For example, Windows Home Server.
  2. In the Port (or Range) section, enter 80 in the From: box, and 80 in the To: box (ensuring that TCP is the selected Protocol).
  3. Click on the Add Definition button to add that port range.
  4. In the Port (or Range) section, enter 443 in the From: box, and 443 in the To: box (ensuring that TCP is the selected Protocol).
  5. Click on the Add Definition button to add that port range.
  6. In the Port (or Range) section, enter 4125 in the From: box, and 4125 in the To: box (ensuring that TCP is the selected Protocol).
  7. Click on the Add Definition button to add that port range.

You should now have those three ports (80, 443 and 4125) displayed in the Definition List.

Note: ignore the 4126 in the image below, it was a typo – it should be 4125! 🙂

Manual Router Config 3

  1. Click Back to return to the Firewall Settings screen.

You should now be able to see the new application listed.

  1. Select the computer you want to host applications through the firewall from the drop-down list. In my case, the Windows Home Server is listed as SKYVAULT.
  2. Click on the new application (Windows Home Server Remote) and then click Add.

This should now show that Windows Home Server is a hosted application for SKYVAULT.

Manual Router Config 4

  1. Click Done to complete the manual process.
  2. Close down the connection to your router.

Now hopefully that means your router is now configured to allow the use of the Remote Access features of Windows Home Server.

The next thing to do is to configure your Windows Home Server.

How To Check Your Broadband Router Compatibility for Windows Home Server Remote Access

Before you start configuring your Windows Home Server for remote access, you might consider taking a few minutes to check that your broadband router is compatible for automatic configuration by Windows Home Server. Don’t worry if it turns out that it isn’t, you can just configure it manually, it’s just quicker and easier to have it done for you.

Fortunately, Microsoft provide a very useful tool for checking the broadband router called the Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool. It’s quick and easy to use, doesn’t require you to download and install anything, and best of all its free!

The Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool is not a tool that is specifically for use with Windows Home Server. You can use the tool to check any Internet router to check what it can do and check that it supports certain technologies.

To use the Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool, follow these steps:

Note: In order to perform the tests, you must be using a computer that can connect to the Internet and that the computer is either running Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP.

  1. From your Internet browser, go to the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/using/tools/igd.

This will display the Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool start screen.

BRT1

  1. Read through all the instructions that are displayed on the screen to ensure you know about the tests.
  2. Check the I have read and ACCEPT the terms of the license agreement box.
  3. Click the Continue button.
  4. Click the Start Test button to begin the various tests.

BRT2

The testing will then begin. You can monitor the progress of the testing of each element.

BRT3

The following tests will be performed on your broadband router:

  • Basic Internet Connectivity test
  • Network Address Translator Type
  • Traffic Congestion test
  • TCP High Performance test
  • UPnP Support test
  • Multiple Simultaneous Connection States test

Detailed information on each test and what constitutes a success can be found in the tool itself – you can review each one while each test is being performed.

  1. When all the testing has completed, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and click View Detailed Report to view a more detailed report.

BRT5

You can click on each Test line to expand or hide the details and results of each test.

BRT4

You should now know whether your broadband router could be configured automatically for you.

In my case, as my broadband router does not support UPnP then I will have to configure it manually, but more on how to do that in another article.

Using Windows Home Server to Back Up Windows Small Business Client Computers

Microsoft have just published an article on their TechNet site on how to use Windows Home Server to backup your clients on a Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 network.

Using WHS to backup SBS 2008

You can read it here.

New Version of AutoExit Add-In for Windows Home Server

Nick Asseloos has been in touch to let us know that he has released a new version of AutoExit, that great add-in for Windows Home Server.

aewhs_21_main

This version includes:

Shut down your machines over the Windows Home Server network.
It can be used to shut down, reboot machines in your home network from within the console. Wake On Lan is also supported, this enables you to easily boot up machines remotely.
You can put the machine into hibernation, sleep, log off the user or lock the machine.
The server can also be shut down from the toolbar now.
You can execute these actions per machine or for all machines.
Changes in AutoExit 2009 (minor update):
– Wake On Lan all clients.
– Send a message to all connected clients.
– Warn users when the server is going down.
– Support for Windows 7.
– Possibility to the Wake On Lan port to send to.
– Possibility to enable easy logging on the client side.
– Mac-address of the server is retrieved when opening the diagnostic dialog and the Mac field being empty.
– When downloading an update, it is automatically saved to the ‘Server\Software’ or ‘Server\Logiciel’ folder, if none of these exist the browse directory dialog is shown.
– Fix: On some machines the actions did not work and an error 998 was displayed, this has been fixed.
– Fix: Fixed issue that settings in Vista/Windows 7 weren’t read correctly and made the AutoWOL Server function not work.
– Fix: Now when a client comes out of sleep, a WOL packet is sent to the server if enabled.
– Fix: Small improvement to the update dialog to show the product name.
– Fix: When using hibernate/sleep, the machine sometimes couldn’t be enabled again.
– Fix: Detects if Remote Desktop is enabled on a Home Edition.
– And some other minor adjustments.

For more information, including how to download AutoExit, click here.