Windows Home Server 2011. A saga!

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silentbee

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I finally took delivery of my new PC and an OEM copy of Windows Home Server 2011 last week. Very exciting! I was looking forward to ditching the noisy old NAS, cetralising my household backup routine and having a quicker DLNA server. I was also looking forward to trying our some of the add-ins, like uTorrent, etc and not having to have my notebook on and in the way most of the time. I have spent the better part of two and a half days and I'm now at my wits end...

I know what I used to consider an above average amount about computers. It also seems that my networking abilities are lacking. This post is partially a way to vent, partially a list of queries that I'm hoping somebody will be able to help me with and partially a record of my process, in case there's somebody else out there going through this...


So, I plugged in the server and immediately blew away the install that was on it. I wanted to rename the server and I know that the only opportunity to do that is during the installation.

The install ticked along nicely. But it couldn't find my network because the ethernet adapter driver was not installed. I popped in the motherboard CD-ROM and sorted that out. Is there a wat to do this prior to installing the OS or booting from the WHS2011 CD? If I boot from the motherboard disc I get confronted with a weird Linux instant-on OS.

At first I let the install download and install all the Windows Updates, which took quite a while and several restarts. Eventually I had the OS Desktop.

Next I grabbed my aging Vista Home Premium 32-bit notebook and attempted to install the Connector software. I hit http://<servername>/Connect, downloaded and ran the install from the server. The Connector install couldn't find my server, but I pointed it to the correct IP address and all was good. Then the install progress bar got to about 95% and started rolling backwards.... Ulitmately the install stopped with an error about not being able to connect. Crap.

I then spent many, many hours over the next couple of days and nights reserving IP addresses, editing the Vista Registry to prevent pending restart errors, forwarding ports, removing and re-installing .NET, turning firewalls and anti-virus apps off and then on again, updating router firmware, ensuring that time zones where correct, re-installing the server with no updates, uninstalling existing backup apps, etc, etc, ad naseum...

I also tried to install the Connect software on my wife's notebook -- which is exactly the same as mine, except that she doesn't have things like Live Essentials, Zune, AutoCAD and 3DS MAX installed. It also failed.

I am now sitting with a server that can be seen by my notebook -- I can ping it at its reseved IP address, and I have mapped a drive to one of its folders. I can also Remote Destop into it. The server can ping my laptop at it's assigned IP address. I can stream content from the server to my DLNA Blu-Ray player.

The Connect software will just not install! And the result is that the server thinks my notebook is offline and will not back it up.

My gut feeing is that there is something I'm not doing correctly with the network itself -- at the router. Except taht I don't think I've got anything odd going on.

I have a D-Link 2500u modem in bridge mode, connected to a D-Link DIR-655 wireless AP / Router. I can't log into the modem's web-based settings page, which I suspect is a consequence of it being in bridge mode. I'm fairly certain it's not a part of the equation.

The AP now has newer firmware -- not the latest; I just matched the version that some blogger was using while explaing how to get it to work with WHS2011 and forward ports for web access to the server. All I did after flashing the firmware was put my ISP details in there and forward ports 80, 443 and 4125 to the server's IP address. I also reserved IP addresses for the server and my Blu-Ray player. UPnP is on, as its always been, and this router is known to work with WHS2011's UPnP auto-setup. I've looked and I don't think there are any odd things happening.

I don't know what to try next....

Have I missed a step? Is there something glaringly obvious that I'm not doing? I'm not near the server now, but I might try fiddle with it again tonight. Sigh.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
spiderz said:
Format ... install Linux ... :D
Click to expand...

ROFL...the easy way out...

Few steps to try:

1 - Use DHCP on server! If the server hands your Laptop an IP, it should be registered in DHCP, therefore making it part of the Windows Home network.
2 - Forget about Bridge mode on Router, assign it a static IP, make sure your DNS Server address on Server is the IP on the modem. Eliminating your issue of not logging onto the Modem.
3 - Not sure on this, but does your Windows Home server create a "Domain" or "Workgroup"? If it's a workgroup, make sure Server Workgroup and PC workgroup are identical.
4 - Don't mess with Vista registry, it's buggy enough, don't add to the issues...
5 - Turn off Modem Firewall
6 - Try another Modem
 
spiderz said:
Format ... install Linux ... :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, that crossed my mind on a couple of occasions! :)

I'm hoping that when I eventually do get this working, I will spend less time in total than trying to get a Linux distro to do backup the way I want and DLNA with transcoding, etc.

I've already got the DLNA part working like a dream. I can even stream movies to my crappy low-spec Android phone. It's just the ^#@#%$#% Connector that will do the backing-up and monitor the health of all systems... :(
 
Last edited:
My guess would be that your problems are DNS related. Make sure your laptops are using the server as their primary DNS and make sure DNS is running on the server.
 
ben dover said:
If that doesn't work, try these:

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whsvailbeta/thread/def98fd4-9a60-41cc-9e5a-8c1670268741
Click to expand...

I got that error too at one point, but sorted it out... Renaming a Registry key will correct an error where Windows thinks it has a pending reboot from an installation that failed.


http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whsvailbeta/thread/a90b4679-d2dc-4820-94f0-dce22da245a4
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the one.

I still can't install the Connector though...
 
ramar said:
My guess would be that your problems are DNS related. Make sure your laptops are using the server as their primary DNS and make sure DNS is running on the server.
Click to expand...

This is what I think the problem is too. I can't remeber now, but I'm sure I could ping the server my name (is taht possible?) and IP address. I tried so many things it's all a blur now :(

I thought my router had to be the DNS server. I think it is -- how can I check? If the server's doing the DNS will my internet not work if its off, or will stuff just be routed to my ISP if it can't find the server??
 
I have never worked on Home Server but in SBS the primary DNS of the clients has to be the servers IP for the client connect tool to work.
You can check the DNS settings in the properties of the network adapter on the laptops or do an ipconfig /all from a command prompt. If you are using your router as the DHCP server you probably didnt change the DNS settings in DHCP to list the servers IP as the primary DNS.

You can set the routers IP address as the secondary DNS server for the clients, or just have the server forward requests to the internet. I guess this would work out the box without having to make any other changes.

It might be easier just to turn off DHCP on the router and user the Home Server as the DHCP server.
 
ramar said:
I have never worked on Home Server but in SBS the primary DNS of the clients has to be the servers IP for the client connect tool to work.
You can check the DNS settings in the properties of the network adapter on the laptops or do an ipconfig /all from a command prompt. If you are using your router as the DHCP server you probably didnt change the DNS settings in DHCP to list the servers IP as the primary DNS.

You can set the routers IP address as the secondary DNS server for the clients, or just have the server forward requests to the internet. I guess this would work out the box without having to make any other changes.

It might be easier just to turn off DHCP on the router and user the Home Server as the DHCP server.
Click to expand...

This is very useful information!! Thanks.

I'm sure I don't have all of this set up correctly. I will poke around in the router and tweak it when I get home this evening. I'm sure I will have queries though!

Can you explain the concept of what I'm looking to do? Do I want my router to make the clients look at the server for the DNS?
 
ben dover said:
ROFL...the easy way out...

Few steps to try:

1 - Use DHCP on server! If the server hands your Laptop an IP, it should be registered in DHCP, therefore making it part of the Windows Home network.
2 - Forget about Bridge mode on Router, assign it a static IP, make sure your DNS Server address on Server is the IP on the modem. Eliminating your issue of not logging onto the Modem.
3 - Not sure on this, but does your Windows Home server create a "Domain" or "Workgroup"? If it's a workgroup, make sure Server Workgroup and PC workgroup are identical.
4 - Don't mess with Vista registry, it's buggy enough, don't add to the issues...
5 - Turn off Modem Firewall
6 - Try another Modem
Click to expand...

Sorry, I completely missed this post.

I will try all of these steps. I like the idea of issigning an IP to the modem. I hink I'll get that working after I've solved the Server-Saga of 2011.
 
From what I read WHS2011 supports DHCP/DNS as a configurable role ( and to a EULA breaking degree,Active Directory ).

So ideally i'd turn off DHCP on the Router
Then turn on DHCP and DNS on server
Server DNS - Primary - Self,Secondary - 8.8.8.8
DHCP should then offer Gateway as the Router and DNS should be Primary - self,Secondary - 8.8.8.8
Homegroups should be disabled for any Windows PCs capable of using this menace
Make sure all PCs/Servers are joined to the same Domain/Workgroup
Autodiscovery and Link-layer topology services should be enabled under the Network Devices the PCs use to connect to the network
Disable firewall for any connections from the PCs and Server,everything is NATted behind your router

With this config you pretty much have the best out-of-box supportable setup that should be somewhat redundant to network/router failures and cuts out crap router software as the culprit for DNS issues
 
silentbee said:
This is very useful information!! Thanks.

I'm sure I don't have all of this set up correctly. I will poke around in the router and tweak it when I get home this evening. I'm sure I will have queries though!

Can you explain the concept of what I'm looking to do? Do I want my router to make the clients look at the server for the DNS?
Click to expand...

Nope you want to turn of DHCP on the router so the server manages the DHCP and it will tell your workstations were the router (gateway) is if they need internet.
 
ramar said:
I have never worked on Home Server but in SBS the primary DNS of the clients has to be the servers IP for the client connect tool to work.
Click to expand...

If you use DHCP on the server, then DNS will automatically be assigned, and you shouldn't have to manually set DNS...
 
TheGuy said:
Nope you want to turn of DHCP on the router so the server manages the DHCP and it will tell your workstations were the router (gateway) is if they need internet.
Click to expand...

Yep, and assign your Router a static IP. Something like 10.0.0.100
Server IP will be 10.0.0.1, which will assign IP's and HOPEFULLY assign 10.0.0.1 as DNS server to your clients...
 
Okay, so how do I tell the router that the server is now handling DHCP? I can turn it off on the router, but then what? I don't really want to set at each client -- my Blu-Ray player will not like taht -- so cn I do it at the router??
 
Turn off DHCP on router,turn on on Server,network devices when connecting or forced to reconnect/restart will advertise for DHCP requests and respond to the first(only) DHCP they see
 
SO, I'm clearly very stupid because I've been trying all sorts of things and I STILL can't get the Connector to install. I'm starting to think it might be the date issue -- where the serer and client's time needs to be set to Redmond time.... *pulls hair out*
 
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