How do I turn on Remote Access so that I can access my WHS from anywhere in the world?

 

Do you connect to your work network from home via a VPN (Virtual Private Network connection?  Pretty cool, huh?  How many times have you been at work and wished that you could connect back home to retrieve an important file?  Well, now you can. You can even do it via a secure web page.

 

To get started, log onto the WHS Console from a client computer. Click on Settings (look for the little gears in the upper right-hand window).  Choose the “Remote Access” icon in the left-hand side menu.  The “Web Site Connectivity” will probably be set to “off”. 

 

 

Click on “Turn On”.  The change is instantaneous and will allow you to connect to:  http://whs           (your server name may be different, so be sure to choose the correct address.  For example, your server name may be “server1”.  In this case, the address would be: http://server1

 

Once you can access http://whs from within your home, you are ready to continue configuring Remote Access.  If you cannot access the server’s website from within your home, then you need to fix that first.

 

The next step is to configure your router to allow Remote Access in from the Internet.  By default, most routers/firewalls block all incoming traffic that didn’t initiate from within your own network.  When you browse the Internet, you initiate the connection to the outside website, so the router/firewall allows the traffic back in so that you can view the website.  However, if you want to be able to connect to your Home Server from Grandma’s house so that you can view your digital photos, you need to configure your router to allow access.

 

To configure the router, click “Setup” next to the router icon.  If your router is “UPnp” enabled, then WHS will attempt to configure it for you.  I highly recommend that you allow WHS to try to configure your router as it will save you from having to do it yourself.  If you receive the following error:

 

don’t panic yet.  My router is quite a few years old and it supports UPnp; it just had to be turned on:

 

Log onto your router (this is a separate from Windows Home Server; you usually access our router’s configuration through Internet Explorer).

 

Once UPnP has been turned on, click “Setup again” and see if WHS will configure your router.  Because my router is so old, it doesn’t report the status accurately, but if the UPnP section of your router looks like the screen shot below then you’re probably OK. 

 

To verify that WHS was able to configure your router, log back into the device and verify that ports 80, 443, and 4125 have been opened up.

 

 

If you just can’t get WHS to configure your router, use the screen shot above to manually configure the ports.   If you need help in this area, be sure to log onto the WHS thread at Mark Minasi’s Forum (http://www.minasi.com/forum).  We’ll be glad to help you out if we can.

 

You are half way there!  Next, we need to configure a way for you to easily connect to your Windows Home Server. As you already know, we humans communicate on the internet using words like “server.org”, or “company.com”, etc.  Computers however don’t really communicate using these words.  They use numbers.  The trick then is to match these simple words that we understand to the numbers that the computers need to find the right server.  This is where the next section, “Domain Name” comes in.  Click on “Setup” to start the Domain Registration processes.

 

Usually, it would cost you a few dollars to setup your own domain name.  However, Microsoft has included a basic domain name for you in the cost of your Windows Home Server.  The rules for the name are pretty strict (you need a Windows Live ID, and the name must be similar to “smithfamily.livenode.com), but it is free  -- so don’t complain.  If you want to use your own domain name (perhaps you already have one for a server that you run in your home), then you can.  We will cover how to set that up in another article.

 

Once the Domain Name Setup Wizard comes up, click Next.

 

Enter in your Windows Live ID email address and password.  If you don’t have one, a link to get one if provided.  (you already have a Live ID account if you use Hotmail or MSN)

 

Click Next after you agree to the Privacy Statement.  An updated copy of the WHS Privacy Statement can be read here:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/privacy/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

 

An Addendum also clearly states that this free service from Microsoft is not to be used “to sell goods and services and conduct payment processing transactions online”.  This only makes sense.  If you want to create an online business, buy your own domain and leave this free service for families trying to setup access to their Windows Home server.  You can read the full copy of the addendum here:  http://dyndns.domains.live.com/documents/en-us/addendum.htm

 

Now the fun begins!  How to choose a name!  I recommend something simple like the example that Microsoft gives: “smithfamily.livenode.com”.  Remember that you will need to type this name into your browser’s address window each time you want to connect to your server, so keep it simple.  “smith-family-is-the-best-rock-on-dude-2007.livenode.com will probably drive you crazy every time you have to type it in.  This is a perfect time to practice KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

 

Be sure to follow these three rules when choosing a name:

 

 

Type in your name and choose “confirm”

 

Be sure to note of the address on the next screen:

 

 

In our example, you would type in https://smithfamily.livenode.com.  Don’t forget the “s” in the https://  part of the address.  Just like when you connect to your bank account, the connection to your Windows Home Server in encrypted.  This helps keep others from viewing your information on the Internet when you connect to your server.

 

If all goes right, you should be able to access your Windows Home Server from anywhere in the world.

 

If you run into problems, start with some basic troubleshooting:

 

Can you access the WHS Server from inside of your home (on the internal network)?  If you can’t, then you need to fix that first.  Be sure that “Web Site Connectivity” is turned on (it should be if you just walked through these steps).

 

If the server is working OK from the inside, then the problem is probably either with the Domain Registration process, or your home router/firewall.

 

Take a look at the “Domain Name Details” and see if the public address matches the external address that is configured on your router/firewall (if you are using DSL or Cable, then you most likely are receiving your public address automatically via DHCP).  However, even if this is the case, most routers will show you the address what was assigned.  If the addresses do not match, then you have a device between your router/firewall and the Internet.  This is a common scenario if you use a VoIP phone such as Vonage.  Unfortunately, you will need to change your home network setup in order to get WHS Remote Access to work.   Learn how to do this in the article, “Make WHS and Vonage work on the same network”   (link to this article)

 

If the addresses do match, then you have other issues.  Perhaps the UPnP setup process (or your manual configuration) did not setup your router correctly.  Check these settings and try again.

 

Once you can connect remotely, you will want to log in.  Be default, the Administrator does not have remote access capability.  This is to protect your server from people trying to gain unauthorized access.  Therefore, only users that you create and specifically give Remote Access to will be able to log onto your Windows Home Server.

 

If you haven’t already, you will need to create a user for everyone in your family that will need remote access. From the WHS Console, choose “User Accounts”, then click on “Add”.  (it is very important that you create the users from this Console; do not log on to the WHS locally and create users as you would in a normal workgroup network)

 

 

Out of the box, WHS requires each account to have at least a 7 character password.  In addition, each password must have THREE of the following four character types:

 

lowercase

UPPERCASE

!@#$%^&*   (Special Character)

1234567890  (Number)

 

A common example of a “complex” password is:  P@ssword

 

This password has an UPPERCASE letter, a lowercase letter, and a special character.  In addition, it is at least 7 characters. Now let there be no mistake:  this is in reality a really bad password.  But it does show the complexity requirements in action.

 

A MUCH better password is actually a “pass phrase”.  For example, I like to watch movies, so I might come up with a passphrase of:

 

Kevin

costner

likes

2

dance

with

wolves

 

The password would look like this:  Kcl2dww

 

This is easy for me to remember, yet pretty hard for you to guess.  Well, except for now…

 

Once you have chosen a password for the user (you will probably want the user to type in their password so they know what it is, and you don’t), you will need to select what kind of access to the Shared Folders they should have.  This is entirely up to you and is pretty self explanatory. 

 

Now John can log onto the WHS Web Site that you setup.  From there, he will be able to take remote control of his computer and access the shared folders on the WHS Server.

 

WHS can give us access to our home networks in ways that we have only dreamed of.  With a little bit of configuration and persistence, you can have this setup in just a few minutes.  Let us know if you need any help!

 

(need a link to our email address here…..I’d like:  ebrux@whshelp.com)