Windows Home Server FAQ

Impulse said:
How do you prevent a user from accessing the WHS console other than creating a user logon w/limited rights? 'Specifically on a Mac... It's being backed up to an HP EX490 so the software has to be installed in order to implement the Time Machine plug-in, can the Console app be un-installed independently of that tho? I think it can be on Windows (the Console and HP's other software show up as separate entries in Add/Remove) but I dunno on Mac... I'm actually trouble-shooting this remotely for a family member for whom I set it up or I'd have a lot more leeway to experiment on my own.
Click to expand...

A user cannot access the console unless they have the Admin password for WHS.

User accounts are independent of console access
 
HP's install must be different then because the console never asks for a password unless it's lost connection to the server ('specially on the Mac I think)... Either way, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to force it to always ask for the password.
 
Is 2008 R2 better then WHS?

I know i will have more options with 2008 R2 like setting up AD, Installing Exchange on it and such but what are the downfalls / advantages of having one over the other. :confused:
 
drozenski said:
Is 2008 R2 better then WHS?

I know i will have more options with 2008 R2 like setting up AD, Installing Exchange on it and such but what are the downfalls / advantages of having one over the other. :confused:
Click to expand...

Apples and Oranges kinda.

WHS is easier to setup and maintain, plus you get the backup system which is worth the cost of WHS alone.
 
Has anyone had an issue where WHS won't let them remove a drive? I'm trying to remove a virtual 100gb drive and replace it with a 1.5TB, but I keep getting this error:
4255861072_ec39ab5724_o.png
 
Do you have enough free space to remove it?
Are your shares duplicated?
Add the the new hdd first
 
nitrobass24 said:
Do you have enough free space to remove it?
Are your shares duplicated?
Add the the new hdd first
Click to expand...

1) I'm trying to remove a 100gb drive with 125gb free.
2) Only duplication is my user account share.
3) Can't add the new hdd, I'm out of harddisk connections in VMware workstation so I have to remove one from the machine before I go and a new one.
 
dr_latino999 said:
1) I'm trying to remove a 100gb drive with 125gb free.
2) Only duplication is my user account share.
3) Can't add the new hdd, I'm out of harddisk connections in VMware workstation so I have to remove one from the machine before I go and a new one.
Click to expand...

As nitrobass24 said, it may be an issue with insufficient free space. It may be just telling you that there is not enough room to remove that drive and still keep full duplication on your shares with what is left. I don't know if maybe there is some reserve that it must keep as well. Have you tried to move some stuff off the server to free up room and try again?

You mean the host system actually ran out of space I guess? Seems like you should be able to have more than 5 drives on a VM.
 
FuSoYa said:
As nitrobass24 said, it may be an issue with insufficient free space. It may be just telling you that there is not enough room to remove that drive and still keep full duplication on your shares with what is left. I don't know if maybe there is some reserve that it must keep as well. Have you tried to move some stuff off the server to free up room and try again?

You mean the host system actually ran out of space I guess? Seems like you should be able to have more than 5 drives on a VM.
Click to expand...
I was at 50gb free space so I moved 75gb off, I'll take another 75gb off and report back. The user duplication is only 4.8gb but maybe it's still there. I would figure I could have more than 5 drives, but it reports back that the disc controller is full.

Edit - Pulled another 75gb off, still receiving the same error.
 
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Just pull the drive you want to pull, connect the 1.5tb drive and add it to the pool. You should be able to delete the removed drive from the pool. Temporarily add the removed drive to another system and manually copy the info off the drive over your network to the server.
 
[LYL]Homer;1035160497 said:
Just pull the drive you want to pull, connect the 1.5tb drive and add it to the pool. You should be able to delete the removed drive from the pool. Temporarily add the removed drive to another system and manually copy the info off the drive over your network to the server.
Click to expand...

It's an option, but after some more trying, I believe it's a critical fault within the actual system. The error log reads as follows:
Code: 
EventType clr20r3, P1 homeserverconsole.exe, P2 6.0.0.0, P3 49ed39c1, P4 homeserverconsoletab.storage, P5 6.0.0.0, P6 49b739d0, P7 55, P8 45, P9 system.nullreferenceexception, P10 NIL.

I'm going to resort to building another WHS instance and just transferring over the files. I feel it is safer and slightly easier than moving everything off, allocating disks back to the host, reinstalling, recreating disks, transferring back.
 
I currently have WHS with about 8 drives in it right now.

The os is currently running off a 750 hard drive. and the rest of the drives are storage.

I want to update the hardware.

Can i just update the hardware and then run the WHS Recovery/Restore disc? Or do i have to do something extra?
 
^You mean upgrade the motherboard? Try connecting all the drives and see if you can successfully boot from the new hardware first. I recently went from an Intel G31 motherboard to an AMD 740G based board and I didnt have to do a reinstall. Just connected all the drives (made sure the OS drive was the boot drive) and it started up just fine.
 
when i move my os's i tend to use hirens bootcd and use norton ghost works for windows 7 so dont see why it wouldent work here just disconnect all drive but source and destination and all should go well im un able to try this at moment as my spare pc is short on memory 256mb sdram lol old i know but runs the gf website on sme server
 
Adidas4275 said:
hey are any of you guys getting stuttering while streaming (running PP3)

I find my movies stuttering 1-2 times per movie...... and the culpret is demigrator.exe part of the disk migrator, folder duliplication setup...

there are others who have this issue also....

http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?/topic/8335-demigrator-exe-again/page__st__100__gopid__71953&
Click to expand...

I haven't pinned it down yet... but I think I have noticed this on my WHS/SageTV box. I need to do some more testing as it might be related to SageTV though...

I have noticed that my SageTV extenders have a noticable lag now though, which is why I'm thinking that might be the culprit...
 
Hi Everyone, I have been reading for a while, but I have a few quick questions regarding WHS that I believe have the best chance of being answered with the expertise of this board.

1. Is there any speculation about Microsoft's plans to release this OS in a 64 bit version?

2. My intentions for using WHS are to create not only a local file server, but also a remote access file server. I have read in numerous places that remote accessibility through WHS is 'the bees knees', but my question is will it allow a remote user to add/remove files as conveniently as a LAN network drive? I.E. can my sister living in Illinois, my parents living in Missouri, and myself living in Texas all upload/download from the WHS system with the relative ease of drag and drop type protocol? I would also be curious if anyone has compared this type of environment with open source programs such as Filezilla. I'm not an avid IT wiz, I know only enough to keep myself alive, and my family, with whom I'd like to have centralized storage, knows exponentially less. Perhaps what I am asking is, does WHS allow the required ftp/sftp transaction to occur in a "dumb windows user" environment?

Thanks for any advise you might have!
 
Nutter281 said:
1. Is there any speculation about Microsoft's plans to release this OS in a 64 bit version?
Click to expand...
I highly doubt they will since a simple file server just does not have the need for 64bit. I'm much more interested in a WHS based on Server 2008 and in particular the benefits of SMB2.

will it allow a remote user to add/remove files as conveniently as a LAN network drive? I.E. can my sister living in Illinois, my parents living in Missouri, and myself living in Texas all upload/download from the WHS system with the relative ease of drag and drop type protocol?
Click to expand...
WHS has a remote access website built in that allows you to access/download/upload files to your whs. If you use IE you can even install an ActiveX applet that will allow you to upload files via drag and drop.

Example pics from MS's site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/photos.mspx

I would also be curious if anyone has compared this type of environment with open source programs such as Filezilla. I'm not an avid IT wiz, I know only enough to keep myself alive, and my family, with whom I'd like to have centralized storage, knows exponentially less.
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Filezilla is a client program that access files via ftp; it's not really comparable since that's just a client program and not a remote access solution. That being said, the WHS remote access page goes a long ways to making home remote access....(cough) accessible to normal users.

Perhaps what I am asking is, does WHS allow the required ftp/sftp transaction to occur in a "dumb windows user" environment?
Click to expand...
WHS does not use ftp/sftp and instead uses https for it's upload and download. I believe with the WHS remote access solution, you can have your "dumb windows user" file transfer needs met (as long as you setup all the necessary port forwarding/dynamic dns settings as needed correctly).
 
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Nutter281 said:
Hi Everyone, I have been reading for a while, but I have a few quick questions regarding WHS that I believe have the best chance of being answered with the expertise of this board.

1. Is there any speculation about Microsoft's plans to release this OS in a 64 bit version?
Click to expand...

Yes the next version of WHS will based on Server 2008 R2 and will only be offered in a 64bit version.
So if you are building a WHS make sure the CPU is x64 compatible.
Nutter281 said:
2. My intentions for using WHS are to create not only a local file server, but also a remote access file server. I have read in numerous places that remote accessibility through WHS is 'the bees knees', but my question is will it allow a remote user to add/remove files as conveniently as a LAN network drive? I.E. can my sister living in Illinois, my parents living in Missouri, and myself living in Texas all upload/download from the WHS system with the relative ease of drag and drop type protocol? I would also be curious if anyone has compared this type of environment with open source programs such as Filezilla. I'm not an avid IT wiz, I know only enough to keep myself alive, and my family, with whom I'd like to have centralized storage, knows exponentially less. Perhaps what I am asking is, does WHS allow the required ftp/sftp transaction to occur in a "dumb windows user" environment?

Thanks for any advise you might have!
Click to expand...

Well yes you can easily access the shares from anywhere.

WHS has a builtin website that will allow you to access the shares through a web browser such as IE/firefox. But this does not allow users drag and drop functionality and requires them to log in with a user name and password.

Another option(what I do) is i use Hamachi VPN clients for my family. I have installed this at each location and have it start and log in automatically. This creates a VPN between their computers and the WHS only. They cannot see the rest of my network. I then have WHS connector installed on their machines and they have a shortcut on their desktops for the shared folders. This way i have their login name from the computer on the WHS so they can access without having to log in.
 
Awesome responses Neb! Thank you so much!

For the x64 OS, my curiousity really just stems from using an old server board I have that happens to have 16gb DDR2 FBDs installed. By no means does a fileserver need that kind of RAM, just a nice to have type scenario because I have no other use for the FBDs I already own. (Here I am assuming that 32 bit Windows Server 2k3 has the same 3gb RAM limitation as 32 bit XP/Vista/7....is that a misassumption?)

Anyways, thanks for the help!
 
nitrobass24 said:
Yes the next version of WHS will based on Server 2008 R2 and will only be offered in a 64bit version.
So if you are building a WHS make sure the CPU is x64 compatible.
Click to expand...
That's good info! Didn't know that they were going to base it off 2k8 R2.

WHS has a builtin website that will allow you to access the shares through a web browser such as IE/firefox. But this does not allow users drag and drop functionality and requires them to log in with a user name and password.
Click to expand...
Actually if you use IE and install the ActiveX applet it does allow drag and drop functionality:
step2_photos_lg.jpg


Another option(what I do) is i use Hamachi VPN clients for my family. I have installed this at each location and have it start and log in automatically. This creates a VPN between their computers and the WHS only. They cannot see the rest of my network. I then have WHS connector installed on their machines and they have a shortcut on their desktops for the shared folders. This way i have their login name from the computer on the WHS so they can access without having to log in.
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That's a good idea, haven't played with Hamachi much myself but I've heard good things about it.

Nutter281: definitely not a misassumption as the 3gb limit is inherent of the 32bit setup.
 
Neb said:
That's good info! Didn't know that they were going to base it off 2k8 R2.


Actually if you use IE and install the ActiveX applet it does allow drag and drop functionality:
step2_photos_lg.jpg



That's a good idea, haven't played with Hamachi much myself but I've heard good things about it.

Nutter281: definitely not a misassumption as the 3gb limit is inherent of the 32bit setup.
Click to expand...

O wow I guess i need to try IE from now on.
I always use Chrome
 
I'm a chrome/firefox user myself, I just got curious when I kept reading Microsoft stating that you could drag and drop files thru the interface since it never showed up. Tried IE and installed the applet and there it was.
 
Barring IE applet being configured properly, does the Hamachi VPN service allow for file sharing through it's 'tunnel'? Going a step further, just so I understand, if I installed XP on the server and was running Hamachi VPN on a remote client, would shared folders be accessible for read/write remotely or do you need an additional ftp/sftp/https application?
 
oh and i have whs running on a 600mhz intel p3 with 256mb of sdram little slow but only testing at moment.
i used my main pc to install to the point were it rebouts to show the blue instal screens we all know from older windows.
i then put the hdd and disk into the pc thats is the whs and carryed the install on all hardware detected and is up and running
 
i was going to do that but then i thoght at least if i do them i know they done.
microsoft has had a habbit of messing up on its own in the past when doing updates
 
Dasimpson said:
i was going to do that but then i thoght at least if i do them i know they done.
microsoft has had a habbit of messing up on its own in the past when doing updates
Click to expand...

Meh. Working fine for me so far.
 
well only prob i had was when i went to instal the wireframe drive manager add on and it told me net frame work 2.0 was missing
 
nitrobass24 said:
Another option(what I do) is i use Hamachi VPN clients for my family. I have installed this at each location and have it start and log in automatically. This creates a VPN between their computers and the WHS only. They cannot see the rest of my network. I then have WHS connector installed on their machines and they have a shortcut on their desktops for the shared folders. This way i have their login name from the computer on the WHS so they can access without having to log in.
Click to expand...

Just what I was looking for right there. You have Himachi log in automatically and I assume WHS connector follows suit. Have you had any problems with WHS login lag and a sync issue with either of them? I wouldn't suspect but I could see this might happen.

I am like Nutter in the fact that I would like to throw it on my mom's computer so she can back up to my server on a weekly basis. I am fine with logging in remotely via the https but that many steps and the interface may confuse my parents so a folder on the desktop would be ideal.
 
Kenworth said:
Just what I was looking for right there. You have Himachi log in automatically and I assume WHS connector follows suit. Have you had any problems with WHS login lag and a sync issue with either of them? I wouldn't suspect but I could see this might happen.

I am like Nutter in the fact that I would like to throw it on my mom's computer so she can back up to my server on a weekly basis. I am fine with logging in remotely via the https but that many steps and the interface may confuse my parents so a folder on the desktop would be ideal.
Click to expand...

No lag is not an issue.

Hope your mom has a good upload connection for a backup :)
 
nitrobass24 said:
No lag is not an issue.

Hope your mom has a good upload connection for a backup :)
Click to expand...

i did this a while back, and stopped because my parents were on DSL from ATT and backups took forever.

make sure that you have the initial backup done onsite (LAN) and then the other backups are smaller and so doing them over hamachi is doable...

my parents just got ATT U-Verse with much faster internet.... i will have to test their upload and see if it is useable now.
 
Quick question: Should I use AHCI or IDE when setting up new WHS?
Motherboard is Gigabyte G35.
 
Quick question here. If I use Server 2008 is there an option to create some kind of drive extender (similar to WHS) so all shares span across drives and not limited to actual drive size? For examples if "VIDEOS" folder is larger than 2TB.
 
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