Multimedia-PCs » Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server “Vail” Adds Mac Support

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:03:55 +0000

The new version of Windows Home Server codenamed Vail supports Mac. This is great news for people like me that use both Windows and Mac at home. I have been building how-tos since 2008 on getting the current Windows Home Server to work with Mac. You can see version 1, 2 and 3. It’s obvious by the 10s of thousands of visitors to those pages and the numerous amounts of links, even on Microsofts site, that Mac support is something people wanted out of Windows Home Server.

· MAC Support:
o Onboarding experience similar as Windows
o Managed device in dashboard
o Launchpad for the mac
o Alert viewer for the mac
o Add in provider for the mac

Time machine support is through the Launchpad were you can configure Time Machine. I’m testing things out now. I’ll post more details after I play around a bit. Vail is public beta so if you have a 64bit machine you can test it out. You need to register at connect.microsoft.com

Version 3: Use Time Machine with Windows Home Server

Jeremy Jones — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:55:05 +0000

I have continued to work with people on getting Time Machine setup and working with your Windows Home Server. I’m calling these new directions version 3 and it’s easier than the last steps that required an applescript. The reason why the applescript wasn’t working in version 2 is that some people had a Windows partition on their Macs, including myself on my new iMac. Instead of fixing the applescript to check for multiple partitions it is easier to just use Disk Utility. Below are the new directions. I have had multiple people confirm that they are working. For informational purpose you can find Version 1 and Version 2 of my directions. Version 2 has some good comments if you have trouble.

You still need have iTimeMachine enabled.

UPDATE: iTimeMachine is no longer active. Use the following command in terminal to enable network disks. The following command does what iTimeMachine did.

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.

2. Select the Macintosh HD, then go to “File” -> “New” -> “Blank Disk Image”.

3. A box will come up with a lot of different options. The save as name is important as Time Machine will use that name to see if it’s correct. The save as name should be machinename_macaddress. For example mine is jeremy-iMac_0a0a0a0a0a0a. I’m not giving my MAC address but that’s what the 0a stuff is. You can find the name by going to sharing in system preferences or types hostname -fs in the terminal. The MAC address is for the connection that will be used for Time Machine. My laptops are wireless, my desktop using ethernet. Important: You need to use the MAC address for the ethernet card. You can still use wireless after is it setup and running.

4. Name = whatever you want. I called mine Time Machine.

5. Size = Over your total data amount. Right now I set mine at 400g. With Disk Utility you can resize this later if you fill the amount.

6. Partition = Single Partition – Apple Partition Map

7. Image Format = sparse bundle disk image

8. Now create the image. Default is to save to your desktop.

9. Transfer that disk image from your desktop to you time machine folder on the WHS.

10. Point time machine to your WHS folder and start the backup.

If you have questions please leave comments. As always I will try to respond as fast as I can. This is still not supported and I give no guarantee on the safety of your data or reliability of your backups. It works for me and I have been backing my Macs up to Windows Home Server for months.

Windows Home Server “Vail” Public Beta Available

Jeremy Jones — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:29:06 +0000

Microsoft today made public the next version of Windows Home Server which was codenamed “Vail”. The new V2 Windows Home Server is based on Server 2008 vs. the original which was based on 2003. It is 64-bit only and supports new media sharing features along with easier to use user interface. MediaSmartServer.net already has a review up. It’s long but has a lot of information in there. I’ve been holding off doing to much to my Windows Home Server as I was planning on building a new energy efficient one with my Thermaltake Armor case.

Add-in Central for Windows Home Server

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:42:51 +0000

Add-in Central is a Windows Home Server add-in that easily allows you to add, remove and update add-ins. That’s a lot of add-ins in one sentence. You can browse add-ins by a number of different criteria. The add-in is only in beta but anyone can try it out now. I’m glad there is a feature like this for Windows Home Server now. Before when you had add-ins installed you would have to check the developer website to see if updates where issued. That can be a pain to maintain.

Even though this plug-in exists now it is rumored that a feature like this will be built into the next version of Windows Home Server. Obviously Microsoft sees this as being important.

(via UsingWindowsHomeServer)

TiVo Plug-in for Windows Home Server

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:51:08 +0000

HP released a free plug-in called mediasmart expander for TiVo. This is very cool since you can use the Windows Home Server as storage of your TiVo recordings.

— transfer shows from TiVo to a HP MediaSmart Server and back to TiVo

— view TiVo recordings stored on a HP MediaSmart Server

— watch TiVo recordings that are stored on the HP MediaSmart Server on any PC in the home using Windows Media Player

I wish DirecTV would release something like this. But I guess HP made the software and not TiVo which says a lot of HP.

Press Release below:
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 10, 2010 – HP today made available HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo®, a new software application that lets TiVo DVR(1) owners manage video content from an HP MediaSmart Server.(2)

With a high-definition (HD) DVR from TiVo, consumers can record and pause live TV, and access the world’s largest on-demand video store to watch hit movies, TV shows, music videos and cool web videos.

With the new software application, which is offered at no charge to MediaSmart server owners, TiVo customers can:

— transfer shows from TiVo to a HP MediaSmart Server and back to TiVo

— view TiVo recordings stored on a HP MediaSmart Server

— watch TiVo recordings that are stored on the HP MediaSmart Server on any PC in the home using Windows Media Player

Based on the Microsoft Windows® Home Server platform, the HP MediaSmart Server is a central repository for automatically backing up and accessing digital music, videos, photos and documents from multiple computers on a home network.(3)

The HP MediaSmart Server automatically organizes files across all Windows and Mac computers, streams media across a home network and the Internet,(4) and publishes photos to popular social networking and photo sharing sites.

“The HP MediaSmart Server is the ideal companion to TiVo. With the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo, consumers don’t have to worry about running out of high-definition storage space since they can save their movies and shows on the HP MediaSmart Server and watch them on any computer in the home,” said Jason Zajac, vice president of Attach, HP Personal Systems Group. “Plus, consumers will benefit from all of the additional features the HP MediaSmart Server provides, such as backing up all Windows and Mac computers.”

Pricing and availability

The free HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo application can be accessed through the Windows Home Server Console of the HP MediaSmart Server EX90/EX495 and HP Data Vault.

(1) Requires TiVo DVR Series II, Series III, TiVo Premier and TiVo desktop software.

(2) Compatible with HP MediaSmart Servers EX490/EX495. HP MediaSmart Server, PCs and TiVo DVR must be on the same network.

(via UsingWindowsHomeServer)

HP MediaSmart Server 3.0 Available for EX47x and EX48x Owners

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:43:18 +0000

HP is making the 3.0 software available for EX480/475/485 and 487 owners. The upgrade isn’t free but $25 isn’t bad for all the new features. You also need at least 1GB of memory for some features to work. Now you don’t have to be behind the EX49x owners. This is a good move by HP and will make a lot of early adopters happy.

The 3.0 software update DVD will be available to order beginning later this week, with shipments beginning next week. These optional updates are available to purchase for owners of our EX470/475/485/487 products who want to upgrade their servers to the latest 3.0 software that is shipping on the EX490/495 products.

Please note the previously communicated information related to these updates:

1) The cost of the upgrade DVD has been finalized and will be US$25 or €25.

2) These upgrades will be available as a server recovery solution. HP recommends that you back up all server files prior to installing the upgrade.

3) This upgrade is not recommended for EX470/475 owners who have not already upgraded their Server DRAM to 1GB as certain features will not function.

To order the upgrade DVD, visit www.hp.com and enter your product model number in the “Support and Drivers” section. Then follow the path for your MediaSmart Server model number to order the upgrades.

We thank everyone for their continued support of the MediaSmart Server family of products.

(via UsingWindowsHomeServer)

Windows Home Server Health Plug-in Updated

Jeremy Jones — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:58:00 +0000

Windows Home Server plug-in health has been updated with some new additions and bug fixes. This plug-in allows you to view health status for your Windows Home Server from mobile devices. Devices like iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and Palm Pre. It reads it’s data from the health.xml file. This is a great program to easily monitor your Windows Home Server.

New in this version:

* Renamed Console Errors to Console Status

* Icon Added to Console Status Item

* Updated Icons

* Better handling of “non standard” web site configurations. I’d like to thank Snowdins for highlighting his neat

* Custom Action he worked on for P80.

* WebSites.XML for both home and remote pages updated on install and cleaned on uninstall.

* Changes in Settings tab now correctly applied when the OK or Apply button is clicked

* Correct specification of secure and non-secure URLs in remote pages

S1Digital Released a 100 Disc Blu-Ray Changer for Windows Media Center

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:09:25 +0000

If you have a lot of Blu-Ray discs than the 100 disc changer from S1Digital might be for you. It works with Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server. It can even rip your Blu-Ray discs for you. The cool thing is it does one after another until it’s finished with them all. That would be a huge time saver. Something like this isn’t cheap, at $1500. If you have a lot of other S1Digital gear than that might not seem like a lot.

Press release below:

S1DIGITAL INTRODUCES FIRST BLU-RAY DISC CHANGER FULLY INTEGRATED WITH MEDIA CENTER

S1Digital continues to grow its digital entertainment ecosystem with the introduction of a Blu-ray Disc Changer.

Rochelle Park, NJ – February 3, 2010 – S1Digital, the leader in digital entertainment solutions, today announced the launch of the S1Digital Blu-ray Disc Changer. The changer can hold 100 discs and seamlessly integrates with any S1Digital Entertainment Server or Media Center.

When connected to an S1Digital Media Center or any third party Microsoft Windows 7 or Vista PC that includes media center, customers are able to load up to 100 Blu-ray and/or DVD movies into the S1Digital Bly-ray Disc Changer. Using the included playback software, each disc will be scanned and metadata and cover-art automatically downloaded to the server. Once catalogued, users can view more information about the movie, or watch the movie by selecting the appropriate cover-art, which is all available on the familiar and easy-to-use media center interface. The changer is simple to use and enables almost instant access to movies without having to physically find and load each movie. (This feature is coming soon).

“No other solution currently on the market integrates a Blu-ray changer with media center,” said Paul Heitlinger, President of S1Digital. “For customers that want instant and direct access to their movie discs, this is the only solution.”

When connected to an S1Digital Entertainment Server or any third party Windows Home Server, customers can automatically archive their Blu-ray, DVD and CD discs to the server*. With the included software, every movie and audio disc will automatically be stored on the hard drive, catalogued and metadata and cover-art will be downloaded. As each movie or album is stored, it is immediately available on the customer’s home network from any S1Digital Media Center (or other PCs and certain media streaming devices) for playback.

“A typical Blu-ray disc can take an hour or more to archive,” continues Paul Heitlinger. “With our solution, you simply load up the changer and hit go. You don’t have to load each disc one by one. The changer will automatically move from disc to disc so customers don’t have to worry about spending days manually storing movies and music.”

The S1Digital Blu-ray Disc Changer is currently shipping and available for an MSRP of $1499 from http://www.s1digital.com/S1Digital_Blu_ray_disc_changer_p/bdc.htm.

Dealer and reseller enquiries are welcome by contacting

For more information on S1Digital, visit http://www.s1digital.com/

* Non copy protected discs only

Windows Home Server v2 “Vail” Leaked

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:04:31 +0000

The new version of Windows Home Server codenamed “Vail” has been leaked to the internet. The screenshot above shows the new dashboard, as they are calling it now. There are a couple things that bother me with the new release. It will come in two flavors. That’s a horrible idea. It also only works in 64-bit. That just means I need new hardware to upgrade. With just a couple negatives there are a lot of good things. The WHS box can back itself up now. There will also be a new add-in site provided by Microsoft. Check out Windows-Now for more info, screenshots and how to get it.

* Built on the RTM bits of Windows Server 2008 R2.
* Will come in 2 flavors, HOMESTANDARD and HOMEPREMIUM
* Requires an x64 Processor.
* Requires a minimum of 160GB primary hard drive.
* Server “Desktop Experience” is installed OOB (meaning Aero, Media, etc).
* Built-In HomeGroup Support (unlike WS2008 R2)
* WHS Console is now the “Dashboard”, and has a cleaner Add-In model (all pages are now AddIns).
* There will be an online catalog for add-ins hosted by Microsoft.
* While there is a “Recorded TV” option in the folders, there does not presently appear to be deeper media integration. That may come in later builds.
* It *appears* that WHS now backs itself up.

Rip, Store and Play Blu-rays from a Windows Home Server

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:18:28 +0000

The how-to over at nedmug will show you how to rip, store and play Blu-rays from a Windows Home Server to Windows Media Center. There are a few pieces of software and not all of them are free. You will also need a whole lot of storage if you start archiving Blu-ray discs.

(via MSWHS)

Multimedia-PCs » Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server “Vail” Adds Mac Support

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Version 3: Use Time Machine with Windows Home Server

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Windows Home Server “Vail” Public Beta Available

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Add-in Central for Windows Home Server

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TiVo Plug-in for Windows Home Server

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HP MediaSmart Server 3.0 Available for EX47x and EX48x Owners

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Windows Home Server Health Plug-in Updated

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S1Digital Released a 100 Disc Blu-Ray Changer for Windows Media Center

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Windows Home Server v2 “Vail” Leaked

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