Windows Home Server 2011, code named Vail, is a home server

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

designed for small office/home offices and homes with multiple connected PCs to offer protected file storage,

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...

, automated PC backup, remote access, and remote control of PC desktops. It was released on 6 April 2011 following the release of Power Pack 3 for its aging predecessor,

Windows Home Server Windows Home Server (code-named Quattro) is a home server operating system from Microsoft. It was announced on 7 January 2007 at the Consumer Electronics Show by Bill Gates, released to manufacturing on 16 July 2007 and officially released o ...

. Windows Home Server 2011 is the last Windows Home Server release and was succeeded by Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Windows Home Server 2011 is based on

Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 R2 is the fifth version of the Windows Server operating system produced by Microsoft and released as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generall ...

and requires

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging ...

CPUs (64-bit), while its predecessor worked on the older

IA-32 IA-32 (short for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit", commonly called i386) is the 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set architecture, designed by Intel and first implemented in the 80386 microprocessor in 1985. IA-32 is the first incarnation o ...

(32-bit) architecture as well. Coupled with fundamental changes in the structure of the client backups and the shared folders, there is no clear method for migrating from the previous version to Windows Home Server 2011.

Features

Windows Home Server 2011 includes additional entertainment capabilities, and an add in feature with an app store. Including web-based media functionality. Initial speculation by technology columnist Mary Jo Foley fueled the idea that 'Vail' would integrate with

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a defunct digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate ...

. This prompted the response "Time will tell" by Microsoft Windows Home Server Product Planner Todd Headrick, but by the time of the public beta Microsoft had decided not to integrate Windows Media Center with 'Vail'.

System requirements

Drive Extender removal

On 23 November 2010, Microsoft announced that Drive Extender would be removed from Windows Home Server 2011. This announcement has led to "astonishment and outrage" from testers and users. Criticism of Drive Extender's removal is mainly related to it being seen as a core feature of Windows Home Server and a key reason for adoption. Windows Home Server 2011 developer Michael Leworthy expressed concern that the implementation of Drive Extender might lead to "data error issues." As a result, third-party products entered the market to fill the void left by Drive Extender, including Drive Bender (Division M) and DrivePool (StableBit). The volume spanning feature of Drive Extender, in which two or more drives are used as one large storage volume, is available using the Dynamic Disks feature as in any other Windows Server release.

References

{{Microsoft Windows family Windows Server Windows 7 Home Server 2011 Home servers