Why Windows Home Server PP3 is Important to Windows 7 Users

By Richard Hay, on September 28th, 2009

With the release of Windows 7 arriving in less than a month and so many people using the release candidate already the likely hood of someone out there using Windows 7 and Windows Home Server together are quite likely.

This is why Power Pack 3 is very important to Windows 7 users. All the details are in the Windows Home Server blog – Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Update entry:

For those Windows 7 users who do not have the Beta installed, there are a few important scenarios they should be aware of. These scenarios can be addressed by downloading and installing the Power Pack 3 Beta for the most optimal experience for Windows 7 users on a Windows Home Server network:

Restoring a full image of a Win7 client PC (or ‘bare metal restore’): there are a few rare cases where a Win7 client PC may not be able to restore his or her full image backup from a Windows Home Server. This has to do with how Windows 7 uses hard links for some system files. Power Pack 3 beta fixes this issue.

Windows 7 client PCs will not automatically wake up to do a backup: Windows 7 users can work around this by doing manual backups, or also by turning on the wakeup timer in the Windows client Control Panel. Power Pack 3 beta also fixes this issue.

Mounting a backup hangs at 79% with Autoplay enabled: Although we’ve seen only a few cases of this, Windows 7 users may see a stall during a file/folder restore operation, which is caused by Autoplay being triggered during the operation. As a workaround, users can disable Autoplay in the Windows client Control Panel. Power Pack 3 beta also fixes this issue.

Cannot install the Windows Home Server Client PC Connector software on Windows 7 Starter Edition PCs: while there currently isn’t a workaround for this, Power Pack 3 beta addresses this issue and allows users to install the Connector software correctly.

If you do not want to have any of these problems and your running Windows 7 on your home network then you most definitely want to grab the PP3 beta and install it on your Windows Home Server. The download is available at the Windows Home Server Connect Page.

You can also check out all the great new features which PP3 brings to Windows Home Server at the Windows Team Blog. The Windows 7 integration features work seamlessly and really are intuitive.

Richard Hay (3359 Posts)

Richard is the Owner of WindowsObserver.com and has been involved in tech for over 25 years. His first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then he used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and what you see here today is the result of the work he has continued on the site since 1995. In January 2010 his community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when he was awarded the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for Windows Desktop Experience. In January 2011 he was renewed as a Microsoft MVP but in a new category called Windows Expert - Consumer and in January 2012 he received the award for the third time.

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