If an FBI profiler was asked to produce a profile for the average Windows Home Server user, I don’t think it would raise too many people’s eyebrows if they were to describe them as; male, 25-55 years of age, able to hold down a job and appear as upstanding members of their communities. As with many types of deviant, those nearest and dearest to the Windows Home Server user know about their activities but turn a blind eye when they disappear for hours at a time. Very often the users themselves cannot account for missing hours or what they have been doing - they may claim that they are protecting their family’s digital stuff from oblivion, when in fact that all happens automatically at 2am every day. No, they are installing add-ins that allow them to delve into and fiddle with knobs, switches and settings so deep inside WHS that you need a canary and a length of string to get back to the desktop.
Advanced Admin Console Addin by Andreas M is guaranteed to give hours of “fun” to those Windows Home Server owners who want to get down and dirty with the operating system. Read this post on the Windows Home Server Team blog, abd if you recognise yourself there with a smile, then this add-in is for you. If you are downloading this type of add-in then there is probably no need to tell you how to install it. If you don’t know how to install it, then something a little gentler may be what you’re looking for - you should try something simpler like WHS Customizerby Jay Hinrich. Why? As Andreas M says on his web site:
“IMPORTANT: This Add-In is only intended for advanced users who have at least some experience with administering a Windows Server 2003! The Add-In allows easy access to areas where you can really harm your Home Server if you’re unsure about what you’re doing.”
So take note. But having said that, looking can’t do any harm, can it? So what does this add-in do that could decimate your home server? Essentially, it gives you access to many server functions that would only be available if you remote accessed into the server itself.
The WHS Console protects the average home server administrator from altering and generally fiddling with any critical server functions, which is a good thing. But once installed, Advanced Admin Console is a delight to use and gives unfettered access to some seriously deep, potentially data-damaging, server-screwing settings.
Clicking on the Advanced Admin Console tab button brings up a series of buttons on the Console toolbar. (NB the star rating system below indicates where you will find stuff to really break your server, the more stars the better the chance of finding something to really screw it up…….just so you can go straight to it!):
Control Panel **
Printers and Faxes *
Administrative Tools *****
Start Menu *
My Computer *
My Network Places *
Your Workgroup (shows the name of your workgroup)
Network Connections *
At the extreme right of the Console Toolbar is a drop down menu with access to:
Command Prompt **
Windows PowerShell *****
Task Manager *
Registry Editor *****
Customize *
All these system settings are usually accessed by remotely accessing the server via Remote Desktop. As was mentioned before by all means have a look around but unless you know what you are doing don’t fiddle!!
One aspect of Advanced Admin Control that I found neat was the ability to add to the Advanced Admin Console drop down menu any application you wish to directly access on the server. For example, should you wish to be able to immediately access the desktop on your home server then from within the Advanced Admin Console:
1. Click on the drop down menu on the far right of the screen and select Customize:
2. This opens the Windows Home Server Settings window. With the Advanced Admin Custom Shortcuts open, click on the Add Shortcut button:
3. Click on the Browse button:
4. Select Desktop, then click on OK:
5. Now click on Next:
6. Now give the shortcut a name:
7. A new entry is made in the Custom Shortcuts window:
8. Click on OK and then go to the drop down menu. Your shortcut appears in the drop down menu:
9. Removing a shortcut just involves deleting it from the Custom Shortcut list:
(On un-installing this add-in, a little hint of the developer’s native language creeps in here, now I know what German is for Cancel!)
The first time I uninstalled I was left with a remote connection to the WHS desktop. Andreas does warn about this in the documentation on his web site. All you need to do is click on Start and then log of to exit the Console.
So there you go – piece of cake. But don’t get over confident, remember that for every action there is a consequence, and that consequence could be spending the best part of tomorrow reinstalling WHS and explaining to your family why you will be spending the next few hours installing server backups. You do back up your server don’t you?
Andreas M has written a thoughtful and well laid out Add-In that most server enthusiasts will leap at the chance of installing. Now I have finished this review I will uninstall it, because Advanced Admin Console makes it far too easy to access stuff I am not qualified to get at!
14. February 2008 at 2:06 am
Isn’t this more or less the same as the Program Launcher Add-in from Dan Forsyth? Also to the windows homeserver toolkit already contains command shell which is more or less all you need for advanced admin tasks
I guess the Windows Powershell is not part of the Add-in but needs to be downloaded and installed separately