Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 public beta!

The Windows Home Server team, in conjunction with all of our partners, MVPs, and "Dogfooders" is extremely happy to announce that a Release Candidate of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 (Build 1771) is now available for public download and testing through Microsoft Connect!

There has been a huge amount of testing applied to Power Pack 1 already and we have high confidence that Power Pack 1 solves the data corruption bug that was first identified late last year (Knowledge Base article #946676).  We are running this public beta with the aspiration that we will get thousands of beta testers to help us prove that we not only have fixed "the bug", but have significantly improved all parts of Windows Home Server with new features such as:

• Support for PCs running Windows Vista x64 editions
• Backup of home server Shared Folders
• Easier, enhanced remote access capabilities
• Better energy efficiency
• Improved performance
• Chinese and Japanese versions

We will not ship the final release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 until the community has validated our work. In the Release Documentation for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 we outline a number of specific test scenarios. For us to feel our testing has been validated we need a large number of beta testers to work through these scenarios and regular home server operation for a period of time. Given the fantastic number of people who have signed up already (well ahead of the numbers we were hoping for), and how great the community has been in the past in helping us, I am confident we'll get enough testers. The only remaining question is how quickly those testers download the bits and start testing them.

The Windows Home Server Customer Improvement Program allows us to track metrics on product usage and we are anxiously watching how the product is used to gauge when we've hit our target...so we can begin the final release process. 

So don't delay. Head on over to Microsoft Connect and sign-up (if you haven't already) and download and start testing Windows Home Server Power Pack 1. We've posted both an update package that can be applied to existing Windows Home Servers as well as updated DVD and CD ISO images of an evaluation version of Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1. If you choose to run the Release Candidate on a "production" home server you should make a backup of everything prior to getting started. Make sure you read the Release Documentation to see what's new and updated!

The Windows Home Server team has added a Power Pack 1 forum to the Windows Home Server Community forums.  If you have questions about Power Pack 1, please go there to ask them.  Cheers!

Charlie Kindel

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Release Candidate has been made available for public testing. Read

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 public beta is now available for download

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Today, we have released the public beta (aka Release Candidate 4) of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Release Candidate has been made available for public testing. Read

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  PingBack from http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=473

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  With the recent public release the Release Candidate of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 it is imperative

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  At long last, there is a preliminary fix for the corruption issue that has dogged WHS since its release.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Great news...and hopefully beta testers will seal the deal by putting the fix to the test. One question though, will the delay in getting PP1 out the door cause a ripple effect on your future planned updates?  Or did you have enough staff working on post PP1 stuff while you were pinning down the data corruption bug.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  I'm thrilled to announce just minutes ago the powers that be here flipped the switch to release the much

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 is now available for download

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Why run this beta on your Home Server? It fixes the data corruption bug. Please install this on your Home Server RTM boxes and hammer on them, to prove or disprove that the bug is finally gone. There are a few other features and fixes that have snuck

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Today, the Windows Home Server Team has announced the availability of the Windows Home Server Power Pack

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Congrats and thanks to the WHS team for all of their hard work. Now let's get this tested and released so that it's full steam ahead!