14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft released the third major upgrade to Windows Home Server on November24th, 2009, living up to the promise of making available Power Pack 3 this week. Current users of Windows Home Server will have PP3 automatically served to them through Windows Update. Microsoft advices customers running older releases of its home server operating system to make sure that the Automatic Updates settings are enabled in order for their machines to seamlessly access Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (PP3) via Windows Update, and subsequently to download and install the upgrade. At the same time, the Redmond company is offering potential Windows Home Server customers a standalone download of the latest release of the platform.
Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Evaluation is currently up for grabs via the Microsoft Download Center. Because it is designed to simplify the testing process for Windows Home Server, the release is offered as a free download. Available in English, German and Japanese, Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Evaluation comes packaged as an ISO image weighing in at 840.3 MB.
“You will need to install this software on a dedicated machine that will function only as your home server. When you install Windows Home Server software all of the existing programs and files on the hard drives will be deleted. In order to preserve any existing data, you must ensure you have a back up copy on a separate computer or external hard drive prior to installation of the Windows Home Server software,” Microsoft revealed.
“You must accept the License Terms presented during the setup program to use the Windows Home Server Evaluation Edition. By downloading and using the software, you consent to the license terms. If you do not accept the License Terms, you are not authorized to use the software. As a reminder, when you burn the software onto a DVD, the license terms prohibit you from transferring that disk to anyone else,” the company added.
Microsoft has also revealed the minimum system requirements of the dedicated computer that end users will have to reserve for Windows Home Server PP3. According to the software giant, users will need at least a “1 GHz Pentium III (or equivalent) or faster processor, 512 MB RAM or more, 70 GB or larger ATA, SATA, or SCSI hard drive as the primary hard drive, 100 Mbps or faster Ethernet network interface card, Internal or external DVD drive, a router/firewall device with DHCP enabled, VGA or higher-resolution monitor (needed only during initial home server installation), Keyboard and mouse (needed only during initial home server installation).”
Designed to act as the central hub of a home with multiple computers, Windows Home Server is set up to automatically back-up all data, offer additional storage and remote connectivity. With Power Pack 3 integrated, Windows Home Server plays nice with Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit); Windows Vista RTM/SP1/SP2 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) and Windows XP SP2 and SP3.
Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Evaluation is available for download here.