Windows Home Server For Dummies

Woody Leonhard is a bestselling author and has been a Microsoft beta tester since Word for Windows 1.1. He covers Windows and Office topics on his popular Web site, AskWoody.com.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book Is Organized 2

Part I: Getting Windows Home Server to Serve 3

Part II: Setting Up the Network 3

Part III: Making the Most of Multimedia 3

Part IV: Sharing in the Wild 3

Part V: Backing Up 3

Part VI: Staying Alive and Well 4

Part VII: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Getting Windows Home Server to Serve 7

Chapter 1: Bringing Windows Home Server to Life 9

What Can You Do with Windows Home Server? 10

Backing up and restoring 10

Sharing folders 11

Managing disks 12

Accessing your network from far afield 14

Keeping the home fires burning 15

Streaming media 16

How Do You Control Windows Home Server? 16

Welcome to the Console 16

What happens behind the scenes 18

Knowing Windows Home Server’s Limitations 19

What Windows Home Server won’t do 20

Tapping into previous versions of a file 21

What Hardware Do You Need? 22

Choosing a Great Windows Home Server 24

Positioning the Server in Your Home or Office 26

Chapter 2: Installing the WHS Software 27

Do You Need to Install Windows Home Server? 28

Preparing to Install 29

Installing Windows Home Server 31

Part II: Setting Up the Network 37

Chapter 3: Bringing Computers into the Home Server Fold 39

Kick-Starting the Network 39

Installing Windows Home Server Connector on a Windows XP Machine 42

Installing Windows Home Server Connector on a Windows Vista Machine 46

Configuring Windows Home Server 49

Chapter 4: Adding Users and Controlling Passwords 55

Understanding User Control 56

Raising the Bar for Passwords 57

Adding New Users the Smart Way 60

Using the Guest Account 65

Synchronizing Passwords 68

Changing Passwords the Old-Fashioned Way 71

On the server 71

In Windows XP 72

In Windows Vista 73

Chapter 5: Using Built-In Shared Folders 75

Organizing Files with Shared Folders 76

Finding the Shared Folders 77

Opening shared files on the server 78

Pinpointing each user’s shared folder 79

Controlling Access to Shared Folders 80

Experiencing folder permissions firsthand 80

Changing shared folder permissions 82

Controlling Shared Folders from the Console 84

Creating new shared folders 86

Usin’ your noggin with sharin’ 89

Duplicating Shared Folders 90

Part III: Making the Most of Multimedia 95

Chapter 6: Sharing Music and Videos 97

Sharing from A to Z to PC to PC 98

Playing From (and With) the Server 102

Ripping to the Server 107

Sharing C.R.A.P Music on the Network 110

Chapter 7: Recording and Playing TV 113

Understanding Windows Home Server and Recorded TV 114

Storing Shows on Your Server 115

Creating a shared home for recorded TV 115

Moving recorded TV to the server 118

Recording TV directly to the server 124

Viewing TV Shows Stored on the Server 125

Why WHS Doesn’t Back Up Recorded TV 126

Chapter 8: Streaming with the Xbox 129

Using an Xbox in Server Land 130

Getting Your Xbox to Play with the Server 131

Using a Media Center PC to Stream to an Xbox 137

Connecting an Xbox to a Media Center computer 137

Playing media files with a connected Xbox 139

Chapter 9: Nailing Down Your Photos 141

Using the Windows Tools 142

Modifying XP for Shared Photos 144

Viewing photos in the shared Photos folder 144

Moving photos from your camera to the shared Photos folder 148

Modifying the screen saver to use the shared Photos folder 153

Modifying Vista for Shared Photos 155

Viewing photos in the shared Photos folder 155

Moving photos directly from your camera to the shared Photos folder 156

Creating a screen saver from the shared Photos folder 159

Part IV: Sharing in the Wild 163

Chapter 10: Starting Remote Access 165

Remote Access — the Good, the Bad, and the Really Frustrating 166

An Overview of Remote Access Setup 167

Setting up the Server 169

Configuring Your Router 171

Establishing a Permanent Domain Name 176

Spreading Out the Welcome Mat 179

Getting Connected for the First Time — or Maybe Not 182

My Encounter with the Seventh Ring 185

Chapter 11: Using Remote Access 189

Logging on to Your Windows Home Server Remotely 190

Accessing Shared Folders 192

Uploading files 194

Downloading files 196

Getting into the Windows Home Server Console 197

Pulling Puppet Strings on Your Home Network’s Computers 199

Reviewing the ground rules 200

Getting logged on 201

Part V: Backing Up 205

Chapter 12: Running Backups 207

Mired in Myriad Backups 208

Backing up files on network computers 208

Backing up shared folders with Folder Duplication 212

Shadow copies in Windows Home Server 214

Understanding what Vista is backing up 214

Checking Windows XP for backup routines 215

Unraveling the Mess 216

Setting Up Server Backups That Serve You 217

Backing up on your time 218

Choosing what gets backed up 220

Keeping backups 222

Checking That Backups Run Smoothly 224

Chapter 13: Restoring a Dead Computer from Backup 229

Dealing with Home Computer Restore Restrictions 230

Restoring a Hard Drive 231

Rolling Your Own Home Computer Restore CD 238

Chapter 14: Restoring Files from Backup 241

Restoring a Backed-Up File 242

Restoring a Shared Folder File with Windows XP, Media Center, or Tablet PC 246

Restoring a Shared Folder File with Vista Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate 250

Chapter 15: Backing Up the Server 255

Mapping Out Windows Home Server Storage 256

Using Folder Duplication 257

Making Offsite Backups of Shared Files 258

Copying files to an external drive 259

Choosing an online backup provider 263

Part VI: Staying Alive and Well 265

Chapter 16: Monitoring System Health 267

Understanding the Network Health Indicator 268

What Can Go Wrong? 271

How to Fix Health Problems 272

Chapter 17: Breaking into the Server 277

Deciding to Break In 278

Logging On to the Server with RDP 280

Attaching a Printer with RDP 283

Restoring a Previous Version of a Shared File with RDP 286

Giving Your Server a Permanent IP Address 290

Chapter 18: Adding and Retiring Drives 293

Knowing When and What to Feed the Maw 294

Adding a New Internal Hard Drive 297

Adding a New External Hard Drive 300

Retiring an Old Drive Safely 302

Chapter 19: Repairing and Recovering the Server 305

Dealing with Lost Passwords 306

Fixing a Broken Server Hard Drive 308

Primary versus secondary drives 309

Replacing a broken secondary drive 310

Repairing the primary drive 313

Part VII: The Part of Tens 319

Chapter 20: Top Ten Health Traps Triaged 321

No Spyware Protection 322

Backup Warning 323

Backup Warning, New Hard Drive 325

Backup Error 325

Backup Server Error 326

Storage Status, Not Enough Room 327

Storage Status, Failing Hard Drive 328

Passwords Do Not Match 329

Updates Are Ready 329

Antivirus Out of Date 330

Chapter 21: Ten More Tricks with Windows Home Server 331

Installing (and Uninstalling) Add-Ins 332

Launching Programs from Windows Home Server Console 334

Changing Your Remote Access Page with Whiist 335

Running uTorrent on the Server 336

Wake on LAN for Home Server 336

Uploading Photos to Flickr with PhotoSync 337

Streaming Away from Home with WebGuide 337

Streaming to Your TiVo 338

Streaming to Your Phone with LobsterTunes 338

Finding More Add-Ins 339

Index 341