Last Updated 11/Jan/2009
Installing Windows Home Server
Iain Laskey installs Windows Home Server but finds a few driver issues on the way
For the purpose of this exercise, we decided to build a Windows Home Server from an old PC plus some additional hard drives. It's usually a straightforward process but we did hit a few snags, mainly relating to the SATA drives. To be fair, we were starting with a non SATA equipped PC and intended to install straight on to a pair of 500GB SATA drives attached via a PCI SATA adaptor, which in hind site was asking for trouble.
Booting from the install disk quickly brought up a warning that there were no drives to install on to. We had a driver CD that came with the SATA adaptor and put the files on to a USB stick and tried again. This time the system saw the drives and happily began the installation.
The first time you install Windows Home Server, you'll only have an 'install' option and as part of the process and all the drives are formatted losing any existing data. On a system that has an existing copy of Windows Home Server (WHS) - perhaps one you are upgrading from trial to full, you will also have a 'Reinstall' option. This preserves data and just installs the operating system itself although you'll need to then do some manual tweaking to recreate the users and other settings before regaining access to your data. Have a look at this full guide on the Windows Home Server reinstall/upgrade process for more information.
During installation, the system slowly morphs from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Home Server. The first few screens all say Server 2003 but eventually the system decides it's WHS after all. When the system then rebooted to finish the installation, it again said it couldn't see the drives. At this point we gave up and instead pressed an old 160GB PATA drive into use and installed to that. We subsequently discovered this is the recommended approach anyway - install to a small PATA drive then add the others later. The install then went through without any problems in about an hour. The install requires numerous reboots and to be honest, feels a bit rough round the edges. It seems to do something, reboot, do something else, reboot and so on. The impression is of Windows 2003 being slowly beaten into submission.
Once completed, the system boots quickly enough and we were then able to install the drivers for the SATA card revealing the two 500GB drives. These need to be added to the storage pool and this is done very simply using the WHS Console screen. Once added, the system sported the full capacity of the three drives.
Next up was the installation of any missing drivers. Our machine was still missing audio (not really needed) and Network drivers (somewhat more important). In theory you should try to use drivers designed for Windows Server 2003 (or WHS itself) but you can usually get away with using XP drivers at a pinch. In this instance we did just that and they worked fine.
Setting Up the Admin password
Being a server operating system, the admin password must be a strong one so WHS insists on a mix of upper and lower case plus a symbol of some sort such as !, *, % etc. You can also enter a password hint to help you remember it. As per any serious password, avoid anything obvious like family names, your favorite football team and so on.
Windows Update
We then fired up Windows Update and were hit with a huge number of files and patches to download which took some time and a few more reboots. This is important both from the security perspective but also because it installs the essential 'Power Pack' AKA Service Pack 1 which amongst other things fixes a rather nasty bug that can corrupt files held on WHS. We can't emphasise this stage enough, do not put any data on your server until you have the Power Pack installed.
Windows Home Server Console
Microsoft Strongly advise all configuration is done via the special WHS console, indeed, on boot up, the first screen you see is a full screen warning telling you to avoid using anything else you might find under the Start button. It is also suggested you don't install applications and other utilities not specifically designed for server usage. They may well work but if you hit any problems, from the support perspective, all bets are off.
Duplicating Folders
By default, all files are held as a single copy on the server. You can set individual folders to enable duplication. The initial set of folders include Music, Photos, Software, Videos and Public. There's also a folder for each user account. Folder duplication makes WHS make copies of all files in an enabled folder such that each file exists on at least two independent drives. That way, if a drive fails, you can be sure that copies of the files are still available. Obviously this reduces the overall pool of storage space though so you probably don't want to duplicate all folders so be sensible here.
You can also create your own folders and set these to be duplicated too so there's some flexibility here.
Setting up the Users
Each user needs to have a user account created on the server. You can get by without one but you'll be losing much of the functionality. Each account created should match the logon name they have on their PC - and the passwords should match too, which might involve changing whatever you have on the PCs if the password isn't strong enough. Strictly speaking, they can differ but you'll be prompted for correct details every time you try to use the server. It's much easier to take advantage of Single Sign On and go with the flow though.
You can then set up permissions for each account to control which folders they have access to and the level (Full, Read only or None). You can also set which accounts should have remote access if that is something you plan.
Setting up the PCs
Each PC that is to access the server needs to have the WHS connector software installed before it can do so. This is quick and easy and once done leaves the PC with two new features. Most obviously, there's a new shortcut on the desktop marked 'Shared Folders'. This gives you access to the various folders on the server that your logon has been given access to. There will also be a new icon in the Notification Area that changes colour depending on the Network's health and backup situation and provides access to the WHS Console. This provides all the facilities and tools you have when accessing the console on the server itself. From here you can restore files, start a manual backup, change folder settings and so on.
Copying Over the Data
You can now start to put your precious data onto the server. The connector software installs a mapped folder on your desktop that provides access to the various shared folders. You can then copy or better still move your movies, MP3s, documents and so on over to WHS. Initially, any folders set to duplication will only have a single copy made but as soon as files arrive, WHS starts making copies and once you've finished copying your files over, the system will be busy for a while spreading the files out in the best way possible over the various drives. The system does this periodically thereafter and you can see when the system was last 'balanced' at the bottom of the console screen.
Conclusion
In most cases, installing Windows Home Server should be a simple and not hugely time consuming process. As long as you have the right drivers to fill in any gaps, you'll soon be up and running. Configuring your PCS is equally straight forward and the simple console application means anyone with basic computer skills should be able to get everything set up how they want with a few simple clicks. No knowledge needed of complex server configurations or cryptic screens. It's all very layman friendly.
Our Server currently has 512Mb of RAM (which is the minimum) and an AMD Athlon 1800 and runs well enough. It boots quickly and once up and running, just works.
