Windows Home Server Install

So I found a machine laying around last night that met the modest specs required by WHS. After popping a bigger hard drive in it I started the install. It was a relatively painless install with no choices required (both good and bad) . The lack of choices is a small annoyance.

I'd like to be able to name my server whatever I want for instance but you do not get a choice there. The name is chooses incidentally is Server. While accurate it simply doesn't fit with the names of my other machines.

Also of a greater annoyance is the extremely high number of reboots required during the installation process. I didn't count but wish I had at this point. I'm surely hoping this is a Beta artifact.

Once it finished rebooting for the 47millionth time, it started up and I was able to login as administrator with a blank password which it immediately prompted me to change. It did allow me to continue with a blank password which I found out accidentally. As always when this is released as an embedded appliance, default passwords will be the primary security weakness. The first client to connect should force a password change from the client side (appliance units will be totally headless) to make this seamless and simple for the user.

I had some pretty significant difficulties getting the client installed and working on my first machine. However, these were all issues with my network at home. Recent updates of Fedora had broken my DDNS setup on the DNS domain I'm using internal to my home network. This kept the client from being able to resolve the server's name properly. After correcting this issue, the client connected up flawlessly.

Due to the late evening start time and the DNS problems, I didn't have time to delve any further into my new toy. I do however look forward to playing with the backup system in the next few days.

Windows Home Server Beta

You may or may not have seen the recent news that Windows Home Server has gone Beta 2. I applied for and received an invitation to the Beta.

I'm 60% through the 1755.4MB download of the most recent build package with all of the accompanying discs for client software and recovery etc.

Nothing much to say about it yet but I'm quite excited to see how it plays once I get it home and installed.