Windows Home Server: Power Pack 2 now available for download

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The Windows Home Server Team has announced the availability of Power Pack 2 update for Windows Home Server. The English version of Power Pack 2 will be available on March 24 and will automatically install as part of Windows Update if Automatic Updates is enabled on the Home Server. Power Pack for Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish will be available before the end of April. Power Pack 2 will also include support for Italian language.

Power Pack 2 includes enhancements for remote access configuration and computers running Windows Media Center, along with content streaming support for Windows Media Center Extenders.

Remote Access Improvements

A revamped Remote Access Settings page for easy use
A Web-hosted diagnostic service to more accurately test if remote connectivity is available from outside the home network
A new and improved initial configuration and repair wizards
A better troubleshooting guidance for common home networking issues that can prevent Remote Access from working properly

Media Sharing and Windows Media Center PC Improvements

Users can install a Windows Media Center Connector to connect Windows Media Center to their home server and access the shared folder contents on the home server. Music, Photos, Videos, and Recorded TV folders are enabled by default
Windows Media Center Extenders can access and stream multimedia content stored on the home server and access permission can be granted on per folder basis
Windows Home Server now supports streaming MP4 files to Xbox 360 and other devices that support the MP4 format. Metadata such as title, artist, composer, album, and genre now appears in the music or video library

Microsoft has also made available Windows Home Server to its MSDN subscribers along with this release. MSDN subscribers will be able to download Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1 starting from today!

You can refer the Windows Home Server Power Pack 2 Release Notes for additional information

(2 replies) #1 Premgenius on 24 Mar 2009 - 05:55

I maybe out of dat with Home Server but did they resolve the corruption issue?

#1.1 Ytterbium on 24 Mar 2009 - 08:32

Premgenius said,

The corruption was fixed in PowerPack 1

#1.2 The XO on 24 Mar 2009 - 14:12

Ytterbium said,

I agree Ytterbium, many things have been fixed sinces the release of Power Pack 1, which I have found to stableize the software ever since. On a sad note, some addons seem to break the server software, rendering it unstable. Be carefull of what you install, it seems this software is touchy!

#2 wrack on 24 Mar 2009 - 06:04

I believe so.

#3 MusicMan08 on 24 Mar 2009 - 06:42

Sure did! I've had zero issues since they fixed that one, love Home Server!

(2 replies) #4 blackcat77 on 24 Mar 2009 - 06:54

The remote access issue is the most important to me. I struggled for hours to get it to show that it worked but in practice, it still doesn't.

#4.1 Rolith on 24 Mar 2009 - 07:09

tried using https? you have to ignore the lack of certificate, but it seems to be much more seldom blocked by ISPs the the traditional port 80

#4.2 The XO on 24 Mar 2009 - 14:07

Rolith said,

The certificate does work, if it does not then reinstall the software. It could happen that it was a bad install. It has nothing to do with an ISP. A certificate give an identification of that machine. If a certificate error exists, then I would not trust that source!

#5 Digix on 24 Mar 2009 - 07:13

PP1 addressed the corruption issue.

#6 xpclient on 24 Mar 2009 - 07:46

Wish they allowed on Home Server on router-attached NAS devices, especially FAT32.

(1 reply) #7 Pc_Madness on 24 Mar 2009 - 08:10

If only Windows Home Server had the ability to stream TV to MCE installs

#7.1 +NeoFlux on 24 Mar 2009 - 11:34

Pc_Madness said,

I thought you could do that with an add-on?

#8 YouWhat on 24 Mar 2009 - 09:05

I been eagerly awaiting this.....

(1 reply) #9 Apple-a-Day on 24 Mar 2009 - 10:46

I submitted this to the news desk about 9 Est on the 23. The title is misleading as its only going to be available via windows updates and not as a solo download. (at least not for a bit) At the time of posting it was not available and still is not showing up in the updates list.

#9.1 MusicMan08 on 24 Mar 2009 - 17:34

Apple-a-Day said,

It is on Windows Update now, happy downloading.

#10 +Echilon on 24 Mar 2009 - 19:13

Wahay, an update for WHS. Mine will probably update tonight.

#11 RageOfFury on 24 Mar 2009 - 20:22

Awesome! I just updated mine. I love my WHS, very useful for backups and streaming media to my PS3. Microsoft should market this more, it would really catch on if they did.

(1 reply) #12 johndotcom83 on 24 Mar 2009 - 21:29

also added support for Windows 7, which now shows up correctly in the comptuers list, and not as Windows Vista

Edit - Well at least it does in the WHS connector, not on the web though

#12.1 pasty2k2 on 25 Mar 2009 - 04:13

Awesome, I wonder if this will fix 2 problems Ive been having where Media Player in W7 randomly crashes, and the backups take AGES and slow down my network. I cant even play a 128k MP3 over the network sometimes!

A lot of nice little additions though also.

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