So you have been hearing all of these great things about Windows Home Server, but still aren’t sure if you are ready to buy one (even though there are some great holiday discounts that you don’t want to miss!). If this is the case, I would recommend using the Windows Home Server free trial.

Our newly updated trial now includes Power Pack 3! You can simply download the trial and try out all of Windows Home Server’s features. You can read some of our recent blogs to learn about all of the enhancements Power Pack 3 will provide. These enhancements will be especially helpful if you have just transitioned your PCs to Windows 7.

Once the trail period of 30 days is over, I am convinced you won’t want to go back to life without Windows Home Server. Click here to download the Windows Home Server free trial with Power Pack 3:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/eval.mspx

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Windows Home Server Free Trial now with Power Pack 3

Tuesday is here at last, and for Windows Home Server owners that means one thing… Power Pack 3 Day!

Microsoft have released PP3 for download via Windows Update, and it’s free and waiting for you to download. Simply open your WHS Console, go to the Settings dialog, and click Update Now in the General section. You’ll need to restart your home server, and each hope computer connected to Windows Home Server, after which Power Pack 3 will be yours!

Let’s recap on what’s new, courtesy of the Windows Team Blog:

Windows 7 Libraries integration

When you install the Windows Home Server Connector and log on a computer running Windows 7, you can access the Windows Home Server shared folders from the Windows 7 libraries.

Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression

After you install the Windows Home Server Connector to enable the home server backup for your computer running Windows 7, you can suppress the Action Center warning reminding you that Windows Backup has not been set up.

Windows 7 power settings

You can configure your computer running Windows 7 to wake up at a scheduled backup time and then go back to sleep after the backup finishes.

Console support for Windows 7

Windows 7 is properly displayed as the operating system shown in the Computers & Backup tab.

Windows Search

Windows Search 4 is included to improve query search times, indexing times, and reliability. Extended Remote Discovery increases the efficiency of searching across all your libraries running Windows Search 4. Files encrypted with EFS are now supported.

TV archive

Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This enables playback in the correct format for your home computers and/or portable devices.

Console view

You can view information about your home server’s storage space, hard drives, backup status, and more from Windows Media Center.

Complete details are available in the Power Pack 3 Release Documentation.

If you’ve been running the Power Pack 3 beta, make sure you uninstall it before you install the final PP3 update. Here’s how (thanks to Janne Strom for the heads up!):

1. Access the Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop (How to connect to the Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop)

2. Navigate to the Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta folder at Start > My Computer > D: > Shares > Software > Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta.

3. Run the Uninstall.cmd file to un-install Power Pack 3 Beta. After reboot, your Home Server will revert back to your previous version.

4. Re-install the updated Windows Home Server Connector software on your home computer. (Windows Home Server Connector installation)

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Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, Waiting For You

Windows Home Server was designed to “grow with you”. That may be obvious when it comes to adding additional hard drives but also includes the option to install extra software features to help customize your Home Server. The development community has created “add-ins” for Windows Home Server that extends its capabilities in fun, exciting, and useful ways. There are currently over 100 add-ins available for download.

Three widely popular add-ins that are being used today include: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist.

Lights-Out

This power management add-in is used to put your Windows Home Server in a hibernated mode when you are not using it. This is a great way to cut down on energy bills and make your home or office a little “greener”.

*Windows Home Server console screen shot of Lights-Out add-in

This add-in allows your Home Server to go into hibernation mode when users are not using it, based on your calendar of events, or a combination of both. You will also have the option to set a defined time in which the Home Server will fully turn back on. Windows Home Server will never remain asleep if you have a backup scheduled. Therefore, all of your important data will remain safe and still be automatically backed up.

WebGuide

WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs while you are away from home. It will also enable you to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Windows XP Media Center edition or Windows Vista Premium, or Windows Vista Ultimate PC.

*Screen shot of Windows Home Server’s add-in, WebGuide

*Screen shot of streaming videos through Windows Home Server’s add-in, WebGuide

WebGuide provides you with mobile access to your music and videos from your Windows Mobile devices. This means you can have access to all of your pictures and movies while you are on the road.

Whiist

Whiist is a Windows Home Server add-in that allows you to create and manage web content on your Windows Home Server. Once downloaded, Whiist can be used through your Windows Home Server console. This tab makes it so that you can easily create and manage new websites, photo albums, and homepage links.

*Screen shot of Windows Home Server console with the Whiist add-in

Some of the key features that are found in Whiist include:

• Quickly create new websites on your home server.
• Create new photo albums to share with family and friends in a few simple steps.
• Share photos with family and friends through online photo sharing.
• Create public content, or restrict access to users of your Windows Home Server.
• Easily customize your public and private Windows Home Server Homepage links.
• Fully integrates with the Windows Home Server management console.
• Customize your Windows Home Server homepage

You have now seen three out of many Windows Home Server add-ins. If you are interested in learning about all of the other available add-ins to download, you can visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/add-ins.mspx.

Source Article:
Windows Home Server Add-ins: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist

The latest version of Open Media Library is now available for download from openmedialibrary.org and it includes a number of bug fixes and some minor additions. The additions are mostly in the back-end and database manager, however, the bug fixes are certainly worth the update. Much of the work in this patch focuses on the database editor provided to allow users to work with the new SQL database backend which makes OML performance incredible compared with other Media Center movie library plugins. If you haven’t already be sure to check out our post on the Open Media Library .4 beta.

For those who’ve already got the SQL server version installed updating to the latest version is as simple as downloading and installing the latest client version. We’ve got the 0.4.2 client for x86 systems and x64 systems available for download or you can head over to the Open Media Library site to get the latest versions. For those who haven’t given the 0.4 server a try yet we’ve got them available for x86 systems and x64 systems as well. As previously noted in the last Open Media Library article, single system installs require the server version to be installed though if you’ve already got server version 0.4 the latest client is all that is required to update to version 0.4.2.

For those updating, here’s a list of bug fixes and changes in this update, from the OML website:

Fixed:

• Bug fixes to importing previous oml.dat files
• Bug fixes to importing MyMovies.xml files
• bug fixes to importing oml.xml files
• bug fix to the moviecollectorz plugin
• Trailers now work
• fixed disappearing box art in db editor
• bug fixes to backing up/restoring the database
• various crashing fixes relating to meta data searches
• fanart from 0.3 versions of oml will now be pulling into 0.4 during import
• fixed race condition in the database layer
• deleting and updating favorites should now work
• fixed various issues when using 4:3 resolution tvs
• bug fixes relating to extenders (diff bugs for vista and win7 fixed) (extenders)
• fixed bug in transcoding mkv files under win7 (extenders)
• various fixes to drag/drop in the db editor

Added:

• Added firewall exception to the installers for sql server
• Added separate settings for plugins (movies vs tv)
• ability to remove fanart from db editor
• more logging
• ability to rebuild the database from scratch
• ability to do meta-data searches for tv shows and seasons

Changed:

• tv episodes now use “frontcover” image instead of thumbnail for display

If you’re haven’t already given Open Media Library a try be sure to check out our previous guide to getting started with version 0.4 and check it out. With development speeding up recently OML is sure to become a favorite for Windows 7 Media Center users in no time. Also, if you’ve got graphic design experience or coding skills be sure to head on over to the OML forums and lend a hand. Currently they’re looking for someone to create a few icons for use inside Media Center and coders and plugin creators are always in demand.