Stuff to pimp your Windows Home Server

Hacking Windows Home Server is a blog dedicated to Microsoft's WHS technology. Brought to you by Donavon West, Microsoft MVP and author of LiveGadgets.net and donavon.com I'll also discuss the Hewlett-Packard HP MediaSmart Server EX470, EX475, EX485, EX487, the T7-HSA Tranquil Harmony Home Server and any other new Home Server hardware platforms that arise. You can also call this hacking or hackz. In any case I will show you some cool things to make your Microsoft Windows Home Server even sweeter.

A blog devoted to getting the most out of your
Windows Home Server by Microsoft MVP Donavon West.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Power Pack 1 - Come and get it!

image The team is pleased to announce that Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) and is now available on the Microsoft Download Center!

The English version is available now and German, Spanish and French versions will be available on the Download Center soon. Windows Home Server customers who don't download it on their own will receive Power Pack 1 via Windows Update in August, and the new Chinese and Japanese versions will RTM in August, too.

As many know, Power Pack 1 provides a range of new enhancements, including support for home computers running Windows Vista x64 editions, backup of home server Shared Folders, improvements to remote access, more efficient power consumption and improved performance. And, of course, it delivers a fix for the data corruption bug. Documentation for Power Pack 1 (Build #1800, to those who have been part of the beta testing) is available here.

Our OEM partners will be updating their systems with Power Pack 1 and HP will release a software update for the HP MediaSmart Server, delivering enhanced media streaming capabilities from PacketVideo, server-side anti-virus from McAfee and compatibility with 64-bit home PCs.

Windows Home Server can now be purchased in 50 countries worldwide. And a growing ecosystem of third-party software developers have released or announced approximately 60 Add-in programs extending Windows Home Server's capabilities. The Windows Home Server SDK has been updated for Power Pack 1, too, including new support for the client PC side (i.e. notifications to/from home computers).

We continue to hear fantastic feedback from our customers about how Home Server is helping them protect their digital media, share it with friends and family, and access it from outside of the home. Thank you to our beta testers and partners for helping us ship Power Pack 1, and to the Home Server community as a whole for its ongoing support and enthusiasm.

The Windows Home Server Team

 

Complete installation instructions are available from the download page, but here is an overview.

  1. Click the Download button to start the download of the file called WHS-KB944289-v1-x86-ENU.exe to your home computer.
  2. On the Download dialog, click Save and then save the file to your home computer.
  3. Copy the file from your Home Computer to your Home Server by Double-clicking the Shared Folders on Server shortcut on your home computer desktop.
  4. Double-click the Software shared folder on your home server.
  5. Copy the file you downloaded above from your home computer to the Software shared folder on your home server.
  6. Connect to your Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop.
  7. Minimize or close the Windows Home Server caution window.
  8. Double-click the Shared Folders on Server shortcut on your home server desktop.
  9. Double-click the Software shared folder.
  10. Double-Click WHS-KB944289-v1-x86-ENU.exe and complete the installation wizard to install Power Pack 1. Your home server restarts after the wizard completes.

After you install Power Pack 1, check out these addition steps:

Update the Connector Software

Software Update for the HP MediaSmart Server

Fin. Why not comment on what you've just read or even Digg It!

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16 comments:

Will said...

Thank you for the head's up!

I followed the directions on the KB but it seems that I don't have permission to run the update:

"Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

Do you have any idea why I can't run it?

Donavon West said...

@Will - Make sure you are running the update from the share (i.e. \\server\software and NOT from d:\shares\software). And be sure to tun this on the update on the WHS remote desktop and NOT on the client.

MitchSchaft said...

If it's already on the desktop, right click on the file, go to properties and choose 'Unblock'. It will install fine after that

Will said...

Thank you both!

I was trying to run it from \\server\software but it refused to run.

I did what mitchschaft said and it installed just fine. I'm kinda surprised that the KB article didn't list this as potential problem; I can't be the only one who has (and will) run into this.

MitchSchaft said...

Yeah, they'll throw you to the wolves. Luckily, you got us :D.

Unknown said...

I have the same problem. Unfortunately after clicking the "unblock" button it still will not install and shows the same permission error. Any other thoughts?

Unknown said...

I wonder if there were any changes since Power Pack 1 Beta - as I have it installed. Or its the usual policy - uninstall beta and install release? Hope uninstalling will not break anything :)

Kent Boogaart said...

I'd love to install this tonight, but one thing worries me. I read on an earlier post that someone had trouble installing a PP1 beta because they had Window Media Player 11 installed on their home server.

I have WMP11 installed too, so just wondering if anyone has successfully installed PP1 even though they have WMP11 installed?

Bruce J said...

I was having the same error. Copy the file from the Home Server share to the Desktop and then run it. I can finally back up my 64-bit laptop! If you are still having issues check out this informative thread: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3467974&SiteID=50. Oh, and it looks like this problem might only happen on the MediaSmart servers.

Donavon West said...

Good catch Bruce. Can someone verify if copying to the desktop, THEN running it works?

Kent Boogaart said...

For anyone else wondering, the problem I was referring to appears to have been fixed. The installer did not complain that the Media Connect service was not running.

Since I have a HP box, I am now playing around with PV Connect to see whether I even need WMP11 at all. Seems pretty solid.

Kent Boogaart said...

> Seems pretty solid.

Scratch that! None of my movies worked, and most of them worked fine when served via WMP11. Honestly, why is this crap so hard!? You would think PVConnect would have less trouble than WMP11 since it's dedicated to this purpose. *sigh* Looks like I'm sticking with WMP11...

Derek Aitken said...

Logging in and exploring via the web (say, from my office to my Home Server) is MUCH faster after PP1. I'm not sure what, if any updates, were included on PP1 for IIS but I can see a huge difference in performance.

Unknown said...

I too had the permission problems and when I copied to my server desktop on my mediasmart, I was able to install.

Kent Boogaart said...

@vansmack. Wow, you're right. I'm getting a steady 40KB/s download speed, whereas prior to PP1 I was getting maybe 2KB/s.

@don. Yes, I had this too and forgot to mention. I just copied the installer to my desktop and installed from there. However, that made it difficult to find the connector software update. To get that, I had to run the installer, wait until it showed the message box saying "already installed", then browse to the temp directory where files were extracted and grab it from there. There may well be another place I could have grabbed it from, but not sure...

sygyzy said...

Dumb question I'm sure but I just ordered my WHS and am waiting for it's arrival. How do you access the "Administrator's Desktop"? Is this done through the console?

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