On Microsoft’s Home Server blog they have an update on progress of  Windows Home Server PP3 and some tips on how to get Windows 7 working best with Windows Home Server until the Power Pack is released. One thing I have noticed is that the release of PP3 seems to have slipped. When the beta was announced they said:

“Timing of the Power Pack 3 final release has not been determined. With your help to test the Beta, we hope to release the update prior to the Windows 7 General Availability date of October 22”

While in the latest post Microsoft say:

“As with past software releases, our team will not ship the official final release of Power Pack 3 until the community has validated our work. We expect to deliver before the end of the year”

Better deliver late than with bugs so its good to see the WHS team focusing on releasing a quality build. In the mean time Windows 7 uses should take a look the post for their tips on getting Windows 7 and PP3 to work together

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.

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