I'm now looking at an HP Microserver with upgraded RAM, disks, and WHS 2011.
I'd planned to buy an off the shelf box but HP discontinued the right before 2011 came out. The hardware was repurposed so it's a good 6 or 7 years old with the exception of the drives which were added when I got WHS.
I love the automated backup and I love that it's based on Windows Server so I was able to install the free edition of SQL Server 2008 and develop a couple things for myself and run them on the WHS box. Our household has three laptops plus my shop PC. By connecting to it, users can administer the entire server.I've had a Windows Home Server box for a few years now. Dashboard: As mentioned in earlier posts, the Dashboard is the central controlling unit of the home server. The default shared folders include Documents, Music, Videos, Recorded TV, and Pictures, whereas new folders can also be created.ģ. Shared Folders: From the Shared folders link, the shared folders located on the home server can be accessed. Launchpad: From the Launchpad you can access the shared folders shortcut, set computer backups and open the Remote Web Access site.Ģ.
Click on Dashboard, enter the login credentials and administer your server.ġ. When a computer is successfully connected to the home server, shortcuts to the Launchpad, Shared Folders, and the Dashboard appear on the Start menu of the client computer. In the last step, a confirmation is given that your computer is connected to your Windows Home Server 2011, click Finish to end the setup.
This will install the connection software and configure the required settings on your PC to connect you with your home server. Enter the password and hit Next.Īdd a description for easy identification of your system over the network and hit Next.Īfter that, you will be asked whether you wish to take part in the “Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program”, choose your desired option and click Next. In the next step, the Server password needs to be entered in order to continue with the connectivity wizard. Since the system we performed testing on, already fulfilled the pre-requisites to connect to the home server, therefore, it only took the wizard a few seconds to continue. This process can take up to 30 minutes, specially if. Net framework 4.0 is not installed on the client system (which is a pre-requisite to connect to the home server), it will be automatically installed.
This part of the wizard explains that in case. In the next step, some general instructions are passed onto the user. The first part of the wizard merely tells you the benefits of connecting to a Windows Home Server, click Next. After downloading the software, run the setup to start the connectivity wizard. Windows users should choose “Download Software for Windows”, whereas Mac users should click on “Download Software for Mac”. This will take you to a page where you will be prompted to download software to connect to the server. Alternatively you can go to Start –> Networks and double click on the server name.
To connect your computer to the server, log in to the computer that you wish to link to the home server, open an Internet browser, type or IP)/Connect in the address bar and hit Enter.
In this post we will tell you how to connect a client operating system to the Windows Home Server 2011 (codename Vail). However, the tricky part for a lay user is to connect a client PC or Mac to the Home Server. Windows Home Server 2011 is fairly easy to install (provided your computer meets the minimum system requirements).