Problems with Windows Home Server...

Soldato
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First things first, apologies if this isn't in the right section. As it seems to be a software issue I figured this was a better home than Servers and Enterprise Solutions.

As for what's happening, I'll try and explain. And sorry about the wall of text that's about to follow...

We've recently purchased a small WHS box for our small business and we're in the process of migrating across all our data from the three PCs we've been using up until now. But we've hit numerous stumbling blocks and I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

The first problem is sharing CD drives. The WHS box we've bought is a little stand-alone cube and in order to do anything on it you need to Remote Desktop into it. That's fine, but because there's no in-built optical drive, I need to share one from another PC.

I've done what I thought was the right thing and the drive shows up on the WHS box as a Network Drive from the PC it is shared from, but you can't run anything from the drive - it just sits there. if you try and run something by navigating from the WHS you get this message:

'Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.'

So that looks like I've completely screwed something up along the way. Not sure what though!

The second problem relates to a Canon MP610 printer that we're trying to install onto the WHS box so it can be shared across the network. In order to get around the sharing of the optical drive, I've downloaded the Virtual CD-ROM app for XP and I've used that to install the software. All seems well until we try to scan and up pops this message:

'The scanner driver supported by this software is not installed. Install it and then retry.'

As far as I can tell the software is installed and the WIA service is running automatically and was started when the software was installed. Could it be that although the Canon disc includes drivers for XP that WHS itself isn't supported?

Any help or assistance will be gratefully received!
 

Qu3

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WHS is based on Windows Server 2003. Does the printer driver support this?

Some XP drivers work and I believe there are workarounds for some but not all. You will have to install the driver manually though and not use the installer.

On the PC that has the CD drive may use that "everyone" is listed in the sharing tab with read option and this should work.
 
Soldato
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WHS is based on Windows Server 2003. Does the printer driver support this?
All Canon will say is that it 'should work fine'. I can't see any official support for it, but most of the software (printing, etc) works perfectly so why not the scanning?!

Some XP drivers work and I believe there are workarounds for some but not all. You will have to install the driver manually though and not use the installer.
I can do that for the printer driver (and have done) but I've got little to no idea where I'd look for the scanning driver/software. Any idea?

On the PC that has the CD drive may use that "everyone" is listed in the sharing tab with read option and this should work.
Like in the image below? Because that's not working!

permissionsm.jpg
 
Soldato
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Hey up.

Few words of caution for you first of all.

Dont create move or do anything with data when logged onto the WHS iteself. You have to create the main folders using the console and then create your folder structure within them from a mapping. ie dont remote onto the machine, dont goto the d: drive and start creating and moving data around. You will corroupt the data.

Second up, im in the same boat as you, HP WHS. I cant get the scanner to work. Either locally or over the network. Printing is fine over the network but scanning fails.
 
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Soldato
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That's good information to know, Datamonkey. Thanks for the tips.

I have to say I've getting increasingly annoyed by this WHS. it's all full of irrelevant or useless 'family' software and doesn't do all the 'basic' things I want it to.
 
Soldato
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hope you get what i mean lol.

At work and tired, was working late on a cluster system lastnight.

Dont do anything data wise locally on the server at all. The only normal partition on the WHS is the c: which is pretty small.

The D: partition is spread over however many drives are in the machine, working directly on the d: will result in corrouption of your data, it may not be obvious at first but it will.

if you need to work on the data partition while remoting onto the whs use the run command and open the data partion via network path. as in \\server\data\glitch data

Hope that makes more sense.

The WHS is a good bit of kit, but i get the feeling you should have gone for a Small Business Server solution instead.

We use the WHS at home to back up all my wifes data, and the home pc's she works from home. Its ideal for what we use it for. Data storage, print server and backup server. I would have loved to have gotten exchange running on it.
 

Qu3

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That's good information to know, Datamonkey. Thanks for the tips.

I have to say I've getting increasingly annoyed by this WHS. it's all full of irrelevant or useless 'family' software and doesn't do all the 'basic' things I want it to.

I see your point but just remember it is a Home Server and designed for the home... HP have released or are about to release model more suited for business and SOHO use.

I have a canon printer which printed fine but advanced features wouldn't work, for example it wouldn't tell me the printer was out of ink.

Have a look on http://www.wegotserved.co.uk, they may be able to help you more.

I would have loved to have gotten exchange running on it.
Thats my next little project. I have an un-pooled drive which is used for VMs. I built mine so its got quite a bit of power behind it :p
 
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Soldato
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hope you get what i mean lol.

At work and tired, was working late on a cluster system lastnight.
Made perfect sense and was appreciated.

if you need to work on the data partition while remoting onto the whs use the run command and open the data partion via network path. as in \\server\data\glitch data
I usually do but I've 'had' to RD in order to fiddle with some of the settings. 'D:' is locked down tightly though.

The WHS is a good bit of kit, but i get the feeling you should have gone for a Small Business Server solution instead
I'm starting to wonder about that myself. Was a bit of an 'impulse' buy of sorts in order to try and remedy a problem we shouldn't actually have in the first place!

I see your point but just remember it is a Home Server and designed for the home... HP have released or are about to release model more suited for business and SOHO use.

I have a canon printer which printed fine but advanced features wouldn't work, for example it wouldn't tell me the printer was out of ink.

Have a look on http://www.wegotserved.co.uk, they may be able to help you more.
In actuality we're barely scratching the surface of what it can do, but it's frustrating me that what I want it to do seems out of its reach.

Like the printer for example. Surely being able to install a bog-standard 'home' printer on a WHS ought to be a piece of cake!

Thabnks for the link though, Qu3; I'll have a mooch.
 

PR.

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I would bet the CD rom share isn't working because of the rights lockdown. Basically be default it won't let you run UNC paths for executable files.

You either need to copy it to the desktop and run it OR you can go to the Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components and uncheck the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration. I've not tried the latter on WHS but I've had to do it on Windows 2003 servers in the past.
 
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