Add-in Review: AWIECO Remote Launcher for WHS 2011

By Jim Clark on April 23, 2011 in Add-ins & Apps, News, Windows Home Server

Introduction

AWIECO has come out of nowhere to develop a series of add-ins for the Windows Home Server 2011 and Small Business Server 2011 Essentials operating systems. RemoteLauncher is one of these add-ins.

This add-in is similar to the award winning Advanced Admin Console for WHS v1. As I have not had an opportunity to try AAC for WHS 2011 yet, it will interesting to see how it compares to this add-in.

Installation

Add-ins for Windows Home Server 2011 are installed by means of .wssx add-in packages designed for the Colorado series of Server Operating Systems. These packages are designed to be run directly using the Run Command or Windows Explorer. They can be run directly from the server desktop or from a RDC. They can be run directly from a client machine. If the add-in has already been installed, it is smart enough to know that.

I downloaded the add-in and saved the file to my WHS 2011 server. Once downloaded, to install RemoteLauncher, I opened the Dashboard on my desktop, navigated to the Server Folders and Hard Drives section, and double-clicked the Documents line.

This opens up a Windows Explorer window to this folder, at which point I navigated to the folder I store my add-ins in

double-clicked on the add-in to open it,

and let the add-in take over from there. This add-in is currently not a signed version for verifying the publisher,

which is supposedly in process.

If you have previously not signed-in to your server, you will be asked to provide your administrator credentials.

At this point, the add-in will go through a series of installation screens.

In WHS v1, the Console would close and you have to reopen it for the add-in to complete the installation. This does not happen in WHS 2011, however, to date I have found it a requirement to close and reopen the Dashboard to actually make use of any add-ins I have installed.

After installation and before closing the dashboard:

and after reopening the Dashboard:

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About Jim Clark

Hello. I’m from the heartland of the U.S. Lots of corn and beans, although Iowa is a lot more than just farmland. It also has a few computer enthusiasts (no, not me!). I’ve been around PCs since I got my 1st PC XT aloooong time ago. WGS is one of the first sites I found centered around WHS. And the best. Every once in awhile, I do get away from the KB and enjoy time with and my wife and our 4 kids. And I do have a day job.

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add-in, awieco, reivew, RemoteLauncher, whs, Windows Home Server, windows home server 2011

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Justin Maas

Jim

Do you know if remote launcher will let two users on at the same time both using applications remotely?

Cheers

Justin

Jim_Clark

In my experience, only one instance of the Dashboard can be open at any given time, either on the LAN or the WAN, which means only one instance of RemoteLauncher.

DrWHS

If WHS could only allow more than one user to use the dash to access apps.. it would be a true home server.. still seems to be focussed on a single admin account.. its just a gloriied storage server…

Jim_Clark

I really do not understand why you think that way. The Dashboard is an administrative tool, just like the Management Software of a Linux NAS device. As such, only an administrator should have access to either.

Normal access to data on a WHS or NAS is through the Shares in Windows Explorer, for example. And yes, you are correct. A WHS, just like a NAS, is a storage server and a client backup server. You can use it to do more than that, but the main role of either is to serve data.

DrWHS

Sorry,but I think you are being quite narrow visioned.. yes, I agree the main feature of the server is to serve files.. but as such devices are now becoming more common place in the home, so why not have them doing more, serving applications etc???

Imagine if a dashboard was accessible to all of your users, obviously, it could be configured to only allow certain levels of access, but let users access their applications… I think it would be great if everyone in your home could access the likes of office, outlook etc from a central server.. rather than have several pcs in the house, each with their own software on… all docs etc an then be easily stored centrally… WHS could be so much more than simply a NAS.. lets make more use out of it, afterall, it is built on a business class server platform…

Feature wise, its no better than WHS v1 IMO… some would argue it even has less with the removal of DE, but I dont see this as a loss at all…. but can understand why some people do.

Jim_Clark

Narrow minded? I thought I was simply explaining what the application is there for. And that is a nice idea, buy one copy of a commerical program and allow X number of people to access it at the same time. SW compnies kind of frown upon that.

And I guess I do not understand why you think you cannot have all your docs in one central location (in WHS 2011) right now.

DrWHS

Sorry, I didnt say narrow minded… I simply feel whs could have a lot more going for it than it does… it oculd have been so much more than v1, but it isnt… I had hoped it may have evolved into a more family friendly home server, rather than a simple file server… __

Yesh, the app is a nice idea, but If the dashboard was configurable at a user level, it would open up a new level of possibilites.. but, alas, it isnt.. so Im not going to dwell on it.. and wont be holding my breath for v3.. !__

v2 has simply not evolved as a platform, yeah, the os has changed, but the features havent really moved on as much as id hoped for… I think media streaming is the only addition worth any mention!__

Sorry, my intention was not to offend!!__

Ill get down from my soapbox now!…

Jim_Clark

narrow visioned -> narrow minded = my bad!

And no offense taken. I just see the dashboard differently than you. And I certainly can not argue that WHS 2011 could have been a lot more than it is.

I just hope v3 will be a much bigger leap over v2 than v2 was over v1.

txdot

DrWHS, what you describe is not the role of a typical server but more of a mainframe in that the clients work directly on the server. In a typical client/server setup the server serves the data to an application running on a client. WHS does that natively and can do a lot more of it. It requires installing the server side software on the WHS and then using the client application on another PC. You rarely want client type "stuff" running on the server because if it crashes everybody is affected. If a client crashes only one person is affected.