Windows Home Server System Requirements

Typically, Windows Home Server is pre-installed on the device it ships with.  The requirements of that hardware, however, are quite low:

• 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium 3 (or equivalent) processor
• 512 MB RAM
• 80 GB internal hard drive as primary drive
• 100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet

The client side requirements are also quite low.  Windows Home Server works on Windows XP and Windows Vista, and as of Power Pack 1 (free, downloadable upgrade), it works in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments.

Windows Home Server provides backup for up to 10 machines. 

Experience

Setup for WHS was very easy.  I started by connected the Home Server to my network.  You'll want to connect it via ethernet.  Wireless works, and works quite well, however, even Wireless/n seems pokey when backing up so much data for the first time.  It's really better if you limit wireless connections to the client machines.

Once I connected the Home Server, it was time to install the client software on one of my machines.

Next: Backing Up Your Network