News

Beta Update of Windows Home Server Offered

Microsoft has begun enlisting the support of beta testers for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1.

Microsoft has begun enlisting the support of beta testers for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1. Participants can now sign up to review the beta release that updates Microsoft's consumer-oriented server product, according to an announcement.

This Power Pack will contain a fix for a previously noted data corruption problem, according to a blog by one of Microsoft's beta testers. That problem affected Windows Home Server systems using more than one hard drive.

Microsoft has already provided a patch for a different problem in which files were getting corrupted after being compressed using the NTFS file system on Windows Home Server.

Power Pack 1 will omit an anticipated feature in Windows Home Server -- namely, the ability of users to back up their backups. According to a post at the We Got Served blog, that feature was eliminated to avoid the possibility of users experiencing corrupted database backups.

Some Windows Home Server users apparently have had problems with remote access after they installed Windows XP Service Pack 3, according to a post at the Microsoft Windows Home Server Forums. The problem stems from a default setting in which "Terminal Services ActiveX control is disabled by default in XPSP3 as a security measure," according to a Forum reply. The reply provides a way to solve this problem.

Those who want to participate in the beta testing of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 need to gain access through Microsoft Connect. The public download for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1, which will contain various fixes, is expected to become available in early June.

Windows Home Server is marketed toward families, providing a means to connect multiple home PCs and share multimedia files, as well as perform data backups. The product was first publicly unveiled by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in January 2007 at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

Featured

  • Report: Cost, Sustainability Drive DaaS Adoption Beyond Remote Work

    Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service reveals that while secure remote access remains a key driver of DaaS adoption, a growing number of deployments now focus on broader efficiency goals.

  • Windows 365 Reserve, Microsoft's Cloud PC Rental Service, Hits Preview

    Microsoft has launched a limited public preview of its new "Windows 365 Reserve" service, which lets organizations rent cloud PC instances in the event their Windows devices are stolen, lost or damaged.

  • Hands-On AI Skills Now Outshine Certs in Salary Stakes

    For AI-related roles, employers are prioritizing verifiable, hands-on abilities over framed certificates -- and they're paying a premium for it.

  • Roadblocks in Enterprise AI: Data and Skills Shortfalls Could Cost Millions

    Businesses risk losing up to $87 million a year if they fail to catch up with AI innovation, according to the Couchbase FY 2026 CIO AI Survey released this month.

Most   Popular