Vail Refreshed Public Preview Available for Download

Microsoft’s Windows Home Server Team has announced a new download of Windows Home Server Codenamed Vail for public consumption.  The official name is Vail Refreshed Public Preview.

If you would like to download and test this new version you will need to login to Microsoft’s Connect Site. There are some exciting

Register and search on Windows Home Server to get into the download area.

With the download Microsoft has included a new set of release notes for this beta.  Although the product has come a long way from it’s first beta appearance there are still a few concerning issues that should make you think twice about using this beta as a production server.  I’ve highlighted two that really stand out to me.

Issue

Do not use Storage Check and Repair.

Description

Under certain conditions, running Storage Check and Repair may lead to data loss.

Solution

No workaround is available.

Issue

Removing a missing hard drive from a storage pool may delete the wrong files.

Description

If a hard drive is missing, and you remove the missing hard drive from the storage pool, the wizard may incorrectly identify the files damaged because of the missing disk and may delete files that still exist on hard drives that are not missing.

Solution

Before removing the missing hard drive from the storage pool, copy all the files from server folders to a client machine or to an external hard drive, remove the missing hard drive from the storage pool, and then copy back the files.

There are other issues listed for install, configuration, the connector software, storage, backup and restore, remote web access, shared folders, media, and system health.

Another one that caught my eye will interest those of you who stream video.

Issue

MPEG2 video encoder and decoders, and AC3 Dolby Digital audio encoders are not available in this preview release of Windows Server “Vail”.

Description

Streaming MPEG2 and Dolby digital media files is not available in this release.

Solution

There is no workaround.

System requirements look to be unchanged from the first beta.

• Windows Server “Vail” server software is a 64-bit only operating system.
• You can install the server software either manually or unattended.
• System Requirements:
  • 1.4 GHz x64 processor.
  • 1 GB RAM
  • At least one 160 GB hard drive.
• Product keys are not required for this release.
• NTFS is the only supported file system.
• Supported Networking Configuration:
  1. Your server computer must be connected via a network cable to a router.
  2. The router should be a UPnP-certified device, but it is not required.
  3. The router should be in the 192.168.x.x subnet, but it is not required.

Get registered on Connect and try out this new beta.  The more testing we do the better the end product will be.

Tags: Vail, Windows Home Server

Category: Windows Home Server