“Home Server Status, is a program that shows the status of your Windows Home Server 2011. It allows at a quick glance to see if your server is connected to the network, if a backup is running, was successful, or unsuccessful on any client machine. It will even send status alerts to email or push notifications to your mobile device.”

Version 3.0 changelog:

• New: Improved settings page with tabbed pages for additional functionality
• New: Ability to enable iOS alerts via Prowl for iPhone, iPad, and iPod
• New: Ability to enable SMTP and UDP network backup alerts
• New: Network Backup Log for all those running HSS on your network
• New: Ability to detect Windows shut down, restart, and logoff during a backup
• New: Automatic checking, download, and installion of updates
• Updated: Less resource intensive

Home Server Status is available as a a 14 day trial, after which it will cost you $6.95 which will gain you a license for all computers, up to 10, connected to your Windows Home Server 2011.

More information can be found here.

Home Server Status v3.0 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Here’s the details:

About a year ago two things happened at about the same time:

1. Drive Extender was eliminated from the WHS 2011 build. This caused me to start thinking about ways to effectively extend the useful life of WHS v1
2. First one and then another of my WHS buddies started having hard drive issues.

Regarding #1

I knew that WHS without DE would not meet my needs and suspected that it would fail to meet others needs as well. As a measure of the new WHS’s lack of popularity, WHS 2011 now sells online for less than $50, a price lower than WHS v1 ever sold for. So what can be done to keep the original WHS actively meeting our needs? The answer falls into two separate issues:

• Software Support – Microsoft will maintain WHS until 2015 (that is, issue security updates)
• Hardware – WHS was originally release in late 2007. That means that early adopters have equipment that is reaching 5 years of age (or older if you reused hardware to build yours like I did.) What is most likely to fail first? THE HARD DRIVE(s)!

Regarding #2

I was researching the issues my friends were having with WHS hard drives and I came across a study done by Google Labs about predicting hard drive failures. They found that some SMART indicators (hard drive Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) could predict that a specific hard drive was 39 times more likely to fail than its cousins.

#1 plus #2

So put the hard ware issue in #1 together with #2 and the result is SIAFIT.exe (Set It and Forget It.) The idea being that even though I was now educated by Goggle’s findings I knew that I’d not have the tenacity to manually monitor all my hard drives over the long haul. I needed something I could setup once and then could truly be forgotten until it needed to get my attention.

Note:

• SIAFIT is not a Home Server Console add-in. It is invisible – the forget it part.
• If you’re worried about installing some crackpot’s software package

1. Go to the website and read more
2. Open everything up and take a look. Open the zip file and then use WinRAR to open and inspect the exe. This is free. What would I need to password protect anything for?

P.S. There is a Windows 7 version on the website also. The folks I had test SIAFIT so much they asked me to modify it for Windows 7 as well.

Great stuff ttomm, and you can read more about SIAFIT here.

SIAFIT (Set-It-And-Forget-It) is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

We all love DVBLink here at MSWHS.com as it is a great solution to have WHS and Media Center combined, and the good news is that its just been updated to version 4.1:

What is new/fixed:
General

• Fixed: limit of 4 physical channels when doing manual channel merge
• Fixed: it takes a long time for dvblink server to start-up and wake up from standby (this also caused tuner conflict message in MediaCenter after wake-up from standby)
• Fixed: xmltv files in ISO-8859-2 encoding cannot be read
• Fixed: BSOD in dvblink drivers when starting up Mediacenter (also on the dvblink network client side)
• Fixed: dissapearing channels in MediaCenter (also on the dvblink network client side)

DVBLink TVSource:

• Fixed: BSOD in drivers of Omicom tuner during channel scan
• Fixed (by AnySee new drivers): TVSource does not scan channels with AnySee E7 S2 tuner without CNO running

DVBLink Connect! Server

• Added: Web streaming interface
• Fixed: DLNA server crashes on startup because of corrupt nms description file
• Added: url to retrieve m3u file with dvblink channel list
• Fixed: Android streaming stops sometimes after 30-60 seconds

Since there is a driver update involved you cannot upgrade your existing installation! You need to uninstall existing v4.0 or v4.0.1 DVBLink products and install DVBLink product v4.1 from the scratch.
Please use Backup-Restore functionality to restore your DVBLink settings after reinstallation! Do not forget about your modified transponders and contents of your Plugins folder!
Sorry for the inconvenience.
The installation instructions are described on our Wiki.

More information on  DVBLink products can be found here.

DVBLink v4.1 Released is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

iHomeServer for iTunes is an application that runs iTunes as a service on Windows Home Server both v1 and WHS 2011.

iTunes normally runs as a desktop application which requires you to be logged into your desktop at all times in order to play music or video remotely. Many people are now using Home Sharing to share a single iTunes music/video library with other iTunes clients, however, most know the frustration of trying to keep the iTunes always open on your computer.

There’s nothing more annoying than trying to stream music to your iPhone or iPad only to find that iTunes isn’t running, or worse still has crashed, on your computer! What’s the point of having all of your media centralised if you can’t access it?

Enter iHomeServer for iTunes! iHomeServer for iTunes installs an agent on top of a normal iTunes installation and runs iTunes in the background as a service.

iHomeServer now support iTunes 10.5 so new features such as Wifi sync and iCloud purchase synchronisation are also available to your iTunes Media Server!

iHomeServer is available as a free 30 day trial after which it will cost you $30

More information is available from here.

iHomeServer for iTunes is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

As you are probably aware we are great fans of the DVBLink software from DVBLogic here at MSWHS.com as it is ideal solution for housing your tuner cards in your Windows Home Server as it makes these cards network aware.

The guys have just announced that version 4.0.1 of their product suit has just been released which includes the following changes:

General

• Fixed: Unstable channel synchronization/update in MediaCenter
• Added: Full German, Dutch, Spanish, Danish and Ukrainian localizations
• Fixed: DVBLink Server does not start if there is no active network connection
• Added: Moved xmltv file location to ProgramData\DVBLogic\DVBLink\xmltv
• Fixed: xmltv files with .XML (capitals) extension are not recognized
• Added: ISO-8859-7 and Windows-1252 encodings to xmltv source

DVBLink TVSource

• Added: Latest satellite transponder files from kingofsat
• Fixed: Transponder files with comments cannot be read
• Fixed: MediaCenter may display Playready message in the middle of viewing a channel for encrypted channels
• Fixed: "Technical problem" stream is displayed after waking up a server from standby

DVBLink Connect! Server

• Added: Use base streaming port (8080) as control port for DVBLink client
• Fixed: No scheduled recordings are displayed on Recordings tab of mobile apps, even if there are recordings visible in MediaCenter
• Fixed: iOS/Adroid app crashes when entering Recordings tab
• Added: Timer recordings added from apps use default recording settings of MediaCenter
• Fixed: DVBLink Network Client crashes if there is no connection to a DVBLink server
• Fixed: Artifacts when viewing HD channels on DVBLink network client
• Fixed: DVBLink Server crashes when trial period of DVBLink Connect Server expires
• Fixed: It takes a long time to start live TV after standby on a DVBLink network client
• Fixed: Streams containing AAC audio track are not played back in WinPhone client

The full change log including the download location and important installation instructions can be found here.

DVBLink Product Suite v4.0.1 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

DVBLogic have released version 4 of their products. Here is their press release:

DVBLink v4 products are released!

04 Oct 2011

We at DVBLogic are extremely proud to announce release of the DVBLink v4 products!
Rebuilt using new architecture version 4 forms the basis for further development and extension of the DVBLink product suit.
DVBLink v4 products have a lot new features, improvements and fixes over previous version. The most notable of them are:

• More intuitive and easier Windows MediaCenter setup
• Support of up to 8 virtual tuners in Windows MediaCenter
• Web based DVBLink server configuration
• New DVBLink Connect! Server with support for live TV, timer scheduling and EPG on Android, IPhone, IPad and Windows Mobile devices
• DVBLink Boxee client that enables watching live TV on Linux and Mac computers as well as in Boxee Box itself
• DVBLink Remote API, which can be used to create 3rd party DVBLink clients

DVBLink v4 launch is accompanied with launch of DVBLogic Wiki. It is the place to go for Installation and Configuration manuals, FAQ’s and How-To’s. We all hope that it will make installation and configuration of DVBLink products much easier and faster.
DVBLink v4 is a paid upgrade for v2/v3 owners who purchased products before 1 July 2011. For those who have purchased DVBLink products on or after that date the upgrade is free of charge.
We would like to thank all of our beta testers who provided their valueable input.
DVBLink v4 products can be downloaded from the first page of our website.
You can also read official press release here.
Enjoy!
DVBLogic team

DVBLink v4 Released is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

This driver allows the lights on the front of the following hardware to continue to work after upgrading these units with WHS 2011:

• HP: EX48x, EX49x, X510, X310, X311, X312
• Acer: H340, H341, H342
• Lenovo: D400

Here’s what’s new in version 1.0.6:

• Support for Acer H341 and H342. Please do some tests and report any issues.
• Disk light status can be changed in the configuration file. This is particularly useful for users of DrivePool, DriveBender, RAID arrays and drives without shares when the user does not want a blinking aqua LED.
• Removed some uncessary DLL’s from the setup.

NOTE: Not compatible with the HP EX47x (AMD based hardware) models.

More details are available from here.

Lights Management for WHS 2011 1.06 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

With this software you can install tuner cards in your WHS which then become network aware allowing you to view the content on your Media Center PC.

Here is what has been new and fixed since RC1:

General
- Fixed: DVBLink sources/Connect server cannot be uninstalled if DVBLink server was uninstalled before them
- Fixed: Incorrect handling of <previously-shown> and <premiere> flags in xmltv
- Added: Categories to xmltv channels based on xmltv file name

DVBLink Connect Server
- Fixed: DVBLink server crash when playback of non-DVBLink channel is started from the DVBLink client
- Fixed: PlayReady error on DVBLink MediaCenter client when client is woken up from standby
- Fixed: DLNA server hangs on DVBLink server stop (server will stop correctly although DLNA server will not function)
- Fixed: IPhone/IPad cannot play HD channels
- Fixed: Incorrect video aspect ratio on Android client
- Fixed: Starting channel playback on Android hangs DVBLink server
- Added: Possibility to play channels via http url
- Fixed: Empty channel list in XBMC when connected do DVBLink DLNA server
- Added: Support for DVBLink Boxee client

DVBLink TVSource
- Fixed: Stuttering playback of RTL4 (HD), TV2 Nyhetskanalen and TV4 Sport channels
- Fixed: Weak signal tuner message in MediaCenter when DVBLink configuration page is opened or playback is started on another tuner
- Fixed: High CPU load (compared to v3) on some encrypted and HD channels
- Fixed: DVBLink server crashes in tvsource.dll or tvsource_info.dll when system has more than 8 tuners

Additional notes, installation instructions and the downloads can be found here.

DVBLink v4 RC2 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The media server for WHS has been updated to version 6.0.37 which fixes several sync-related issues, and can be downloaded from here.

TwonkyServer 6.0.37 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The apps allow you to access you’ve backed up data, allowing you to browse through your files and download them to your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch or Android device or share them via email.

The CrashPlan apps for iOS have built-in viewers for common documents like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, TIFF, mp3 and more; while on Android your files will open directly with your favorite apps that you already installed on your device. And if your device has compatible apps installed, you can open the files in those apps as well.

The one-touch update feature, will let you know when your backup archive contains a newer version of any file(s) you’ve retrieved, and lets you update them with one tap. You’ll never have to wonder if you’ve got the latest version on your device.

More details are available in the CrashPlan Mobile App FAQ whilst the CrashPlan apps are available on the iTunes App Store and the Android Market.

CrashPlan Apps for iOS and Android is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Full fix list:

• DVBLink server crashes in tvsource.dll or tvsource_info.dll when system has more than 8 tuners
• RTL4 (HD) jerky playback
• Weak TVSignal / dvblink server crash when one or more sources are playing TV and another TV source is started or web browser about page is opened

Additional notes and patch installation details can be obtained from here.

DVBLink TVSource v4 Patch is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

With clients available for Android, iPad, Boxee and WinPhone,  its a great way to watch your recordings and or live TV on the go or whilst using Boxee.

More screenshots are available here.

DVBLogic for Android, iPad, Boxee and WinPhone is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

DVBLink v4 products are now at Release Candidate status and now include DVBLnk Connect! Server.

DVBLink Home Server is no longer available but its functionality is now included into DVBLink Connect! Server.

What is new and fixed since beta2:

General:

• Fixed: Teletext and subtitles in MediaCenter
• Fixed: Unstable (sometimes hanging) DVBLink configuration webpage
• Added: Authentication mechanism for web configuration access (defaults are user/admin)
• Fixed: PC wit Medaicenter running DVBLink does not go to sleep (powercfg reporting ehrecvr running)
• Added: Smart channel mapping
• Added: Channel (sub)name search in channel tree
• Added: MC Guide Services is a normal EPG source now (see notes for special import instructions for MC Guide Services EPG mapping)

DVBLink TVSource:

• Added: Device properties dialog
• Added: Import settings from other tuner

DVBLink for IPTV:

• Playlist retrieval from http
• Automatic channel mapping for DVBLink for IPTV

DVBLink Connect! Server:

• Fixed: Playready message appearing on a network clients when they wake up from standby

The downloads, additional notes, installation and import instructions are available from here.

DVBLink v4 Products RC1 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

For streaming: AirVideo, VLC Shares, Plex Media Server and Subsonic are all taken a look at. For remote access DynDNS.com, DD-WRT and the Tomato firmware. All this plus Perl with IIS, PHP with IIS, WordPress and MediaWiki. These are all great apps for Windows home Server users.

You can read it here.

The Best Apps for Windows Home Server is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Here are the release details:

- This software update includes a new feature that allows you to wirelessly sync media from your mobile device to your computer. For more information about using this feature with our Twonky Mobile Android app, check out the “Syncing Your Files” section below.
- A new client adaptation was added for Sony Bravia, Sony Blu-Ray Home Theaters and Sony Blu-Ray Players. With this change, all files that could be played through other DLNA servers are now also supported by TwonkyServer.
- Fixed a problem with the web config page not launching that occurred when installing TwonkyServer on a Mac running the Lion OS.
- Fixed YouTube streaming problems
- Information about other improvements and bug fixes can be found in the TwonkyServer release notes, which can be found in the TwonkyServer folder under Program Files\Twonky.

Syncing Your Files

This software update includes a new feature that allows you to wirelessly sync media from your mobile device to your computer. This way, your home computer will always have the latest photos you’ve taken with your mobile device, or you can choose what files from your computer you want with you wherever you go. Set it to automatically sync whenever your devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, or perform a manual sync at your convenience. You can configure wireless syncing the first time you launch this software, or set it up later by following the steps below:

Configuring Sync Settings

In most cases, the factory defaults for the sync folders on your mobile device will work without any need for configuration.

By default, synced photos are found in the DCIM folder on your SD card. Synced music and videos are found in the Twonky Sync folder on your SD Card. To change the default sync folders on your mobile device, follow the steps below under ‘Changing Your Mobile Sync Folders.’

Selecting a Sync Server

Before you can sync your media, you need to install a compatible sync server on your computer and select this as your sync server. Compatible sync servers include: TwonkyServer 6.0.36 (or later), TwonkyManager 2.0.7 (or later) or other WebDAV server software.

1. Launch Twonky Mobile
2. Press the menu button and click on Sync.
3. Select ’Sync Settings’
4. Select ’Configure Music Sync’
5. Touch ’Choose sync location’ and select the remote server and folder you want to use for synching. You’ll see a spinning circle while we scan your network for supported servers. Make sure you’ve installed one of the compatible sync servers listed above.
6. Press the OK button to continue, unless you have previously set a username and password for this server. By default no username or password has been set.
7. By default, the type of syncing is set to copy server files to this device. To change this select one of the following three options:

a. Full sync – This syncs files in both directions. Files added to either sync folder, will be copied to the sync folder on your other device.
b. Copy files from this device to server – This only syncs in one direction, from this device to your other device.
c. Copy server files to this device – This only syncs in one direction, from the other device to this device.

To automatically sync all items, press the back button and check ’Allow Auto-Sync when in home network’ which is described below.

8. Press the Back button and repeat steps 5 through 8 for photos and video..
9. When you’re finished, press the Back button until you’ve returned to your media.

Note: The syncing feature is a non-deleting sync. This means that it will not delete the files on your server if you delete them on your device. Alternatively, if you delete or move files from your sync folders on your server, those files will not be deleted from your device the next time you sync.

Automatic Sync

If you’ve checked ’Allow Auto-Sync when in home network’ on the Sync Settings screen, your mobile device will automatically sync with the selected sync server every time your mobile device joins your Wi-Fi network.

Manual Sync

To manually sync media, go to the Menu page and press the Sync button. Then, press the Sync button for a desired media type.

You’ll see a progress bar appear. Keep in mind that it takes about 10 seconds to sync a song over Wi-Fi, so be patient if you’ve selected a folder with a lot of media.

To sync all media types at once, just click the Sync All button at the top.

Finding Synced Media

By default, you can find synced media on your mobile device here:

Music – Twonky Sync/Music
Photos – DCIM
Videos – Twonky Sync/Videos

By default, you can find synced media on your computer here:

Music – My Music\Twonky\Sync
Photos – My Pictures\Twonky\Sync
Videos – My Videos\Twonky\Sync

Changing Your Mobile Sync Folders

1. Press the menu button and click on Sync.
2. Select ‘Sync Settings’
3. Select ’Configure Music Sync’
4. Select ’Edit sync location’
5. Select a folder for each media type that you want to sync by clicking on it and pressing the Select button. Synched files will be placed here. It is not recommended that you select the top level (or root) of your SD card for this.
6. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for photos and video if you plan to sync them as well.

How This Feature Differs from TwonkyCopy

- Works with any type of file, not just media files
- Automatic sync offered in addition to manual copying of files
- Goes beyond file copying by keeping folders on different devices synchronized
- Syncs all media at once or by specific media type (e.g. music only)
- Ideal for backing up mobile photos and videos to a computer or NAS
- Syncs with a specific music folder on computer to avoid overloading mobile device
- Compatible with non-Twonky WebDAV servers
- Automatically launches and runs in the background as a separate application
- Automatically discovers sync-compatible TwonkyServer on a Wi-Fi network (no need to manually enter server IP address)

You can download from here.

TwonkyServer 6.0.36 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The patches can be downloaded from the following links:

• DVBLink TVSource: http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … b2plus.zip
• DVBLink Home Server: http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … b2plus.zip

Please read the patch installation instructions carefully.

DVBLink TVSource

1. Stop dvblink_server Windows service
2. Navigate to DVBLink installation folder and unzip the contents of dvblink_tvsource_b2plus.zip into it preserving the directory structure and overwriting existing files.
3. Manually copy helper.dll from <dvblink>\templates\sources\tvsource into each instance of TVSource source – <dvblink>\sources\<your tvsource sources> – overwriting the existing file
4. Start dvblink_server Windows services, navigate to DVBLink configuration home page and check the expiration period of the product

DVBLink Home Server

1. Stop dvblink_server Windows service
2. Navigate to DVBLink installation folder and unzip the contents of dvblink_home_server_b2plus.zip into it preserving the directory structure and overwriting existing files.
3. Start dvblink_server Windows services, navigate to DVBLink configuration home page and check the expiration period of the product

As always more information on DVBLink can be found here.

DVBLink v4 Beta 2 Expiration Period Extended is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

And for those of you wondering what has changes since beta 1 then here are the details:

General

• 8 DVBLink tuners are now available in MediaCenter
• Removed FirstRun page from DVBLink tuner TV Setup in MediaCenter
• Fixed subnumbers not appearing in MediaCenter
• Fixed channels not removed from MediaCenter upon source removal
• Added cross links between sources/channel configurator pages and main landing page
• Added shifting channel numbering (e.g. when existing channel number is entered all existing channel numbers are shifted up)
• Added shortcut to DVBLink configuration to Windows Start menu

DVBLink TVSource

• ATSC support
• EPG scan configuration page
• Fixed incorrect default DVB codepage handling

DVBLink Home Server

• Fixed having to restart dvblink server after server standby

Beta 2 of DVBLink v4 products can be downloaded here:

• DVBLink TVSource: http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … rce_b2.zip
• DVBLink Home Server: http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … ver_b2.zip

Additional notes plus installation instructions are available from here.

DVBLink Version 4 Beta 2 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

A great read which you can find here.

A Beginners Guide to Windows Live Mesh is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

This driver re-enables the drive lights on the following home servers following an upgrade to Windows Home Server 2011:

• HP: EX48x, EX49x, X510, X310
• Acer: H340

Also probably compatible and waiting for users to test:

• HP: X311, X312

This latest version includes the following changes:

• Modified LightsTester to be able to force a specific driver family to test on unsupported hardware.
• The application now works with Lights-Out

More information is available from here.

Lights Management Driver For WHS2011 v1.0.5 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The add-in which we have written about before allows you to connect to your server using your Windows Phone 7 phone to perform remote server management tasks such as viewing alerts, managing users and start and stopping backups.

As the announcement states:

The Phone connecter requires both a server sided add-in which you can download from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=214671 , and a Windows Phone 7 Application which can be downloaded through the market place on your phone or via your PC when you have your phone linked to the Zune client via http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=214673&clcid=0×409 OR search for My Home Server to find the application.

For further information you can access the Windows 7 Phone Connector help site on TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh319881.aspx

From the The Official SBS Blog and the Windows Home Server Blog.

Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector Released is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

More details including the download are available from here.

DVBLink – No Program Names in EPG Fix is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The media server TwonkyServer is now at version 6.0.34 and includes the following changes:

• Bug Fixes:
• fixed: File scanning issue on Windows network drives
• fixed: Roku soundbridge cannot stream aac/m4a
• fixed: UPnP Discovery broken w/ Linn control point
• fixed: Web Config UI not working properly with Internet Explorer 9
• fixed: improved ssdp responses to M-Searches with MX=1
• fixed: Aggregation not always indexing all items, if there are items of unknown type to TwonkyServer

Changes:

• Disabled the NMC Stationary service in TwonkyServer
• Added Linn Bubble DS to clients DB
• Removed useless client adaptatiion option XM:NOAAC320FORAAC192

More details on TwonkyServer are available as well as a WHS installation guide in PDF format.

Since version 6.0.33 was never released, release notes for that version can be found here.

TwonkyServer 6.0.34 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

DVBLink TVSource and Home Server v4 products are now in public beta and there are a lot of new things and improvements comparing to version 3.x. Some features are the same but done/accessed in a different way.

The DVBLink Server Network Pack is now split into two separate products:

DVBLink Home Server

• DLNA and networked MediaCenter server

DVBLink Connect! Server

• Web interface for Guide/timers/web streaming
• Server for IPhone/IPad, WinPhone and Android apps
• Server for 3rd party DVBLink clients

So what’s new:

• Web-based DVBLink server configuration –Specifically designed for headless servers
• Localized in 10+ languages

Virtual PBDA drivers provide MediaCenter integration:

• Easy and more intuitive TV Setup procedure
• Removed 4 tuner limit (8 virtual tuners will be available at release)
• One-to-one mapping between source instance and virtual tuner instance

DVBLink Home Server:

• New DLNA server module provides improved DLNA clients compatibility and improved channel change speed (using smart stream burst technology)
• New streaming module for MediaCenter clients provides improved streaming reliability (works over WiFi now!)

DVBLink Connect! Server:

• Improved web interface and a more robust web streaming
• Bundled IPhone/IPad, Android and WinPhone apps (can be downloaded free of charge)
• Exposes DVBLink Remote API to build custom DVBLink clients. The API is http/xml based so should work on any client and is publicly available
• Includes (optional) DVBLink recorder module for WMC-independent timer recordings functionality

DVBLink Remote API

• HTTP/xml based
• Delivers the following functionality
  –Channel list retrieval
  –EPG information retrieval (leveled, can be optimized for low bandwidth connections)
  –Recording timers management
  –Live streaming
• Supported streaming formats
  –Raw mpeg-2 transport stream over UDP or HTTP
  –Transcoded ASF streaming over HTTP
  –Transcoded HLS (iphone/ipad format)
  –Transcoded mpeg-2 TS with mpeg-4 video/AAC audio over RTP

More information on version 4 beta 1 is available from here.

DVBLink Public Beta of Version 4 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The free software (with no adware, spyware or toolbars) is very simple to use and works with both RAID 0 (including RAID 0+1 and 1+0) and RAID 5 (including RAID 5E, and RAID 5 with delayed parity) arrays and also includes experimental support for  RAID 6.

ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery recovers the following RAID parameters:

• Start offset and block size,
• Number of member disks,
• Member disks and data order,
• Parity position and rotation,

And once these parameters are recovered, you can:

• Run ReclaiMe data recovery software to recover data from the array;
• Create the array image file;
• Write the array to disk;
• Save layout to the XML file;
• Get the instructions and recover data using other data recovery software.

ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery is a great piece of software which will work with internal and external hard drives, disk image files and both hardware and software RAID.

More details are available from here.

ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery Software is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The driver enables users of the discontinued MediaSmart Server from HP to get the LED’s back working when upgrading these units to WHS2011.

Version 1.0.4 release notes:

Tested compatible hardware
HP: EX48x, EX49x, X510, X310
Acer: H340

Probably compatible (testers please)
HP: X311, X312

Concerning the hardware compatibility I need to make sure that all LEDs are properly managed. I would like the users of X3xx hardware to make some tests and give me the results. I want these user to try the LightsTester app and test all the lights on their system. You will find the app in "C:\Program Files\HP MediaSmart Server" after installation with the setup. It is self-explanatory. You need to stop the "HP MediaSmart Server Service" before running the LightsTester. It is a very basic application. Let me know if all lights work.

I am very interested in knowing if the application works correctly. I wait for your posts…

Not compatible but maybe some hope in future version
Acer: H341, H342

Not compatible
HP: EX47x (AMD based hardware)

Known limitations and FAQ

3TB and/or GPT partitioned disks not properly detected
The problem is probably more GPT than 3TB (though GPT needed for 3TB). I will do some tests.

Stablebit DrivePool and maybe DriveBender
The drives will blink if they are not managed by WHS because WHS tells me the drives are not allocated to WHS. I plan to make the lights configurable in the config file so users with special needs will be able to override the default light behavior.

Windows OS compatibility
Only Windows Home Server 2011 has been tested. Should also be compatible with Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials. Other OS will not be supported and installation will fail. I will not reply anymore to posts that have install problems on unsupported OS.

Lights-Out
There were issues with Lights-Out but I made changes that should solve the problem.

Windows Mirrored drives
The Storage Manager service will only give me a Data status for one of the mirrored drives. The other drive will be healthy but unallocated. By design the disk LED will blink. I plan to make the lights configurable in the config file so users with special needs will be able to override the default light behavior.

Blinking LED drive
This is by design, the drive LED will blink if you have not assigned any partitions to the drive, it is not assigned as a backup drive, or the drive is mirrored or assigned to Stablebit DrivePool (and probably also DriveBender).

More information including the download are available from here.

MediaSmart Lights Management Driver For WHS2011 v1.0.4 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The WHS Migration Assistant (WHS2WHS) is designed to help with the planning of your data move from Windows Home Server v1 to Windows Home Server 2011.

Version 1.05 change log:

• Pro Version big price drop – On Sale!
• Removed Stop button from Copy loop (Pro)
• Added sort to include drive letter to context menu
• Fixed bug in "mark complete" context menu item

The WHS Migration Assistant is available on sale at $9.95 for individual use, $19.95 for a consultants license and $199.95 for an enterprise license.

More details are available from here.

WHS Migration Assistant 1.0.5 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The Log Collector tool captures the context of WHS 2011 (or a Server of the Windows Server Solutions family) or computers attached to it at the time when a problem is experienced.

More information on this tool which can be installed only on the server, or on all network computer is available from here.

Log Collector Tool available for WHS 2011 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The Windows Home Server blog have released details of the new Windows Phone 7 Connector for WHS.

The Windows Phone 7 Connector for WHS is an app for Windows Phone 7 users which allows you to stream media from WHS 2011 and enable you to perform remote server management tasks.

The app features:

• Alert Viewer
• User Account Management
• Status Details and Remote Backup
• Music Streaming
• Picture Management
• Video Streaming

You can find more info here and here.

Windows Phone 7 Connector for WHS is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Product Information

The WHS Migration Assistant (WHS2WHS) is designed to help primarily with the planning of the data move from Windows Home Server to Windows Home Server 2011. There are two versions of WHS2WHS: the Basic version and the Pro version. The Pro version, in addition to the planning functions, has functions for partially automating the actual data movements and other functions for saving, restoring and printing multiple plans.

Check it out here.

Windows Home Server Migration Assistant Pro 1.04 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

“If you type http://<ServerName>/connect in the address bar of your web browser (where <ServerName> is the name of your server) and the server is not found, use this tool to help you find the server. When you download and run the tool, it locates the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) beacon on the server, and then opens the server Connect site.”

As well as supporting WHS 2011, the tool also supports Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

You can find the Find My Server Wizard download here.

Thanks to reader Brian Duncan on informing us of this tool.

Problems Installing WHS 2011 Connector Software? is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

In addition to the planning functions, the WHS Migration Assistant (WHS2WHS) has functions for partially automating the actual data movements and other functions for saving, restoring and printing multiple plans. And although WHS2WHS Pro does not directly copy, erase nor move any data. It provides a planning template as well as a framework for invoking other tools, using the plan as a guide.

Here’s the details:

Method of Operation:

Think of the move operation as going from left to right. WHS2WHS presents a screen that shows the shared folders from the source WHS system on the left, and the Volumes (drives) associated with the WHS 2011 system on the right. This is due to the fact that WHS 2011 uses a different scheme for managing shared folders. Instead of locating folders on a large pool of data that Drive Extender maps onto multiple drives, WHS 2011 requires the administrator to allocate shared folders to logical disk volumes, which usually correspond directly to physical disk drives, but not necessarily. Technologies such as RAID can be used to create logical volumes with various reliability and performance attributes comprised of multiple physical drives. WHS 2011 works with the logical drives (or “volumes”).

WHS2WHS supports two basic scenarios for operation:

A. Both Source and Target folders are network shares (e.g. “\\SourceServer\Movies” and “\\TargetServer\Movies” )

B. Source folders are network shares and Target folders are WHS 2011 folder names on local volumes (e.g. “\\SourceServer\Movies” and “D:\\ServerFolders\Movies” )

WHS2WHS automatically formats path names to handle these scenarios, regardless of where the tool is running, with one exception: In the case where WHS2WHS is running directly on WHS V1, you must select the Option: “Force Target Paths to WHS 2011 Format”, on the Options Menu. This allows you to install WHS 2011 volumes on WHS V1 and high-speed copy data from WHS V1 shares.

Migration Steps:

These steps assume that a working, operational WHS 2011 system has been setup and tested. It must be stable, and should have been making regular system (C: drive) backups, with no errors, for at least a week. Optionally, clients can be attached and backups started. By the time the planning and data movement have been completed, you will then have one or more backups of your client computers. Again, this is optional. This can be done after the other data has been moved.

1. Plan the placement of folders on a set of drives / volumes that you will configure on WHS 2011. Keep in mind that in WHS 2011, the largest block of data that can be backed up is 2TB, whether it be a set of folders or a complete drive. Multiple backup locations can be defined, and other techniques may be employed to make periodic, incremental backups of server folders. WHS2WHS allows you define volumes, then drag and drop folders into the volumes. You can play around with various schemes until you are satisfied. Nothing is actually being moved – it is just a plan. You can print the plan to keep track of your progress, and you can even modify the plan as time goes on, if you change your mind. It is advisable to keep a plan that reflects the target scheme.

2. On the source WHS Server, organize existing folders to exactly match the planned set of target folders. Folder names should match, for easiest migration. However, if Beyond Compare is used, WHS2WHS pauses at the Beyond Compare dialogue, giving an opportunity to make adjustments (e.g. WHS V1 “Photos” needs to copied to WHS 2011 “Pictures”). If you have online backups, such as a secondary WHS server, verify that the data you intend to copy to WHS 2011 has been backed up, and is in sync with the latest backup copy. In my case, I discovered a number of inconsistencies that had accumulated over 2 years – probably due to power glitches or hard drive errors, and my mistakes in setting up RoboCopy scripts. I am clearing these up as I go through the data migration.

3. Manually, or using the assistance of WHS2WHS Pro, start copying data from the source WHS to the target WHS 2011. After confirming that the data has been copied and verified correct, using any method, you will then erase the old copy of the data. On the source WHS system, you must then “Remove” a drive that with then be available to add to the WHS 2011 system. If you have a large amount of data, and large folders, this will require a skillful manipulation, so that there is always enough space on the target to complete the planned copy process.

You should have backups of all data being copied, even if you have to do it step by step, reusing the a spare external drive. Backup, then copy, verify, then erase the old copy, then on to the next chuck of data. You can remove drives from the source WHS system as a result of turning off folder replication after first ensuring that those folders are backed up elsewhere. It will be a personal decision as to whether any data pruning should be done prior to the move. If you are like me, the is an increased opportunity for mistakes when so much is going. I plan to blindly copy all the data over, and after running stable for awhile, then start a cleanup process.

Alternate Migration Process

You might wonder why WHS2WHS has not been implemented as an Add-in. My feeling was the most important thing missing was a way to organize and plan. There are many options for actually copying / moving the data. So WHS2WHS is primarily a planning tool. The available Disk Management Add-In is the perfect companion to WHS2WHS for users that prefer an add-in approach. In the case, the steps would be:

1. Same as steps 1 and 2 above.

2. Install WHS 2011 formatted drives on WHS V1, with folders already prepared (DO NOT add them to the DE storage pool).

3. Using the Disk Management add-in, manually move or copy the appropriate data from WHS V1 shares to the WHS 2011 volume.

4. Re-install the WHS 2011 volume back into the WHS 2011 server, verify the results, then repeat for the remaining volume(s).

Basic Features of WHS2WHS

· Drag and drop folders from the source to the target.

· Drag and drop folders between disks on the source.

· Manual edit of volume / drive properties such as drive letter, volume name and free space (GB)

· Manual edit of folder path names and size (GB)

· Ability to create text notes for each volume, e.g.: “This volume is a RAID 5 of 4 – 2TB drives, yielding 6TB usable”. Use only for non-criticaldata.

· Automatic recalculation of free space as folders are moved around

· Optional automatic discovery of folders on the source WHS server (whenever server name is updated)

· Optional automatic discovery of volumes on target WHS 2011 server (context menu)

· Optional automatic discovery of servers in network (right click on group box)

· Ability to use multiple credentials for discovery: source user/PW, target user/PW and alternate user/PW

· Optional automatic discovery of folder sizes (slow for large folders)

· Double click opens a network share

· Built-in screen view. Print this view to use for notes on progress.

· Plan is saved and restored between sessions. The plan can also be reset.

Additional Features of WHS2WHS Pro:

Advanced users, consultants and corporations may find the functions of WHS2WHS Pro useful.

· Load / Save multiple migration plans, by name (XML format).

· View / Print Log for diagnostic purposes (e.g. failed copy operation.)

· Automatic invocation of Microsoft RichTools RichCopy (“RoboCopy” successor): this process starts immediately upon confirmation. Real-time copy progress is provided

· Automatic invocation of Beyond Compare data tool. After conformation, Beyond Compare displays its dialog, whereupon additional tweaking of filters and any operations can be performed manually prior to starting the actual copy. Real-time copy progress is provided.

· WHS2WHS looks for RichCopy and Beyond Compare where they are normally installed on 32 bit systems. If WHS2WHS does not find the programs automatically, there is a menu option for manually specifying the location of those programs. I have found both of these tools to be invaluable in managing my data. Beyond Compare, in particular, has an astounding number of ways to compare, copy, view and validate data.

· Ability to call a custom script as part of the copy process. Your script may be called from within the CustomCopy.bat windows batch file, located in the WHS2WHS installation folder. The following parameters are passed to CustomCopy.bat:

%1 = Source (WHSV1) Path (Folder being copied)

%2 = Source User Credential

%3 = Source PW Credential

%4 = Source Dns Hostname

%5 = Target Path (Destination Folder for files from Source Folder)

%6 = Target User Credential

%7 = Target PW Credential

%8 = Target Dns Hostname

%9 = Target (WHS2011) Drive

Windows Home Server Migration Assistant Pro is available for individual use at $15.95 whilst a consultants license is $49.95 and a enterprise license is $499.95

WHS Migration Assistant Pro 1.01 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Developer Mark Wildenberg has made a Windows Phone 7 app called Tw TeeVee which enables you to stream live TV to your WinPhone 7.

The download and configuration details are available here.

WinPhone App for DVBLink is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

StableBit DrivePool is an add-in replacement for Drive Extender, which as we know was removed in WHS 2011, and provides the following features:

• Combine all your hard drives into one big storage pool (except the system drive with the OS).
• Add and remove drives from the pool at any time without re-partitioning or manually moving folders.
• Create duplicated folders on the storage drive pool that are protected against single drive failure. If a drive fails on which a duplicated file was stored, the contents of that file will remain readable even without the drive.
• All your data is stored in standard NTFS files. You can always access your files even if the Windows Home Server completely crashes or this add-in can’t be used.

WARNING: This early BETA has the potential for bugs. Because of the nature of this add-in there is potential for data loss. Only serious testers should consider downloading and installing this current BETA build.

- Your data integrity can be compromised with this test build. Use at your own risk, and only with non-essential data!. -

If after this warning you are still going to beta test StableBit DrivePool, then you will need to prepare your system to collect crash data in case of a system crash, and you can download the add-in for WHS2011 from here.

Thanks to WeGotServed for the heads up.

StableBit DrivePool BETA Build 1588 M2 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

For those of you who already have it installed it is time to update as version 3.2.2 is now available.

v3.2.2 is a cumulative update that includes the following (previously released as patches) fixes:

• fix for "Unable to show this channel…" message after background EPG scan (usually happens overnight)
• fix for not working multiple (USB) tuners of the same type
• fix for TT3650CI – bdaapiOpenCI has returned error 14
• fix for "This product does not require registration" message even if the product is not registered yet

Also v3.2.2 includes:

• updated transponder files
• support for TBS 5921, 5980, 5922, 6922, 8922, 6925, 6984 and 69856 tuners

How to install: Run DVBLinkSetup.exe from Setup folder. It will both install new version or update existing version to a new one. The versions of all binary files (exe and dll) should be 3.2.2.0.

DVBLink TVSource v3.2.2 is available for download from here.

DVBLink TVSource 3.2.2 Available is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Version 1.1.2.6 fixes a potential Windows Explorer lockup issue that some users were experiencing, so If you installed v1.1.2.5,n update to the latest version:

• Bug fix: Explorer can lock up when opening a folder.
• Improved error handling in some areas.

As always you can find this latest release here.

Drive Bender 1.1.2.6 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Version 1.1.2.5 has a number of improvements and fixes, including a fix for the WHS dashboard crashing issue:

• Bug fix: The Drive Bender WHS addin crashing issue has been fixed.
• Bug fix: File security is now handled correctly.
• Bug fix: BSOD issue with XP fixed.
• Improved duplication speed.

You can download this latest release from here.

Drive Bender 1.1.2.5 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

This update provides numerous fixes and additions to the Windows Home Server add-in:

• Bug fix: The Drive Bender WHS addin can cause the dashboard to crash when starting. We have now made this more robust, and included more debug info should a crash occur.
• Added pool instance management to WHS addin.
• Added drive merge to WHS addin.
• Added a driver utility application. This can be used to determine if the Drive Bender drivers are installed correctly.

You can grab the download from here.

Add-In: Drive Bender 1.1.2.1 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Release v1.1.2.0 – beta (2011-03-21):

• Many bug fixes and enhancements.
• Windows Home Server 2011 addin.
• Add drive to existing pool enabled.
• Merge drive into an existing pool enabled (disabled on WHS addin, please use the Manager if you wish to perform a merge).
• Remove drive from a pool is enabled.
• Folder duplication enabled.
• We have included a console output application. This can be accessed from the interface of the Manager.**
• Bug fix: The Manager now starts up correctly after being shutdown while minimized.
• Bug fix: Fixed a number of long file name issues.
• Bug fix: We have fixed a number of bugs that were preventing some third-party file managers from working correctly.
• Bug fix: The health monitor could start looking outside of the pool.

** This feature is intended solely for beta testing and will be removed from the final release.

Important – Please see "Points of note" in the Drive Bender Walk Through PDF for information on known issues and workarounds.

You can grab your copy from here.

Drive Bender Beta 2 Available is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The early beta release of Drive Bender has had an update. Beta release 1.0.1.6  (2011-02-21) have the following bug fixes:

• Creating a mount point using a drive letter now works correctly.
• Installer now working correctly on x86 platforms.

This latest release which hopes to be Drive Extender’s replacement can be downloaded from here.

Drive Bender 1.0.1.6 Bug Fix is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Unfortunately the WHS add-in wasn’t released as the team ran out of time so it didn’t make this beta release but it still works great on WHS2011 by using the management console.

We will have more details shortly for you here at MSWHS.com, in the meantime more details are available from here.

Drive Bender Released for Windows Platform is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!