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Windows Home Server Tips and Tricks (updated 08/18/08)
Windows Home Server has some nice features and abilities. Below are some tips to make your experience better. I'll be adding to this as I find more.
1. Make sure you are using a fixed IP for the computer hosting WHS:
Windows Home Server can be used with a dynamic IP address, but if the computer is restarted and the PC pulls a different IP than was configured for the WHS web-site, it will have issues. What I found was that the computer will start doing a test of the network connectivity which will pretty much cause a internet access slowdown for anyone on your network.
It took me a while to track down why my network access was so slow after getting my Cox internet access upgraded to Premier. After resetting all my network gear, I had a extremely slow access on all my computers to the internet to a point where Internet Explorer will time out. I had to disable the web-site connectivity in the WHS console setting menu and then change the IP address on the server to fixed. After rebooting, I then re-enabled the access and the reconfigure the Domain name. Internet access connectivity was back to normal for all computers on the home network.
2. Changing the picture for the Windows Home Server portal web site
The nice family picture that comes as default with the WHS web site is nice, but if you'd rather have your own family or another picture on the splash page, you can easily change it.
In order to change the picture:
To change the picture on the main WHS page after login, just modify the picture called 'i_default_photo.png'. It is located in C:\Inetpub\remote\images. Make sure the size matches the original.
3. WebGuide WHS
WebGuide WHS is a add-in created by ASCII Express. It is the ultimate add-in for Windows Home Server. It allows one to see thumbnail images and slide shows of the pictures on your server without having to download and view each individually. It provides a nice interface to view pictures and zoom. The software also allows one to stream music and videos to any computer that has an internet connection. You can find more details at http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/
- It appears that the developer for WebGuide has accepted a position with the Microsoft. I am crossing my fingers that the WebGuide WHS will become an integrated part of the release version of Windows Home Server. Microsoft is putting together a patch for WHS that includes new features and will be available on the release version, which I am hoping will include the aforementioned features.
-Update 09/29/07 : WebGuide WHS is now free thanks to a deal between Microsoft and WebGuide. If you currently are using the demo version that is about to or has expired, WebGuide Tech Support states that you will need to delete the 'license.xml' file from the WebGuide AppData folder in Program Files. After you do this, access the WeGuide 'About' and request another license key. This new key will allow you to use it free of charge.
-Update 10/26/2007: If you are using WebGuide4 and don't have a WHS uPNP compliant router, make sure you don't check the box for automatic routing configuration within the WebGuide4 settings or you will receive a certificate error when you attempt to access any sites that rely on SSL on any computer on your home network. This will appear as a message on your browser stating that the URL for the certificate doesn't match the URL for the site specified. Unchecking the automatic router configuration remedies this issue. It took me a while to track troubleshoot this one after install of the OEM WHS and install of WebGuide WHS.
4. WHS Add-Ins:
5. Transferring a large number of files to Windows Home Server over the LAN:
WHS handles file transfers by caching the files on the primary drive and then relocates to the proper share. In some cases this can be an issue when one selects a large number of files within Windows of a networked PC and copies (or drag/drop) to the WHS share. If the primary WHS drive doesn't have enough space, the client Windows machine will report that WHS doesn't have enough space to copy the files. This is a misnomer since the drive pool may have plenty of space. The reason for this is that it cannot cache the large number of files on the primary drive (example: primary has 20 GB available and you try to transfer 60 GB worth of videos). If the primary had over 60 GB available, the transfer will commence.
In cases where you cannot copy the large number of files, you have two choices. Either copy smaller number of files totaling less than 20 GB at a time or use Robocopy. Robocopy is Microsoft's replacement for XCopy and now comes standard with Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008. You may have to download it from Microsoft if you have Win2K or XP.
Robocopy allows you to transfer all files within a folder or exclude certain files. It doesn't allow individual files to targeted for copy. Below is an example script you can use for transfer. It creates a log of the files transferred and provides stats for the transfer. Copy the text between the start and end lines to notepad and save as a .cmd file. Double click to execute the transfer. Change the source and target to your paths (if path has spaces, you may need to surround in quotes):
::-------------Robocopy script start---------------------------------
::The following script is provided without any implied or stated guarantee and Terracode assumes no liability for its use.
::If you are uncertain as to what it does, please do not use it.
::More information on Robocopy can be found on the Internet or using the Robocopy /? flag.
@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET _source=D:\myVideos\Collection
SET _dest=\\SERVER1\Videos
SET _what= /S /E /ZB /COPY:DAT
:: /S :: Copy subdirectories
:: /COPY:DAT :: copy data, attributes,timestamps
:: /ZB :: copy normal and if fails start files in Backup mode.
:: /E ::Copy sub-folders
SET _options=/R:2 /W:10 /LOG:RoboCopyVideoMigrationLog.txt /TS /NP
:: /R:n :: number of Retries
:: /W:n :: Wait time between retries
:: /LOG :: Output log file
:: /NP :: No progress percentage
ROBOCOPY %_source% %_dest% %_what% %_options%
::--------------Robocopy script end----------------
6. How to get rid of the annoying 'Fragmented Files Message':
Windows Home Server displays a message whenever it cannot find certain files that it has in its database. The files may still be present, but WHS thinks these are missing. The easiest way to get rid of the message is to either move the files off the server temporarily or delete them. You may need to turn on the 'show system and hidden files folder option. After doing this, reboot. The annoying fragmented messages flag should go away. You can now copy the files back into the shared folder where they were removed if you had made a copy.
Please e-mail info@terracode.com with any comments or questions.
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