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Windows Home Server 2011 Step by Step – Part 10: Restoring Files, Folders and PCs

By on March 29, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

One of the more important purposes for a Windows Home Server 2011 computer, if not the most important purpose, is the ability to back-up a complete client computer.  Not just backup the data on a client machine, but the complete hard drive. If your PC’s hard drive dies, install a blank replacement drive, throw the [...]

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step by Step – Part 9: Backing Up Your PCs

By on March 26, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server 2011

Windows Home Server’s backup features are very much the cornerstone of the product. Whilst other network attached storage devices offer data backup (usually through third-party software), Windows Home Server trumps them with single-instance (i.e. de-duplicated), incremental, image-based backup of multiple computers. That makes backup storage very efficient indeed – you may have wondered how WHS fits ten computers worth of data into a nightly backup – the answer is, it doesn’t.

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step by Step – Part 8: Managing Your Server With the Dashboard

By on March 23, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

Previously known as the Windows Home Server Console (in the first version of the product), the Dashboard is Windows Home Server’s control centre. It where you’ll spend most of your time configuring the server and tweaking its various settings for your needs – whilst you probably won’t spend a lot of time here on a day to day basis (Windows Home Server is the epitome of a “set and forget” product), during the first few hours of your home server’s life, you’ll need to dig around the Dashboard to get things working correctly.

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step By Step – Part 7: The Launchpad

By on March 20, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

The Launchpad is a brand new feature in Windows Home Server 2011. In essence, it’s a small application residing on your clients which provides a quick view of your server’s status, along with shortcut links to key features.

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step By Step – Part 6: Connecting Client Computers

By on March 14, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

You have installed the Windows Home Server 2011 operating system. You have installed all the updates needed to bring the system up to date. Now you have to ask yourself, “Am I done?” The answer, of course, is “Not quite.” A server is not a server until it is serving, and you need to tell the “client” computers in your local network that this server is ready to serve.

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step By Step – Part 5: Installing Windows Home Server 2011

By on March 9, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

If you skipped the last chapter as you really didn’t want to build your own server, then welcome back – you missed a great project! But if you’re considering purchasing a new home server, or thinking about re-using another PC you have at home for home server duties, then start here! Before we even think about installing the Windows Home Server 2011 software (you’ve bought a copy, right? If not, then head over to your favourite online tech retailer and buy one sharpish!)

The more progressive of you may instead opt for a USB install. That’s right, you can prepare a USB drive with your installation files, connect it up to the server and be done in a flash (no pun intended). It takes a little work up front, but is the fastest installation method once it gets going, as you can just let it run – this is known as an unattended install. We’ll cover off both methods, traditional and modern, so you can choose the route that works best for you.

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step By Step – Part 4: Windows Home Server 2011 Hardware Requirements

By on March 7, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

If you’ve bought computer with Windows Home Server 2011 preinstalled, the manufacturer will have already matched your hardware to meet the minimum requirements needed to run this operating system. But if you are building your own server on which to install Windows Home Server 2011, you will need to know the minimum hardware requirements needed for installation.

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How to: Connect Windows 8 Consumer Preview to Windows Home Server 2011

By on March 1, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows, Windows Home Server, Windows Home Server 2011

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview has only been out a matter of hours, but WGS readers are busily putting it to the test. The first issue? Installing the Windows Home Server 2011 Connector on the brand new operating system fails without a little tweak. Here’s what you need to do…

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Windows Home Server 2011 Step By Step – Part 3: Should I Upgrade to Windows Home Server 2011?

By on February 24, 2012 in How to Guides, News, Windows Home Server 2011

If you’re new to Windows Home Server, then the following chapter is somewhat academic, as it’s intended for those currently running Windows Home Server v1 – that said, it may offer some insights into the (somewhat turbulent) development of the second version of the operating system. For those debating whether to stick or twist, read on…

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