It’s been announced today at CES that the update previously code-named “UR1″ is now called Power Pack 1. This update will include some much needed functionality, 64-bit Connector support for Windows Vista based clients, the ability to backup the Windows Home Server shared folders, and the much asked for ability to restrict access of Home Computers in Remote Access to certain users. I’ve been given the opportunity by Microsoft to test Power Pack 1, and there is definitely some cool functionality. Stay tuned for more information about Power Pack 1 as I do a detailed investigation of the new features provided in Power Pack 1 for Windows Home Server. Features and Screenshots below.
Full Feature List:
Windows Home Server Connector
· The Windows Home Server Connector can now be installed on home computers running Windows Vista x64 operating systems.
· Better guidance is provided when the home computer clock and home server clock differ significantly during Connector installation.
· Functionality is added to detect that the version of the Windows Home Server Connector software is aligned with the version of Windows Home Server software. Users will be prompted to update either the home computers or their home server software under certain circumstances.
· The Windows Home Server Connector tray icon should no longer cause a flickering issue when auto-hide task bar is enabled.
·The Connector setup infrastructure has been revamped to support updating and upgrading the Connector software.
Server Backup
· A new feature is added to enable the user to backup user-specified shared folders and the home computer backup database to an external hard drive.
· While adding a hard drive to the Windows Home Server, the user is now presented with an option to use the hard drive for backing up the home server. Once this option is selected, the home server will appear in the Computers & Backup tab - where a user can decide what information they want to store on this external hard drive.
Remote Access
· When adding/editing a user in the Home Server Console, in addition to enabling remote access for that user, there is now a drop down list box that allows the home server administrator to specify whether the user will have access to the computers tab, the shared folders tab, or both tabs in remote access.
· The Routers and Domain name configuration details dialogs in the Remote Access Settings page have been reworked to include more descriptive status, and contextual help links for failed tests.
· A new ‘Views’ drop-down list is added for the Shared Folders tab in remote access which allows the files in a shared folder to be displayed either as a list of files (‘Details’ view) or as thumbnails (‘Icons’ view). In ‘Icons’ view, the majority of the picture files will be represented as a thumbnails, and the rest of the non-picture files and folders will be displayed as large icons.
· File upload functionality has been improved for users of Internet Explorer 6 and 7:
- Users can drag and drop multiple files directly into an upload area or select multiple files in the open file dialog for upload.
- Upload progress reporting has been improved, with the addition of a progress bar and individual file upload status.
- Ability to cancel the multiple upload has been added as well.
· Ability for large file uploads to complete before the remote session times out has been implemented.
· When you download multiple files, the users are now given the option to package the files in a self extracting executable (.exe) file in addition to being able to store them in a ZIP file. Self extracting executable files should be used for downloading files with filenames that use non-ASCII characters (e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc.).
Home PC Backup
· If the backup database on the home server has an inconsistency error, the user can now use the backup database repair wizard to correct this error. The repair wizard can be launched either through the Backup page in Settings, or by clicking on the backup database inconsistency error notification.
· A new option has been added to the Windows Home Server Connector tray icon that allows the user to enable or disable the home computer from waking up for backup if it is in sleep or hibernation mode.
· Users can now run Backup Cleanup while the single file restore dialog is open.
· Windows Vista SP1 was incorrectly reported as “Windows Server Longhorn Ultimate Edition” in the Computers & Backup tab.
· Home computers running any versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition (2004, 2005) will be displayed as “Windows XP Media Center Edition” in the computers and backup tab.
Media Sharing
· Windows Media Player playlists pointing at media files stored on a home server should now play correctly via Windows Media Connect when these playlists are copied over to a home server and shared out via media sharing.
Screenshots:
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