We Got Served

In the last part of our Get Started guide, we installed the Windows Home Server Connector on our home computers.

So, now that you have your Windows Home Server hardware installed, you’ve installed the Windows Home Server Installation DVD on your server, and installed the Windows Home Server Connector CD on each of your home computers, it’s now time to roll your sleeves up, and get Windows Home Server configured!

The good news is, this is one of the easiest parts of the process – in fact, I go as far to say if you’ve done all that stuff above, it’s a breeze!

Let’s start with setting up your User Accounts.

The first thing we need to do is to tell our home server who is allowed access to it. So, to do this, go to one of your home computers, and right click on the Windows Home Server icon that appeared in the System Tray when you installed the Windows Home Server Connector CD.

It looks like this:

Then select Windows Home Server Console. (That’s the shortcut – the long way round is to click Start > All Programs > Windows Home Server Console).

The Console Login screen will appear – type in your Windows Home Server password and click Connect.

The Windows Home Server Console will be displayed to you for the first time in its full glory! There’s lots to see and do here, but for now, we’re going to focus on adding user accounts.

Do you see that tab at the top of the screen that says User Accounts? It’s the third one from the left on an HP MediaSmart Server, but maybe located in second place on a self-build. Click it! You’ll be presented with the User Accounts screen.

TIP: Windows Home Server is set to allow up to 10 user accounts on your home server, so there should be plenty of scope to give each member of your immediate family an account, plus maybe a few friends and other relations you want to allow access to your music, photos and videos. Why only 10? To ensure that businesses don’t see WHS as a cheap and easy way to run a business server – hey, we’ve all got a make a living, I guess.

You’ll also see that there is a Guest Account (switched off when you first install) that you can also configure for any guests who come to stay. Generally, you may only want to give these people restricted (read only) access to some of your folders, but that’s up to you. So, including your Guest account, you have 11 accounts in total that you can use, or less if you’re in a smaller family (or have no friends).

Read the introductory dialog which first appears, then click OK to proceed.

Okay, underneath the tabs (where the buttons for Computers & Backup, User Accounts, Shared Folders etc. are listed) you’ll see a blue bar with +Add, Properties and Remove.

Click +Add to start the Add User wizard.

Enter the user’s name and logon name as requested by the wizard. If you want that user to be able to access the server remotely (from work, or from a coffee shop for example) then click Enable Remote Access. You’re then able to choose that user’s level of remote access – select from allowing access to both shared folders and home computers (that is, the user will be able to access home computers on the network as if they were sitting in front of them. Cool, huh?), or isolate access to shared folders or home computers only.

Once this is done, click next and enter the user’s password. Remember, this should be a complex password (using numbers, letters and symbols) of at least 7 characters. You won’t be allowed to proceed until both of these conditions are met (you’ll see a tick appear next to each requirement when you comply).

TIP: To make life easier, use the same account name and password as that user has on the home computer. (You do have User Accounts set up on your home computers, don’t you? If not, now’s a great time to do it.) If you use a different Windows Home Server account name and password for a user than their Windows XP/Vista user name and password, they’ll be asked to enter their Server account details every time they want to access a shared file on the server. In short, keep them the same!

You’re now asked to select the level of access permitted for that user for each of your shared folders on the server. By default, Windows Home Server creates six shared folders (Videos, Software, Photos, Recorded TV, Music and Public), plus a personal folder for each user you create. You can then add any further shared folders you wish. HP MediaSmart Servers come configured with a couple of extra shared folders for Mac backups and a second used for their in-built video converter.

Select the level of access allowed for that user for each of your shared folders. You can choose from Full, Read or None

Click Finish, and the user account and personal folder will be set up!

To check, take a look in the shared Users folder on your home server. To do this, double click the “Shared Folders on [Your home server’s name]” icon on the desktop and then double click on the “Users” folder. You should see a dedicated folder there for your new user.

Congratulations, you just set up your first user account. Go back and set up accounts for the rest of your family and friends.

In the next part of our Get Started guide for Windows Home Server, we’ll take a look at adding a new shared folder.