WHS users can you help me?

[TallMomof2]

First off Sage is running beautifully, my HDHR problems are gone.

The big problem is that I cannot upgrade my connection software on the client PC, backup the client PC or install the client software on other PCs in my network. This thread over at the MS forums details what I've tested and tried. Their recommendation is to do a server reinstall. Not opposed to that but I will have to schedule some time to do that.

I can RDP and use the connection software to access my server without a problem so it's headless and operational but I would really like to figure out this problem.

TIA

[gplasky]

OK. First off-I had the same issue. I had worked on putting my drives that were external to the pool into the pool. And I'll let you know right now I installed and reinstalled about 7 times total until I got it exactly how I wanted it with zero issues.

Now for your problem I actually couldn't install the connector software either. Told me it couldn't do it and to wait or contact a system administrator. I downloaded and installed the WHS Toolkit and it gave me about 7 errors. It said the connector software was the wrong version. (It wasn't) It couldn't get the WHS website working correctly. I had a certificate error in the webpage, etc., etc.

My fix-reinstall. Not once but twice. After the first reinstall it looked like it was working but I was getting a .NET error on the reporting service or something. The Disk Management add-in stopped working. I could add it in and the tabs was there but once I chose the tab it started coming up and then the console would die. I just stopped using it but didn't want to leave it like that. The other issue I had noticed was after it had done its updates and rebooted (PP1 was one of the updates) it came back up but almost all of the WHS services were disabled and it threw off all kinds of errors.
So one more reinstall. Made sure to install no add in or apps. Made sure all the updates were done. Made sure all the device drivers were installed. Ran updates again. (I turned updates off because I wanted to control it myself). Let it sit and run for a while. Went upstairs and I was able to begin installing the connector software. WHS toolkit reported no problem and no more cert errors. I can't tell you what fixed it. Only that a couple of reinstalls shook it out. I also didn't lose anything in the reinstalls.

I'm not saying this is your answer but this is what worked for me. (Sorry for the long post.)

Gerry

[Muchacho]

My issues were also resolved when I did a server reinstall. It was not as painful as I expected and I did not loose any data.

BTW Gerry- I see that you moved your sageTV drives to the pool. I have been considering doing that, but concerned that all the grinding on the drives with my more important stuff may shorten the drive life. I never really got what the benefit of making the change was either. Do you prefer the drives in the pool? Sorry to derail the thread...

[TallMomof2]

I wonder what gets fixed in the reinstall? My version of WHS includes PP1 and I don't recall an option during installation to not install it. There's also no option in add/remove programs to uninstall PP1, heck there isn't even any reference to PP1.

Time to back up the Sage directory.

During a server reinstall do the pool HDDs get formatted? I have nearly 4TB of video, photos and music I'd hate to have to move over again.

[Peter_h]

Welcome to windows networking... it sucks.

Here are some more questions.

Are you using static IP's?
Can you see the server in network neighborhood?
Can the server see all the pc's in network neighborhood?
What about firewall settings on the server?
Firewall settings on the router?
Has it ever worked properly?

[TallMomof2]

While problem solving I switched to a static IP for the server and added a line to the client's HOST file indicating the server's IP and name. Rebooted and no change.

The server can see all the PCs in network neighborhood and vice versa.

AFAIK the firewall settings on the router and server are correct. I went through the MS document on troubleshooting problems with the connection software and quadruple checked firewall settings. Plus the server and client are hanging off the same switch so I don't expect that the router firewall would come into play. It's a name resolution problem.

After I installed WHS and the connection software everything seemed to work. At that point I started adding in HDDs to the pool. Copying over files took a long time. I was getting connection upgrade errors then. Yeah, I know I should've stopped and figured it out then but I didn't think it would be a big deal. Didn't realize until a couple of days later that my PC hadn't backed up. At that point I had Sage up and running.

*** Forgot to add the Sage runs beautifully, finally have comskip running the way I want with Sage Job Queue and I hate to have to reinstall it.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

I wonder what gets fixed in the reinstall? My version of WHS includes PP1 and I don't recall an option during installation to not install it. There's also no option in add/remove programs to uninstall PP1, heck there isn't even any reference to PP1.

Time to back up the Sage directory.

During a server reinstall do the pool HDDs get formatted? I have nearly 4TB of video, photos and music I'd hate to have to move over again.

In the add/install programs list check the little box at the top that says "show updates". You'll now see you PP1 and all the windows updates you have done.

Think of a reinstall as a clean install of the OS. It will format the OS partition but NOT touch your D partition or the pooled drives. SO no need to move that data again. And make sure you load any drivers required by your drives just like you initially did.

Gerry

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Muchacho

My issues were also resolved when I did a server reinstall. It was not as painful as I expected and I did not loose any data.

BTW Gerry- I see that you moved your sageTV drives to the pool. I have been considering doing that, but concerned that all the grinding on the drives with my more important stuff may shorten the drive life. I never really got what the benefit of making the change was either. Do you prefer the drives in the pool? Sorry to derail the thread...

I put the drives in the pool to take advantage of the ease of adding more storage and managing the data. I have one import directory for music, photos, tv and rips. Prior to that I had 20 listed import paths. (5 drives) I'm not doing folder duplication so I'm not sure there is that much more drive grinding than recording 20-50 hours of HD tv a week or ripping and playing 400 DVDs. And if a drive does fail in the pool and there is enough storage available it should move the data off the drive and allow you to replace it. And WHS will give you plenty of warning with drive problems. (The reason I'm not doing folder duplication is I have my photos and music also on another PC. Recordings are recordings and I can get them again. Rips would just need to be redone so time would be the only thing lost there.)
Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Gerry

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by gplasky

In the add/install programs list check the little box at the top that says "show updates". You'll now see you PP1 and all the windows updates you have done.

Think of a reinstall as a clean install of the OS. It will format the OS partition but NOT touch your D partition or the pooled drives. SO no need to move that data again. And make sure you load any drivers required by your drives just like you initially did.

Gerry

PP1 is not in the add/remove programs with updates checked. The WHS install disk says that PP1 is included. I'm going to reinstall tomorrow morning, work can wait.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

PP1 is not in the add/remove programs with updates checked. The WHS install disk says that PP1 is included. I'm going to reinstall tomorrow morning, work can wait.

Mine is the same way. I beleive all copies of WHS after Nov last year came prepackaged with PP1.

[S_M_E]

I doubt the issue is a networking issue as they implied in the referenced thread. Many people had that problem after installing PP1. Since your install media includes it, you can't uninstall and reinstall PP1 which fixes the issue for many people.

When did it first start prompting you to upgrade your connector SW? After an update perhaps?

What I would try is this:
1) Uninstall the connector on the client PC and reboot it.
2) Navigate to "\\WHS\software\Home Server Connector Software" and install the connector from there.

If that fails, you might try a "server reinstall," which will NOT reformat your data drives (only "New Installation" will do that) but you will have to re-install Sage, codecs, decoders, users etc. You can easily backup your Sage install dir to a share or another computer for safekeeping and it'll make re-installing sage easier. You might also lose your backups. If "New Installation" is the only option available when you boot the WHS install DVD, STOP, do not proceed.

[ghostlobster]

I had a similar issue, so I figured I'd take a stab in the dark with a few things and did the following:

• Installed the Windows Server DHCP Server on my WHS box
• Installed the Windows Server DNS server on my WHS box
• Set up DNS forwarding on my WHS box
• Set my WHS as the only DHCP server on the network and have the clients all grabbing their IP info from it and pointing to my WHS box for name resolution.

Bam...no more issues of any kind.

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by S_M_E

I doubt the issue is a networking issue as they implied in the referenced thread. Many people had that problem after installing PP1. Since your install media includes it, you can't uninstall and reinstall PP1 which fixes the issue for many people.

When did it first start prompting you to upgrade your connector SW? After an update perhaps?

What I would try is this:
1) Uninstall the connector on the client PC and reboot it.
2) Navigate to "\\WHS\software\Home Server Connector Software" and install the connector from there.

If that fails, you might try a "server reinstall," which will NOT reformat your data drives (only "New Installation" will do that) but you will have to re-install Sage, codecs, decoders, users etc. You can easily backup your Sage install dir to a share or another computer for safekeeping and it'll make re-installing sage easier. You might also lose your backups. If "New Installation" is the only option available when you boot the WHS install DVD, STOP, do not proceed.

I didn't uninstall the current connection software but tried to install over top of it by first the connector software disk and second through the shared folder. Both failed.

Originally Posted by ghostlobster

I had a similar issue, so I figured I'd take a stab in the dark with a few things and did the following:

• Installed the Windows Server DHCP Server on my WHS box
• Installed the Windows Server DNS server on my WHS box
• Set up DNS forwarding on my WHS box
• Set my WHS as the only DHCP server on the network and have the clients all grabbing their IP info from it and pointing to my WHS box for name resolution.

Bam...no more issues of any kind.

What DHCP and DNS software did you use? Googling finds me a lot of options. TIA

[S_M_E]

Since PP1 is included with your WHS install media I'm still not sure which update made you need to upgrade your connector. Perhaps it's the November update that triggered it. If so, you may be able to uninstall/reinstall that one and try the upgrade again. Are there errors in the event viewer regarding MSI installer?

WHS includes WIN2k3 DNS/DHCP options but you have to install them and it's not supported (if you care about supported). If you know what you're doing look in Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs - Add/Remove Windows Components - Network Services - Details and you see check boxes for DNS and DHCP services. If you don't, I wouldn't suggest that you even try it. I would try to track down which update/patch caused the upgrade issue instead.

[gplasky]

I'd still suggest just a reinstall. Track it and document it. Don't be in a hurry. In a couple of hours you'll be back up recording as if nothing happened and you're connector software will work fine. I started to take the route you're looking at now-trying to fix it without a reinstall. But in the long run it will actually take less time, it will be a supported install and if need be you can resort to MS support without anything being installed or configured "out of the ordinary".

Gerry

[TallMomof2]

I'm going to do the reinstall, figure it'll take less time. Gawd, I wish this was like Win98 where you could reinstall over top the old installation and it would fix all the little problems but not lose any of your programs. Thankfully, I was too lazy to put away the monitor, keyboard, mouse and external DVD drive or maybe I was counting on problems.

I'll pay attention when I'm running updates to see which one, if any causes problems.

[Beefcake550]

I'm curious.....when doing a reinstall and you have drives in the pool with data on them, how do you handle that? I mean, I always have taken the approach of clearing off the landing zone (d to the pooled drives, then opening the case and unplugging the pooled drives. Now, I'll do a reinstall and it formats the c: and d: (one physical drive). Next, I shutdown and plug the pooled drives back in. One at a time, I copy there data into the pool and once done, add the drive to the pool.

Are you telling me that I can just somehow leave everything connected and just reinstall? I thought I remember that the install process tells you that the hard drives it finds must be empty and all data will be erased......what the truth? I've been looking at potentially doign a server reinstall, but I haven't due to the headached of moving aroudn 2-3TB of data again.

-Brian

[TallMomof2]

I just started reinstalling and the first choice to come up is to reinstall or do a new installation. If you chose reinstall the window explicitly states that only the system drive is formatted and your data drives won't be touched.

If you chose new installation then every drive attached is formatted.

I'll let you know how it turns out....

[TallMomof2]

Well, that sucks. Went through the reinstallation and during the final installation came up with an error:

"Continuing to cofigure storage failed. The system cannot find the path specified. Error Code 0x800700003"

Tried to run the installation program again from scratch, the only option is a new installation.

Guess I'm off to Best Buy to pick up a couple of 1TB drives so I can spend a couple of days moving files into the pool.

EDIT: Maybe it's not so bad, I disconnected the network cable, set the boot priority to HDD and it seems to be working. I *think* that the installation program still needs the disk even after you're booting from the HDD.

EDIT 2: Got another error, the handle is invalid. I'm trying some stuff off the WHS forums without much luck. Looks like Best Buy will be getting some $ from me today....

EDIT 3: Installed device drivers hoping that would help. Still getting the invalid handle error. Now I'm having WHS Preserver Service crash.

[S_M_E]

Did you install AHCI/RAID drivers when you set it up or are the drives set to IDE mode in the BIOS? IIRC, Error Code 0x800700003 usually means it can't find a driver, often seen if you use a USB thumb drive to install drivers or forget to hit F6 to install textmode drivers. If not in IDE mode, storage drivers have to be specified twice during a WHS install.

At least your pooled data is still safe, you've lost nothing but some time. You still should have tried removing the November update (or others) and reinstalling it.