Microsoft has released a new operating system called Windows Home Server (WHS). This new OS is based on Windows Server 2003 R2, and is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access. It is designed to be run on a server appliance (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) and is available on various devices from hardware manufacturers (see here). It is also available for the more tech savvy users as an OEM software package from online retailers, and can be loaded on older PCs; it does not require high-end components to run. You can read more about it via the links above or from the Wiki for WHS.

Once you have purchased, set up, and loaded your Windows Home Server with all of your media, you can stream it all right to your Digital Entertainer EVA8000. Although WHS contains Windows Media Player 10 for uPNP streaming, it does not support the newer Windows Media Connect 3 or 4 which is in Windows Media Player 11. Using the default file shares directly is a better option. Another way would be to turn on the "Guest" account for access, but leaving the guest account off is always safer. By setting up a user account specifically for the Digital Entertainer EVA8000, you won't have to enable guest access.

All that is needed now is to setup a user for the Digital Entertainer EVA8000 on the WHS. This will allow access to your media. Then, you can manually add the WHS shares to the Digital Entertainer EVA8000 via the web interface; it will not show up when you scan for shares. Finally, you will complete a full scan for media to add it to your Digital Entertainer EVA8000’s library.

By default, WHS comes with 3 folders set up: one each for Music, Photos and Videos. This should be where you have stored all of your media that you want to share with your Digital Entertainer EVA8000. When you create an account on the WHS for the Digital Entertainer EVA8000, you will give it access to these folders.

Setting Up the EVA8000 User Account

I am creating an account for my Digital Entertainer EVA8000 to allow access to my WHS Music, Photos and Video shares. I will be using the following information for this user account:

Logon name: eva8000

Password: 1234qwer

Start the Windows Home Server console by right clicking on the WHS icon (green house with checkmark) in the System Tray and choose "Windows Home Server Console" from the menu as shown below:

Log in to the WHS console and click on the "User Accounts" tab then click the "+Add" button:

Fill out the form for the EVA8000 user and click "Next":

Enter and confirm the password, then click “Next”:

Choose “Full” access for the Music, Photos and Videos folder and click “Finish”:

The WHS is now setup to allow the Digital Entertainer EVA8000 access to the shares through its own user account.

Adding the WHS Shares to the Digital Entertainer EVA8000

To add the WHS shares via the Digital Entertainer EVA8000's web interface, start a web browser (Internet Explorer 7 used in this example) and enter the IP address of the Digital Entertainer EVA8000 in the address bar. In the following picture, my Digital Entertainer EVA8000 is at IP address 192.168.1.9. To determine the IP address of your Digital Entertainer EVA8000, from the Digital Entertainer EVA8000's main menu choose "More/Supervisor Functions/System Information" and look under the Network Information (LAN) section.

From the Main Menu, click on “More” then “Supervisor Functions” then “Advanced Settings” and finally “Servers and Shared Folders” to get to the “Setup Network Shares” menu:

Enter the information to access the shares on your WHS. In the screenshot above, I used the information from the user account I created, and the name of my WHS and share names.

Username: eva8000

Password: 1234qwer

Host: homeserv (name of WHS server, set at intial setup of WHS)

Share: videos (name of share on WHS)

Enter the info for each share you will be adding, and click the “Add network share…” button. You will need to enter the info 3 separate times, once for each share you add (music, photos and videos). They will appear in the list after you press the button as seen above.

Now, click on the icon that looks like a “House” on the left side to go back to the “Main Menu." From there, click on “More” then “Supervisor Functions” then click on “Full scan for media files”:

Let the scan finish, and now all your files from your WHS will be available to stream to your Digital Entertainer EVA8000.

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