It makes sense to add external hard drives after setup is complete. I understand why it's necessary to disconnect any USB or FireWire hard disk drives. For best results, you should turn off this configuration before installing Windows Home Server 2011.īack to the installation instructions. Some computers and mainboards can be configured so that the hard drives are managed as RAID by the BIOS on the mainboard. Windows Home Server 2011 works best when each attached hard drive is accessed as an individual hard drive. In a separate Troubleshooting document, this instruction is also in a yellow box under yet another bold Important heading: What happens if I don't? Unfortunately, the release notes don't say.Īre you planning to use a RAID array to work around the loss of Drive Extender? Think again. Most versions of Windows default to Redmond time, but this is the first time I've ever been told to change the time in the BIOS too, and to leave it that way while I connect clients. Nope, this document was updated March 30, 2011. I had to look twice to make sure this wasn't an April Fool's joke.
So, if you're in Australia and you forget this step, you need to let your new server sit for a full day before you do anything with it? If you do not set your server time to PST, you should not use the server or connect computers to it until the number of hours pass that equals the difference between your time and PST. After successfully installing Windows Home Server 2011 and joining client computers, do not reset the time, date, and time zone on the Dashboard for another day.
In a yellow box, under the bold heading Important, you'll find these instructions:īefore you install Windows Home Server 2011, set your BIOS clock to match the time and date for the Pacific Time Zone (PST) regardless of where you are located in the world. I don't believe I have ever read instructions quite like those I found in Installing and Configuring Windows Home Server 2011. But for some reason, just to be thorough, I decided this time to read the release notes first. I've downloaded the installation image from TechNet, and under normal circumstances I would just start the installation and see where things go. I've been running the release candidate for a couple months with no issues, and I'm planning do a clean install, so I expect no problems.
I'm about to install the final release of Windows Home Server 2011. WHS 2011 will support a RAID configuration, WHS 2011 will support a mouse, monitor and keyboard (although this depends on your OEM license if you get your server via OEM), and it prompts you for your time similar to Windows 7 when you install the server that doesn't require you to change the time in the BIOS. It seems that the documentation here is incorrect online and is a snap-shot of our first Beta documentation. Update: Microsoft Program Manager Sean Daniel left a comment in the Talkbacks: It also shows a revision date of April 17.
The document contains a revision date of Apand no longer includes the odd instructions documented in this post, which were left over from the original beta documentation. In addition, a set of formal release notes for Windows Home Server 2011 is now available, documenting some more obscure issues that you might encounter.
Update 18-April: At long last, Microsoft has posted revised installation instructions for Windows Home Server 2011.