Windows Home Server console unable to connect to server
Every so often, I am unable to connect to my HP Mediasmart server using the Windows Home Server console. The blue login screen comes up and after entering the password, this error pops up:
Windows Home Server Console
This computer cannot connect to your home server. Check your network connection and make sure your home server is powered on. If your home server has recently restarted, try again in a few minutes.
(This is on a local LAN and not through the cloud. The server is a standard HP Mediasmart server with Power Pack 1 and no additional add-ons, just Microsoft patches through Automatic Updates.)
Everything else seems to work fine:
The only thing that does not work is connecting using the Windows Home Server console. A reboot of the local desktop brings no change, but a reboot of the server always solves the problem (I use a Remote Desktop connection for that). So it makes me believe the problem lies with the server. I tried restarting several services on the Mediasmart server and trying to connect with the WHS console in between but I have not yet been able to solve it this way.
A Google search results in many hits, but I have not yet seen the solution. Many problems are with remote connections over the internet or are related to firewall issues. In my case, all works well, except when it does not. (This is definitely not a firewall issue.)
Update October 26, 2008
In a post on Microsoft's Home Server forum I read that the console can be started with a /debug switch:
\program files\Windows Home Server\whsconsoleclient.exe /debug
which will display more info in case of a problem. Next time I run into this problem, I will give this a try.
Update March 4, 2009
The error of not being able to connect to the server can easily be caused by the server's CPU being too busy. With the original 512MB RAM it does not take much for the server to be too busy to respond to requests from a remote machine. As soon as hard drive activity decreases, it is usually able to connect without a problem.
I should really upgrade the memory.
Comments
If you have run any new updates on WHS like Service Pack 1, you will need to reinstall the client connector software on each client computer. The most recent version of this software is found on the server in the "\\Your Server\Software\Home Server Connector Software" directory. Just browse to that directory using Windows Explorer and run setup.exe. If will prompt you to uninstall and reinstall WHS Console. Click OK. Everything should be just fine after that.
Thanks, KeTa. After the server's memory upgrade to 2 GB this problem has not occurred again (knock on wood). Initially, I hesitated to tinker with it but it really was worth it.
While not wanting to argue the point about more memory being good... having run into the same issue, I added the server name to the hosts file on my PC and it started to work instantly!
Woo-hoo! BTW, since my pc is a member of another domain, I suspect this comes into play as well, but the hosts file entry resolved it beautifully!
I've also recently upgraded the WHS to PP2, but even after that it was failing, the Hosts file appears to have fixed it.
Search for hosts, including hidden & systems on the client pc; then add a line
192.168.1.129 hpserver
where ip is your windows home server's ip is the ip, and the name is the name of the WHS.
Thanks for the feedback.
In your case, if you remove the addition to your hosts file and you are unable to ping hpserver by name, then there is a DNS issue on your network. Your domain controller should be able to resolve the name. Of course, the hosts solution works but you're basically hiding the symptom. (You could also add a DNS host record on the server so it will resolve it for all machines on the domain.)
In my case, the connectivity was not so much of a problem, but the fact that the server may have been busy moving files around or perform other maintenance on the database. It responds a lot snappier with the added memory. The standard 512MB is barely enough to run the Server 2003 OS without the added HP stuff. Newer models came with the added memory.
Old post, but I am still using that MediaSmart server. Since I reinstalled the connector software this morning I now see the exact same error. Form any other computer on the LAN it works fine. The debug switch doesn't seem to do anything different for me...