If you work in an office, you probably don’t lose much sleep worrying about whether your files are safe if your PC melts down. Company IT departments handle those things for business networks. But how about all those precious photos, address lists, the family genealogy, and everything else that lives on your home network? Windows Home Server can save the day if one of your personal PCs hiccups, and Windows Home Server For Dummies serves up all the stuff you need to know to put it to work. Forget everything you’ve heard about previous versions of Windows Server; this all-new variation has been designed for people who don’t wear white lab coats or pocket protectors. Woody Leonhard has tested it and it passed with flying colors. If you have a home or small business network, this book shows you how Windows Home Server helps you
- Share files among all the PCs in your home
- Access your files from anywhere
- Make regular backups automatically
- Store files securely
- Play music, TV shows, or movies on your Xbox
- Share multimedia across your network
- Keep your virus protection and system upgrades up to date
- Get regular reports on the overall health of your network
Windows Home Server For Dummies provides sage advice on choosing a version of Windows Home Server, installing it, setting up users and passwords, using remote access, scheduling automatic scans and backups, and having fun with multimedia. Trust Woody— you’ll sleep better.
Table of Contents:
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
About the Author :
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.
