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Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh Now Available, With Mac Support

By on August 16, 2010 in News, Windows Home Server

Microsoft have just announced the availability of the first Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh. The new build is the second to be released to the general public, and sees a number of new features included in the platform as well as a refreshed user interface.

1 thumb6 Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh Now Available, With Mac Support

Aside from the visuals, the most significant change in the release candidate is native support for Time Machine on Apple’s Mac OS – all Windows Home Server Vail systems will be compatible with Time Machine as a target backup disk. A new Windows Home Server Connector for Mac can be downloaded and installed from the server, which provides a Mac Launchpad as well as remote access to the server in Safari, with full access to files and folders as well as media streaming in Silverlight. Dashboard access for Mac has not been enabled in this build.

20100815 09.54.55 thumb1 Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh Now Available, With Mac Support20100815 09.59.44 thumb2 Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh Now Available, With Mac Support20100815 10.27.08 thumb1 Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh Now Available, With Mac Support20100815 10.18.42 thumb1 Windows Home Server Vail Preview Refresh Now Available, With Mac Support

Other new features in the refresh include:

  • New Dashboard Design
  • New Server Folders and Hard Drives Tab
  • Redesigned Launchpad
  • .NET Framework 4.0 Installation
  • Dashboard Safe Mode and Selective Add-in Loading
  • Remote Web Access Improvements
  • Video Streaming Quality Setting
  • Improved Homegroup Support
  • New Alert Features
  • User Account Setting Improvements
  • PC Restore From USB Flash Drive

Check out our Vail Preview Refresh Deep Dive for full details on the changes with screenshots.

It’s not all good news, however. Alongside a raft of known issues with the new build, two problems in particular are major causes for concern:

Issue

Do not use Storage Check and Repair.

Description

Under certain conditions, running Storage Check and Repair may lead to data loss.

Solution

No workaround is available.

Issue

Removing a missing hard drive from a storage pool may delete the wrong files.

Description

If a hard drive is missing, and you remove the missing hard drive from the storage pool, the wizard may incorrectly identify the files damaged because of the missing disk and may delete files that still exist on hard drives that are not missing.

Solution

Before removing the missing hard drive from the storage pool, copy all the files from server folders to a client machine or to an external hard drive, remove the missing hard drive from the storage pool, and then copy back the files.

Whilst this is a beta release, I’m very surprised and concerned to see Microsoft release a build to the general public with known issues that cause data loss. Reading over the release notes, it’s clear that Vail has a lot of issues to be resolved before it’s ready for primetime.

Our advice is that you do not use this build in a production environment, with data that you cannot afford to lose.

Update: The following changelog has been posted over on Microsoft’s Forums by the Home and Small Business Server Team (next page):

Pages: 1 2

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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • Glenn

    I really don’t like the fact dat mac os x is supported, it is a crappy OS and it seems that anything that has something to do with Apple Inc. becomes a piece of s***

    • Steve Jobs

      Once you go Mac you don't go back!

      • Bill Gates

        yes you do – if you're not a conformist tool.

        • Chadwick

          Conformist? PC users are the conformists; that's what everybody uses. Mac users are the rebels that have defiantly broken away from the evil empire.

          • n00g

            lol .. or lazy to learn how to use a computer … its more like a cell phone os !

  • Rychek

    Has there been any word as to whether or not the OSX support extends to PPC based systems? I'd love to have backups of the iMac as it could die at any moment.

  • http://www.tomontech.com Tom

    Rychek – As far as I can tell the Mac OS X Connector is a Universal Binary. If you are running 10.5 on your iMac, I'd say give it a shot and see if the connector installs.

    Right now, backups do not work, but that is coming soon.

  • Ascario

    @Glenn: I fully agree, I do not see the point in supporting MacOSX. It's not like Apple supports other software on their devices, quite the contrary.

    • RobertS

      In a mixed household like mine, where both Macs and PCs are used, this could be better news for me.

      • RobertS

        I should say "couldn't be better news for me"

    • Bonzoom

      You must be kidding. What about SIlverlight, FAT, NTFS, Exchange just to name a few Microsoft software.

  • Tom

    SOLD… Mac support… Very Happy. 2GB Time Machine Costs £388. I already have a 7GB Server but don't use Time Machine on it, now I can. :D

    • Herlev

      DANG! 2GB for £388! Apple fans are getting skreeeewed :P
      Sure you dont mean TB? :P
      BTW, if im not mistaken you can configure time machine to target WHS v1 as a network harddrive… pretty sure there are some articles/how-to's out there on the big interweb.

  • Guest

    What, if anything, can we draw from this release relating to Vail's eventual RTM date?

    • scoob101

      Nothing. Its not a Release Candidate, its just another Beta. My wild guess is an RTM in early Q1 2011

  • Nate

    It's great that Microsoft are releasing the Beta to the public, they've learnt this lesson after Vista. Goes without saying though that Beta is never meant to be used for production, its purely for testing. Would be nice for them to release the final product without known issues like the current version has around data corruption with file duplication.

  • Scoob101

    Highly encouraging to see Mac support. I don`t have (and never will) have a mac, but this can only broaden the appeal of WHS.

    Well done guys!

  • http://twitter.com/simonneedham @simonneedham

    Fantastic news. Very happy about this.

  • http://twitter.com/donkeyrobot @donkeyrobot

    i love that a mention of mac makes everyone go nutts and thats all we can talk about.

    i'd like to know more about upgrading an existing installation of WHS v1

    • Rychek

      There isn't a software upgrade path like there is for desktop Windows. If you want to "upgrade" from v1, you'll need to either build a second system and copy your data over the network (shuffling drives as you copy), or disconnect your drive pool drives, copy the data onto the new install and add the copied disk to your new storage pool as you can. It's more like a server recovery than an upgrade solution.

  • Aaron

    I for one have been longing for MAC backup. I live in a dual system environment and would prefer to have only 1 backup location in my home.

  • Gary Kopff

    I'm unclear: I use an APPLE TIME MACHINE router (extended by both APPLE EXTREME and AIRPORT EXPRESS). The APPLE TIME MACHINE also hs a 1 TB harddrive and that is the target I want for installing VAIL. Can I do it? if so, must I operate from the APPLE TIME MACHINEor can I downlload on client and transfer fileds into SERVER for installation.xD

  • Mark

    Great to see Mac support. With a heavily competitive market out there with NAS drives offering many of the features of WHS the guys have to keep on top of the game. A recent review of the HP WHS box in WhatHifi S&V (UK) saw it as the Rolls Royce of NAS boxes which is a good place to be. IT justifies the price difference to a standard NAS.
    Does this mean we have iTunes support out of the box.?

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