Datasheet

What happens behind the scenes

The installer program on the Windows Home Connector CD accomplishes

much, much more than doing the initial setup of the Windows Home Server,

uh, server and cranking up the Windows Home Server Console. Behind the

scenes, when you run the CD on your Windows XP or Vista computer, the

Connector installs and configures dozens of programs that tie deep into the

guts of Windows XP or Vista.

So while you may believe that you’re controlling Windows Home Server, in

fact its minions latch onto your PC and every PC you add to the WHS net-

work, tying it all together.

That isn’t necessarily bad. But it does mean that your PCs will pick up a

bunch of software they’ve never had to run before.

Perhaps most notably, the Windows Home Connector CD installs a gigantic

program on Windows XP computers called the .NET Framework. (.NET

Framework is baked into Windows Vista, so the Connector doesn’t have to

install it.) .NET Framework has a reputation for being big, slow and buggy,

although it’s been getting better. (“Buggy?” you ask. Well, yes. Take a look at

Microsoft’s Security Bulletin MS07-040, if you’re looking for examples.)

Whether you like it or not, when you connect a Windows XP computer to a

Windows Home Server network, you get .NET Framework.

Figure 1-7:

The WHS

Console

controls the

server

remotely.

Part I: Getting Windows Home Server to Serve

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