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Windows Home Server Power Pack 3: November 24

Nov. 20, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

Microsoft contacted me yesterday about Windows Home Server (WHS) Power Pack 3 (PP3) but I was traveling so I had to just tweet a short version of the news: WHS PP3 will ship publicly November 24. Here's the full release:

We are announcing that the Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 will be available in all shipping languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish) on November 24 2009. Power Pack 3 will be a free update to existing Windows Home Server users via Windows Update.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 improves the Windows Home Server experience with Windows 7 and Windows Media Center by providing features like backup and restore of computers running Windows 7, Windows 7 Libraries integration, enhancements for Windows Media Center, and better support for netbook computers. Microsoft released the Beta of the Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 in July 2009 and received positive community support and feedback from Beta testers throughout the testing cycle. We let you know back in September that we were going to continue testing the Beta and would not ship the final release of Power Pack 3 until the community has validated our work. We are pleased to now announce the November 24, 2009 availability.

Windows 7 users should be sure to download Power Pack 3 via Windows Update for the most optimal experience on a Windows Home Server network. For more information on this topic and details on the Windows 7 enhancements, please visit the Windows Home Server blog.

Discuss this Article 8

nutmac
on Nov 20, 2009
I am frankly irritated by lack of consistency in "service pack" naming standards. On desktop Windows and Office for Windows, it's "Service Pack". On WHS, it's "Power Pack". On Windows Server, it seems to be "Service Pack", although recent "R2" name adds to confusion. Meanwhile, other devices like Zune, Xbox 360, and Windows Mobile use plain old version number (which I actually prefer overall).
anonymous
on Nov 20, 2009
This post was mentioned on Twitter by EverythingMS: Windows Home Server Power Pack 3: November 24 http://bit.ly/3bzQRQ
planetarian
on Nov 20, 2009
nutmac: there's a bit of a difference; service packs are typically collections of preexisting hotfixes along with a few new features, while WHS power packs seem to focus more on feature updates.
tjkemperle
on Nov 20, 2009
I installed PP3 Beta and know that I need to remove the Beta before installing the release of PP3, however, I have yet to find anything that tells me how to remove the Beta. Anyone have a link they could forward?
nutmac
on Nov 20, 2009
planetarian, that would make sense if there's service pack for WHS. And Windows 7 compatibility is more of a hotfix than a feature, IMO.
Waethorn
on Nov 20, 2009
@nutmac: WHS is based on Windows Server 2003, so I'm guessing that any SP for Server 2003 would also apply to WHS. Isn't WHS based on Server 2003 SP2 though? If Microsoft ever releases an SP3 for Server 2003, I'd imagine it would eventually make its way to WHS, but so far, there aren't any additional SP's for WHS. What is more likely is that the next WHS will just be based on some revision of Server 2008 R2 or the next major Windows Server release, but that's only a best guess at this point. WHS is a product that doesn't need to have a lot of major updates because what it does, it does very well, and it also includes a lot of extensibility features. It is an OEM product, meant for hardware integration, so like embedded versions of Windows, it doesn't need to be re-released every time there's a new Windows Server version.
Waethorn
on Nov 20, 2009
Paul, has Microsoft said that the second service pack will be the last one for Server 2003 or can we expect a third and final one just before mainstream support ends? @nutmac: R2's are second releases. They offer new major features that are "too big" and too valuable for a free service pack (which are usually just big update rollups anyway). They aren't usually marketed as a "must have" product for existing customers either, but new customers will easily benefit from the improved features. R2 products are usually only in the server family, so business customers that are buying for their IT infrastructure have an added reason to buy Software Assurance.
Waethorn
on Nov 20, 2009
I have a question for anybody that can answer it: Are there any unattend/silent switches for the Bing Maps 3D SETUP.EXE program, and is there a full download of this program instead of just a ~1MB download bootstrapper? Also, I ran into a problem scripting the Zune software install in an OEM setup if anybody feels peckish. Seems you can't script it to run in the auditUser pass, but you can launch it with unattend switches directly in audit mode. Weird, I know.

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