I had posted this thread on two other forums before I discovered this site, including the official Microsoft Windows Home Server forum for which the discussion is getting really off topic of their forum agenda. I am starting it over here since this site seems geared more toward getting more out of the HP EX47x hardware than just the WHS software, so I hope no one minds.

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I was just wondering if anyone else out there was so overly impressed with the HP EX47x hardware only to be disappointed with these corruption issues with Windows Home Server that they are unwilling to trust the OS, but can't bear to separate from the hardware.

I do not want to focus on a discussion about the ins and outs of this [hopefully] rare possibility of corruption, but rather on anyone's thoughts on tossing the Home Server OS and using a clean Server 2003 install.

Of course you would no longer have the Drive Extender and Folder Replication features, however, one or both of those are very possibly the source of the corruption issues. You also lose the cute console interface, which I really think is a step in the right direction for bringing manageability of data to the masses.

What you gain is a more reliable OS that only leaves you with the usual issues of data protection instead of worrying about the OS software itself destroying your data.

Installing a clean Windows Server 2003 on a headless (no video out) system is not a simple task. I would not recommend attempting this without having either a lot of experience with OS deployment or a lot of patience and desire to learn.

There are generally two ways to do this on the EX47x series: one is to hook into the network boot loader used for recovery mode and push down an image, and the other is to use a pre-configured hard drive. With either method you must have an installation of the OS pre-configured. The most straight forward method is to take a hard drive to another system and install Windows Server 2003, then use Sysprep to prepare for an unattended installation.

I attempted to write a guide here, but just remember this is not for the faint of heart:

HP MediaSmart EX470 -- Clean Windows Server 2003 Setup

Pre-requisites:

* Requires licensed Windows Server 2003 (integrated SP2 preferred) installation media
* Requires Windows Server 2003 SP1 or newer Deployment Tools (download from Microsoft website)
* Requires HP MediaSmart drivers to be gathered for unattended installation (scavenge from current EX47x installation and from SiS website)

Instructions:

* Gather drivers from HP EX47x system and SiS website (should have minimum of .inf, .sys, and .cat for each driver)
- AmdK8, Marvell 61xx and Marvell Virtual Device, SiS RAID (from \Windows\OemDir on EX47x WHS installation), SiS AGP, SiS Gbe, and SiS VGA
* Organize drivers into a directory structure
- Drivers\AmdK8
- Drivers\Marvell\61xx
- Drivers\OemDir
- Drivers\SiSAGP
- Drivers\SiSGbe
- Drivers\SiSVGA
* Create Sysprep.inf using Setupmgr.exe included with Deployment Tools, or use sample file below
- Add mass storage drivers (if the SiS RAID driver is not specified then the system will never boot)
* Install Windows Server 2003 SP2 on a hard drive using another system that is ACPI-compliant (hyper-threading or multi-core preferred)
* On first boot, skip updates and Finish the server setup to open incoming connections
- If an ethernet adapter driver was installed with the stock setup, feel free to install updates before continuing
* Enable Remote Desktop in System Properties (My Computer properties, or Control Panel | System)
* Copy files required for unattended deployment to this fresh installation (use a flash drive or burn previously gathered files to a disc)
- Copy Drivers to C:\Drivers
- Copy Sysprep files from Deployment Tools to C:\Sysprep
- Copy i386 folder from Server 2003 installation disc to C:\Sysprep\i386
* Run Sysprep (ensure it is version 2.0, which will be displayed in the window title) with default options, and choose Reseal; this may take a while
* After shutdown, disconnect the hard drive and install in the first HP MediaSmart drive bay (make sure there are no other drives installed)
* Power up, wait for unattended setup processes to complete (should be less than 5-10 minutes), test Remote Desktop, install Windows Updates
* The sample Sysprep.inf will configure the network adapter to use a DHCP assigned IP address
- If you do not have a DHCP server (most gateway/routers will), change the settings using Setupmgr.exe to use a static IP address
- Review all settings in Sysprep.inf after using Setupmgr.exe to edit since it does not always seem to put things back properly

Addendum:

* Sample and functional Sysprep.inf (change AdminPassword, ProductKey, [LicenseFilePrintData], ComputerName, and JoinWorkgroup to suit):
;SetupMgrTag
[Unattended]
OemSkipEula=Yes
InstallFilesPath=C:\sysprep\i386
KeepPageFile=0
OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\OemDir;Drivers\Marvell\61xx;Drivers\AmdK8;Drivers\SiSAGP;Drivers\SiSGbe;Drivers\SiSVGA"

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword="xxxxxxxx"
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=20
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
FullName="Name"
OrgName="Company"
ComputerName=Server

[LicenseFilePrintData]
AutoMode=PerServer
AutoUsers=5

[SetupMgr]
DistFolder=C:\sysprep\i386
DistShare=windist

[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=workgroup

[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Sysprep]
BuildMassStorageSection=Yes

[SysprepMassStorage]
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0180="C:\Drivers\OemDir\oemscs01.inf"
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0181="C:\Drivers\OemDir\oemscs01.inf"
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0182="C:\Drivers\OemDir\oemscs01.inf"
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_1182="C:\Drivers\OemDir\oemscs01.inf"
PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_6101="C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.inf"
PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_6111="C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.inf"
PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_6121="C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.inf"
PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_6122="C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.inf"
PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_6145="C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.inf"
SCSI\ArrayMARVELL_Virtual_Device__="C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mvnodrv.inf"

I tried following your guide, and it seems to go as far as completing the mini-setup once it boots on the ex470. It then reboots like it should, but it fails to come back up after that. I'm not sure why though.

Is the configuration still set to use default network settings, and if so are you sure it is getting a DHCP address? There are also the critical steps [before running Sysprep.exe] of clicking Finish on the initial wizard to allow incoming connections and enabling Remote Desktop.

You may also want to validate that your unattended installation settings in Sysprep.inf are sufficient to proceed to completion without any input prompts. If it completes mini-setup and proceeds to reboot it is likely that everything is fine there, but to be sure I would suggest trying the same procedure, but on the machine you used to first setup and prepare the installation on. After you Reseal with Sysprep.exe, just let that machine reboot in place and watch it to completion. You may need to add storage and/or network drivers to the C:\Drivers folder and Sysprep.inf for that system to allow it to run through to completion as it would on the EX47x -- if you did not need to add a storage driver on the initial setup then you can skip that for this test as well. It is OK to leave the EX47x specific drivers in there, as they will not match anything and simply be ignored.

Keep in mind also that most of the status LEDs on the EX47x are rendered useless as health status indicators since they are primarily driven by the HP software which will no longer be present.

I'm curious about the functionality we retain if we get this to actually work. First the drive lights on the EX47x don't appear to actually be drive lights, so do they work at all, or are they nonfunctional this way? Second the MediaSmart Server appears to have a watchdog timer that reboots the EX47x if it is not reset, does one need to load a driver for this, or is it disabled? What about the other lights on the MediaSmart, are they off, disabled, in some random state, or just what? I'm talking about the Health and network connection lights, now.

Thanks

The drive lights are non-functional and will never turn on during normal use. The front panel health status light (right-most of the three) only reflects a valid status at POST, and subsequently maintains a constant and regular on-off blue blink. The front panel power and network lights (the left-most two) appear to always reflect the state of whether or not there is power and whether or not a network cable is plugged in to a live network. Additionally the power button does not seem to trigger a system shutdown; I suspect this is because HP designed it to be hooked into software that will perform additional operations before allowing system shutdown, although I am not sure why they would not just hook into a standard Windows shutdown notification instead.

I do not have a lot of knowledge about the Watchdog timer, especially as implemented in the HP WHS build since I did not do much investigation before I wiped it clean. I have to presume that it uses the standard Microsoft Watchdog Timer service, in which case the timer will be activated and then periodically reset by software. I do not know if there is a hardware implementation on the EX47x of a Watchdog timer, but without specific software support (which will not be installed) I doubt it will ever be a concern.

I have now had one EX470 running a clean Server 2003 installation for about two weeks, and a second one for about a week with no issues. Both are using Western Digital 1TB drives (WD10EACS) in a mirrored configuration (using the Windows software equivalent of RAID-1, allowing both a system and data volume to be mirrored).

In summary, from a hardware standpoint the only disruption of functionality I have observed is the lack of hard drive lights, the steady on-off blink of the health light, and the apparent non-functionality of the power button for system shutdown. These are all acceptable compromises for me, and perhaps someday I may investigate the means of recovering this functionality.

As an aside, I also found a ~256MB USB flash device shows up, that I think is otherwise hidden in the HP WHS build. This flash device appears to contain a WinPE based boot loader which is likely used for the system recovery feature.

Here is something else that may help you, a directory listing of the folders and files that I used for one of the installations:

C:\Drivers\AmdK8
C:\Drivers\Marvell
C:\Drivers\OemDir
C:\Drivers\SiSAGP
C:\Drivers\SiSAGPXX
C:\Drivers\SiSGbe
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA
C:\Drivers\WNAS
C:\Drivers\AmdK8\AmdK8.cat
C:\Drivers\AmdK8\amdk8.inf
C:\Drivers\AmdK8\AmdK8.sys
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\i386
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\devcon.exe
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.cat
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.inf
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mv61xx.sys
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\mvnodrv.inf
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\txtsetup.oem
C:\Drivers\Marvell\61xx\i386\TXTSETUP.OEM
C:\Drivers\OemDir\oemscs01.inf
C:\Drivers\OemDir\Property.dll
C:\Drivers\OemDir\sisraid.cat
C:\Drivers\OemDir\SiSRaid2.sys
C:\Drivers\SiSAGP\sisagp.inf
C:\Drivers\SiSAGP\SISAGPX.SYS
C:\Drivers\SiSAGPXX\sisagp.cat
C:\Drivers\SiSAGPXX\sisagp.inf
C:\Drivers\SiSAGPXX\sisagpx.sys
C:\Drivers\SiSGbe\sisgbe.cat
C:\Drivers\SiSGbe\SiSGbe.inf
C:\Drivers\SiSGbe\SiSGbe2K.sys
C:\Drivers\SiSGbe\SiSGbeXP.sys
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\difxapi.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\InstFunc.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\InstFunc.exe
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sis650.bin
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sis660.bin
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sis740.bin
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sis741.bin
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sis760.bin
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\SiSBase.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sisgl.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sisgl770.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sisgr.cat
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sisgr.inf
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sisgrp.sys
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\sisgrv.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\SiSInst.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\SiSParse.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\SiSPIns2.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\SiSPower.dll
C:\Drivers\SiSVGA\srvkp.sys
C:\Drivers\WNAS\Todo.txt
C:\Drivers\WNAS\WNAS.inf
C:\Drivers\WNAS\WNAS.sys

I had two versions of the AGP drivers, both the one scavenged from the HP WHS build and from the SiS website. You can ignore the WNAS files at the end. These are HP hardware interface drivers for monitoring and LED status or possibly control and never actually were detected and installed -- I think it is actually a service, licensed from Wistron Corp. I have not pursued the WNAS files any further, but they may provide a way to hook into the health status lights.

The only files that really seemed to be of great importance were the SiS RAID (OemDir) and Ethernet (SiSGbe).

If you want a "CLEAN" Windows Home Server/Server 2003 Install.


WHY would you not just buy a barebones pc and build it, and customize it yourself????????????????????????

That's what I did.

why bother with trying to convert a EX470-475 (I guess unless you've
already bought one).

Tinker Tinker Tinker . . .

I posted some of this on other forums, but basically here are my reasons:

I for one have been down this road many times and when you factor in cooling and the desire to have a quiet system and something that isn't two feet tall the cost goes way up and the practicality goes way down. In my opinion, and long term reliability is still unanswered because it is so new, the HP EX47x box is one of the more impressive integrated hardware offerrings I have ever seen.

I would guess that for most, the HP unit with integrated WHS is about cost and simplicity. Too bad about the WHS corruption issues, so there goes the simplicity, but the cost advantage (for hardware anyway) is still there considering you get a neat little integrated box with reasonable performance capabilities and no need to source a variety of equipment that will ultimately need to be stored in a utility room if you do not want to compete with the noise levels or spend a lot more money to quiet it down.

We are talking about a home file server here, so the performance does not have to be that impressive. As an addendum, I actually chose to retire a relatively new home-built Intel Quad Core (Q6600, 4GB RAM) server and replaced it with two of these EX470 units. The cost [for hardware] was actually less for two EX470's than a giant server case with drive trays and enough 120mm fans to cool it all. Network transfer rates are comparable for me (observed average of about 40-50% throughput on a Gigabit network with an SMC switch and no jumbo frames enabled).

Maybe something better and custom built is out there as far as parts for an ultra small case with drive trays, low power consumption, excellent cooling, and relatively low noise, but I have yet to find it.

I followed you here from the previous forum and here is the thing..
U thing it woul be by any chance possible to actualy post a zip or rar of the Dir and Sysprep dirs somwhere on the file sharing servers... ?

I'm attempting to replicate yor guide, (big thanx btw) and suprisingly when i stripped drivers down from my HPMSS using "Chily Device Driver Backup" they apear to be differnet than yours. Im still "no succes" after two attempts.
My HPMSS evidently goes (judging by the HD sound) through the sysprep, but it fails to install the net adapter or there is some other "invisible" problem...

Would be wery nice to have a dump log of what happened during the unattended install. I tried but no luck there so far.
In any case, thx for your time....

I am also interested in this. I love the hardware but im not crazy about WHS and the bugs. I would love to just have a clean install of Windows Server 2003 on this.

I have attempted to follow your instructions but I have the same problem as pett. I have a bit of experience installing and configuring windows servers over the years, but I have never attempted an unattended install.

An archive of your directories so I can use as a model for my attempt would be fantastic.

Since the hard work of others developed the path for adding a monitor to the EX470, I thought I would pass along the info that Windows Server 2008 64 bit works great on the EX470. I did the full server installation and then added the drivers for the SIS network card available for the SIS website.

Subsequently, I upgraded the processor and the ram as well. File transfers are fast and the system is rock-steady so far.

Will be experimenting with SQL Server soon to see what trouble I get into...

I love the EX470 form factor and low power consumption.

David

I personally find this to be excellent news! Out of curiosity (as someone that is not familiar with server 2008), how are the disks recognized in the system?

In other words is there availability of performing hardware RAID with the included controller or do you need to use a software solution? If "software", are all the required "tools" part of the O/S or would we need to purchase a 3rd party application?

TIA

If anyone can automate this so that a monitor is not required I'd be very interested

I loaded the SIS Raid Utility for the 966(1182) and it appears to have the functionality to create raid 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD but I didn't try to actually use it yet as I am using the disks currently testing other setups.

Probably worth reading what capability Windows Server 08 itself offers.

David