Microsoft Releases Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 RC

Windows Home Server has been a product rough around the edges for a lot of people. While some have happily used boxes with no issues whatsoever, others have been unfortunate enough to experience data-threatning bugs that turn them off of the platform.

Thankfully, Microsoft pushed out its new release candidate for the operating system’s "Power Pack", which will bring along a host of new features as outlined by ArsTechnica:

• Support for PCs running Windows Vista x64 editions
• Backup of home server Shared Folders
• Easier and enhanced remote access capabilities
• Better energy efficiency
• Improved performance
• Chinese and Japanese versions

The update also fixes potentially dangerous (and frankly terrifying) file corruption bug, which plagued a lot of users making the entire backup solution effectively useless. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of WHS and would rather use a more affordable and tested solution such as Ubuntu Server or FreeNAS, but the appeal and simplicity is there for home users who simply want to backup their data. Hopefully this fix will be the first of many from Microsoft’s doors.

We’ve seen delay after delay for Windows Home Server (WHS) Power Pack 1 (PP1) as Microsoft makes sure to thoroughly address a file corruption bug in addition to adding various new features and fixing bugs in the operating system. The software giant has now released build 1771 of WHS PP1 for public testing, a move that means the company is reasonably satisfied with the update and now wants to confirm that users feel the same. Redmond has also opened a new channel of communication for the beta: Power Pack 1 subforum on the Windows Home Server Community forums.