This week I bought a HP MediaSmart Server EX490 which runs Windows Home Server. The primary reason for buying a Windows Home Server was to get an easy to use solution in place that allows us to perform automated backups and share the data across the multiple devices.

The most important computer at home is my wife’s notebook, as this has become a kind of the primary access point for the family  to store pictures, music and documents.

I started installing it yesterday evening before going out with some friends, of course I joined them too late as I got distracted by the installation process. I completed the installation and configuration this morning and must say that from what I have seen so far, it has exceeded my expectations.

As you can see from the picture below the device is quite small which is good because you are most likely going to place it somewhere under a desk.

Note that the Home Server is designed to be a headless system, which means that you cannot attach any keyboard, mouse  or monitor to it. All Administration is done via the remote Home Server Console.

If you are interested to learn more about the Windows Home Server, then I recommend that you look at the links I have listed below under Additional Sources. Especially the Review of the HP MediaSmart Server from MediaSmart.net provides a very detailed overview of what you can all do with this device.

Have a look at the following video’s so you get an idea of what you can all do with this awesome device.

HP MediaSmart Server – How to enable remote access
HP MediaSmart Server – Using HP Photo WebShare
HP MediaSmart Server – How to back up your files

Under the Roof

As an IT pro I wanted to know what’s under the roof. As a regular user you will perform all administration tasks using the Windows Home Server Console but you can also logon to the server through a remote desktop session. mstsc /v:<HomeServer Computername or IP address>.

Once logged on you will notice that it looks like if you would log on to a normal Windows Server, there are just fewer things there.

We could say that basically the Windows Home Server is a customized, stripped down “Server 2003 SP2 for Small Business Server” system.

As you can see from the screenshot above, it has the Internet Information Services (IIS) installed as this is used to remotely access the shared content through the internet. I haven’t been able to find a confirmation yet, but would assume that in fact you can install everything that works on Server 2003 SBS. I wonder when Windows Home Server will be made available with the Server 2008 codebase as the Small Business Edition is already available on that platform.

Windows Home Server, definitely a Must Have !

Additional Sources
HP MediaSmart Server EX490 Overview
Home Server Plus
Microsoft Windows Home Server Forum
MediaSmartServer.net
Windows Home Server Team Blog
Windows Home Server Home
MSWHS Blog
We Got Served
Microsoft + HP Windows Home Server WebCast
Review: HP MediaSmart Server EX490 and EX495 from MediaSmartServer.net
Review: HP MediaSmart Server EX490 from PC Pro
Show us your tech video with Mark Pendergrast
HP StorageWorks Data Vault Windows Home Server
HP MediaSmart Server video
Product Review – HP MediaSmart Server
HP MediaSmart Easter Egg for the LED
HomeServer Hacks
HomeServerLand
Wikipedia – Home Server
HP MediaSmart Wiki

An old colleague called me up this week (well in fact it was my old boss who has left our company), and told me about an issue they had when deploying an ISP specific Software Package that interacts with the Wireless Devices on their HP notebooks.

The problem was that if the WWAN device has been turned of via the quick launch button by the end user, the software would not install.

What many don’t know is that there is a command line  utility that allows you to automate the Wireless Device State on HP devices. If you have the HP Wireless Assistant Software installed, you should have the utility wireless.exe stored under C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant.

Launching wireless.exe without providing any command line options will show a dialog box describing all available command line parameters.

So if you want to enable all Wireless Devices automatically on a HP notebook system, then simply run the following command:

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\Wireless.exe all on

Or if you just want to turn on the Wireless Lan Device, use the following command:

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\Wireless.exe WirelessLAN on

You can see the state of the individual Wireless Devices within the HP Wireless Assistant Application.

HP has started publishing device drivers and software for Windows 7 for their desktops, notebooks and workstations. A complete overview of Windows 7 eligible models can be found here

Business Desktops

HP Compaq dc7900

HP Compaq dc7800

HP Compaq dc7700

HP Compaq dc5800

Business Workstations

HP Z400 Workstation

HP Z600 Workstation

HP Z800 Workstation

HP xw8600 Workstation

HP xw6600 Workstation

HP xw4600 Workstation

Business Notebooks

HP EliteBook 2730p Notebook PC

HP EliteBook 6930p Notebook PC

HP EliteBook 2530p Notebook PC

HP Compaq 6730b Notebook PC

HP EliteBook 8730w Mobile Workstation

HP EliteBook 8530p Notebook PC

Small changes can make a world of difference. With Power To Change, you can help make the world a greener place. Install the Power To Change widget and start making a difference!

Check out the Power to Change website for more information and download the Widget.

We all have heard about Cloud Computing, now there is Cloud Printing ! Check out HPs CloudPrint. It’s still in BETA but worth to take a look.

It’s here where HP started……

See more pictures of the HP House here: http://www.kennethkuhn.com/hpmuseum/garage/

And the Garage timeline is documented here:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/garage/timeline.html

Usually when you would need a specific driver you go up to the vendors website and search for the driver download area.

Since a while, HP provides a more convenient way to find latest drivers for your HP hardware. It’s called the HP Softpaq download manager.

The HP Softpaq download manager allows you to easilly navigate to your device and get a list of all availabble drivers and related software, view the release note, and with just one click, download the content that you need to your client.

You can download the HP Softpaq manager from the following website:
http://h20219.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/cache/509658-0-0-225-121.html

It takes just a few seconds to install and of you go.

Const wbemFlagReturnImmediately = 16
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = 32
lFlags = wbemFlagReturnImmediately + wbemFlagForwardOnly
strService = “winmgmts:{impersonationlevel=impersonate}//”
strComputer = “.”
strNamespace = “/root/HP/InstrumentedBIOS”
strQuery = “select * from HP_BIOSSettingInterface”
Set objWMIService = GetObject(strService & _
strComputer & strNamespace)
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery,,lFlags)
‘ “Enter Ownership Tag” is the name of the BIOS setting
‘ instance object that we want to update. The correct
‘ names of available settings are found by enumerating
‘ all instances of HP_BIOSSetting.
For each objItem in colItems
objItem.SetBiosSetting oReturn, _
“Enter Ownership Tag”, _
“Some environment-specific inventory code“, _
“1E302E020304"
Next
Dim strReturn
Select Case oReturn
Case 0 strReturn = "Success"
Case 1 strReturn = "Not Supported"
Case 2 strReturn = "Unspecified Error"
Case 3 strReturn = "Timeout"
Case 4 strReturn = "Failed"
18
Case 5 strReturn = "Invalid Parameter"
Case 6 strReturn = "Access Denied"
Case Else strReturn = "..."
End Select
WScript.Echo "SetBiosSetting()

More information about HP CMI can be found here:
http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/cache/284014-0-0-225-121.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

The other option is to use the biosconfigutility.exe which comes with the HP System Software Manager. The example below changes the BIOS setting for WLAN switching:

BiosConfigUtility.exe /setconfig:wlan.txt

(wlan.txt content)
English
LAN/WLAN Switching
Disable
*Enable

More Information about HP SSM can be found here:
http://h20219.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/cache/284133-0-0-225-121.html