Reviving Windows Home Server 2011: Microsoft's attempt on Consumer Servers

[@iplyrunescape305]

First off; fantastic video. Great work, you deserve more views and subs. Onto my overall view on the Windows Home Server. I am in my mid 20s, I got into the IT industry some 8 years ago while I was in high school. Even about 5 years ago, I was not very too tech savvy on reinstalling Windows or configuring servers or any of that. Only about 3 years ago is when I got into it. Now, I no longer use Windows at all. I am a Linux user and have left Windows over a year ago. But, what I still feel intrigued by this period of Windows was when they were very oriented on user experience and far friendlier than they are now. If I was the same age now with the same technical knowledge in the late 2000s, I would have definitely considered a Windows Home Server setup. The reason I believe it fell flat, is because it was still very much out of reach from normal users. Yes, Windows Home Server would have definitely been useful to me and my family back in those days (meaning would have been useful to most people), but none of us ever even knew about that, let alone even have the confidence to try to install Windows for regular use which is something no one in my family had done up to that point. Setting up a Windows Home Server would have required a fair bit amount of technical comfort and experience to even attempt it. I believe this is the main reason it fell flat. Most people were just able to use Windows to open their browser and do stuff online. Anything beyond that is too much for them (even if it is very easy to do, they wouldn't feel comfortable doing it).

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Thank you. Glad you like it!

[@paulfrayne6519]

The biggest problem I encountered with Windows Home Server was that there was no consumer version antivirus available at the time, as all antivirus companies just treated it as a commercial version and wouldn't provide any consumer version as I asked a couple of them.

[@lillywho]

The 2011 Edition based on Server 2008 R2 has always been a curious one to me. Apparently it runs a later build number than retail Windows 7 and 2008 R2, something in the 8xxx instead of 7600/7601. I wonder if there would be any relevant under the hood changes to the system that would make it a notable build number increment. It technically already encroached on Windows 8 build numbers there after all.

[@daveedwards9575]

Thanks for covering. I used some of these, as you say it was a cheap way to get Windows Server as the added bits were just on top. I used to use it for software Raid capability as Dell used to sell low end PowerEdge servers really cheap, the perfect fit! Nice to see these comments as I felt like I was the only person at the time using it.

[@hmichaelkraut7968]

I think Drive Extender in WHS ultimatly became Storage Spaces. As I recall it was removed due to data corruption.

[@faberfox]

You're right, I suffered it and also the forever rebalancing bug that ended killing hard drives. I wanted to like it, ended hating it and it's one of the main reasons I moved to Linux. I won't touch storage spaces with a ten foot pole since then.

[@-account-inactive-]

I forgot about this product. ... and as always, good job. Thank you sir.

[@starbuck1776]

I think I still have my copy of WHS 2007 somewhere... I ran a WHS to serve my HTPC (running Win 7 and Windows Media Center). I even bought software that would automatically rip a DVD or Blu Ray, to a folder and search the internet for the cover art and metadata.. At the time the hard drives that made sense to buy were the 2 tb WD Greens. I ended up with 11 of those in my server. Sadly in 2014 I suffered a house fire and my server and my home theater gear was destroyed. Now I just use Plex on a regular Windows machine for watching my movie collection.. Perhaps if I ever find my copy of WHS, I'll put together a "retro" HTPC/WHS setup!

[@SirKenchalot]

My favorite 'after Church on a Sunday' KZbin channel wows me again. Very interesting as I hadn't even heard of this product.

[@treahblade]

I wonder if drive extender morphed into volume manager that is currently in windows 10 today. I am not sure if it can do variable sized drives and multi copy files but I have never played around with it much. Seeing that home server is interesting since I work with windows servers at my job. Some of the stuff you shown there has quite a resemblance to some of the stuff in the normal server stuff.

[@judewestburner]

I don't think I've ever come across this. I did hear of home server editions at the time but could never figure out who it was really for. Thought this was stopped prior to 2011!!

[@casualretrocollector]

Another great video! I love the new intro! But i Wonder what Mister-know-it-all has to say about it 😂

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

He won‘t be asked, is that simple, else I end up in pointless discussions… ;)

[@superangrybrit]

I had Windows Home Server 2007 running on a Pentium 200MMX. Servers are way to complicated for the average user. Most just want something on autopilot. Good times however. 👍

[@byrd203]

its not bad because i used it until a couple of months ago you just need a good firewall I used it just fine and it had nice remote feature to access the Computers RDP with out opening ports other than the console if you use a 8 digit code or more its good plus do all of the updates too.

[@RetroBerner]

I liked the idea of WHS, but it was buggy and I've lost data to the earlier versions of Storage Spaces, but I'd still use it if they would have put the effort in to fix it

[@byrd203]

It was not based on 2008 for Second one it was Bassed on windows 2008R2 which is the Windows 7 Version of Server 2008 was Vista so your need a correction on this I have the product here check Win Ver for the Second one

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Indeed, that's correct WHS2011, it's Windows Server 2008 R2. I shortcutted the narration here. Sorry for that inaccuracy.

[@lowikian]

Ich denke Windows Home Server währe eher was für kleinere Betriebe gewesen die was unkompliziertres gesucht haben und keine IT Fachkraft haben.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Dafür gab es bereits den Windows Small Business Server (SBS), wobei… „unkompliziert“ ;)

[@ziozzot]

i still have the install disc somewhere

[@autingo6583]

checked my personal archive...in the directory with the whs v1 install media there's a long list with windows server 2003 vlk keys and i think i used them successfully back then. so how about these, like K2HRH-TRVPQ-XYM68-XXMB8-P6PMB for instance ... can anybody confirm? i used whs v1 because of the drive extender feature which was really nice, and also ditched v2 because it dropped the functionality.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

That one confirmed NOT working. I tried myself usual suspects of many keys floating around, though to no avail.

[@autingo6583]

​​@@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTORthx for the quick reply :-D now i am all the more inclined to produce you a working iso / key combo :-D i'll check back later, see ya!

[@autingo6583]

the aforementioned key works with the german whs iso i have... currently uploading to the internet archive, the whole shebang. it's slow, currently 170mb/1.2gb. i'll report back!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

@@autingo6583 I see. I only had the EN version at hands. Curious to see the actual RTM version. I don't mind if it's in DEUTSCH :-)

[@autingo6583]

@@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR so here it goes, i guess i can't post links? check out the identifier de_windows_home_server_installation_disc_x86_dvd on the internet archive. as to rtm... now this was a bit of a hassle iirc. it was somewhat troublesome to get an activation-free copy back in the days. you could for instance modify an installation image with some windows server 2003 dlls so that it would work with the regular vlks and i think that is the image i modified myself back in the days. there was definitely some tampering involved, at least in the beginning. there is a not so ancient thread on mydigitallife from 2013 with en isos, titled "Windows Home Server V1 ISO". see also "Windows Home Server VLK Edition Tutorial" from 2009. hope that helps posterity. :-D

[@Twikkilol]

I used to work with these, actually pretty cool product. :P

[@Tamampt]

Could you kindly give me the iso for it

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

You'll find it on archive.org Links are in the video description.

[@Thiesi]

Holy frell, you're changing your intro more often than I change my underwear!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Except for the C64 special it was always the same since 5 months, just saying :) Now, what does that say about your underwear? ;) ^^ Though TBH, I couldn‘t resist making a new one for the networking series. I had this in my mind ever since the networking topic entered the wishlist some two years ago.

[@vinniepie1989]

This is so funny. I used windows home server last time. I was trying the RD Web interface. I trying to fix the RD licence, but I can’t.

[@ruben_balea]

Everybody I know that has a NAS at home only uses it to download and store pirated movies and series, if the drives crap they only need new drives and the contents can be "recovered" from the internet...

[@Lofote]

Then you don't know any creators ;)... Video material for example requires lots of space.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Terabytes worth of video footage, media files, and more, in only 2.5 years since starting TPC. Just saying ... ;-)

[@martontichi8611]

There are obscure torrents that I downloaded over months and no one seeds anymore. (Except me) So not everything can be recovered.

[@ruben_balea]

@@martontichi8611 As I said it's people I know, and some are hoarders that download lots of crap they don't like just because it's available... I don't need a NAS to store my movies and series because I've the movies and series *I really like* in DVD/BR and I won't watch again the crap that I din't like when I watched it for free on TV.

[@Jerrec]

I loved the Windows Home Server V1. It was great. With V2 (Vail) my long and slowly hatred to windows began, which ultimatly made me switch away when Win11 was released. I loved the Drive Extender. I still got a valid license from my old Technet Abo.

[@FeedMeDoughnuts]

I used and loved WHS for 4 years at home. it was great.. simple to use, reliable and what all MS servers should be.. ah well... truenas time :)

[@connyr.7391]

Ist es nicht möglich Win7/Srv2008R2 Updates zumindest vor ESU auf WHS2011 zu installieren, da NT 6.1? Damit war updaten dann möglich bis 2021 und mit bypassesu wahrscheinlich bis heuer (POSReady 7 ESU).

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Das wäre zu prüfen, da hab ich mich nicht näher mit befasst. Zumindest LegacyUpdate.net bietet, im Gegensatz zu Windows XP, hier keine POS Updates an.

[@connyr.7391]

Müsste man mal ausprobieren mit bypassesu, ansonsten denke ich das es beim 2007er mit legacyupdate posready nicht geht da nt 5.2, statt 5.1 da müsste man Server 2003 updates probieren.

[@tnowak]

Does it support TLS 1.2 or anything above?

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

WHS 2007 (based on Windows Server 2003) supports TLS1.1 at most. WHS 2011 (based on Windows Server 2008 R2) supports at TLS1.2 at most.

[@NiceCakeMix]

Really nice video, i havent had any experience of this server so it was nice to see it here, thank you for sharing it

[@elalemanpaisa]

For consumers the pro version of windows 10 and 11 does all you need actually

[@BandanazX]

The killer feature of Windows Home Server was the Drive Extender. When Microsoft killed that function, there wasn't anything it provided that made it all that useful. One of my friends specifically bought Windows Media Server 2007 for that feature. It was almost a good ecosystem along with Windows Media Center PCs, but never hit critical mass.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Ohhhh! Windows Media Center, blast from a past. Remember that one as well!

[@faberfox]

The problem with drive extender was that IT DIDN'T WORK! For light loads it was ok, but as soon as you tried to do something useful that you could do on any NAS, it crapped its pants and either never finished rebalancing or even worse, corrupted data.

[@msdosm4nfred]

The best NAS is still the NAS, which I built myself, of course, it's Linux based, what else!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Ready made appliances have their pros and cons, so do DIY solutions. My latest NAS to accomodate all this video footage is as well DIY. I do have some Synologys around though, and they served me well since 10 years. And to fair, their restrictiveness was greatly removed when they gained capabilities to run Docker. This resolves the problem of having to rely on vendor-supplied extensions, or the problems if they withdraw an extension and support developing it. That was what drove me away from QNAP long time ago. Still, for my video server I went all-in DIY, as I needed something very specific to satisfay my needs.

[@msdosm4nfred]

@@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR I understand the demand of convenience, but I'm a professional, so I made my own linux-based NAS and I have my own fun. The windows based NAS solutions, like the mentioned Windoze Home Server ones, are too restricted, so there are no TFTP capabilities and no Time-Machine capabilities out of the box. So you're better with NAS boxes like QNAP or Synology. I'm satisfied with my self-built solution with PXE, even for my retro Win9x-machines. ;)

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

@@msdosm4nfred for certain you know what’s under the hood :)

[@o0Donuts0o]

@@msdosm4nfred”I’m a professional”. Says Windoze. Can’t take you seriously.

[@msdosm4nfred]

@@o0Donuts0o Windoze is unable to share my Data to old rigs, like my Amiga 500, Linux is able to do a such thing without hazzles. The Samba implementation just works.

[@kusanag0]

Unfortunately, WHS arrived too late in the game; Microsoft was already on board with cloud computing and Azure became the preferred place to store our data; much more profitable for Microsoft.