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Installing Windows Home Server 2011 on HP Proliant Microserver N36L or N40L

If you only have 1GB installed you will need to upgrade to 2GB to install Windows Home Server 2011 (WHS 2011), otherwise it will stall during installation to tell you your system does not meet minimum specifications. Make sure you also upgrade to the latest BIOS before installing to ensure you have the bios that works with WHS 2011.

Latest BIOS can be found on HP’s website and is dated 2011.07.29

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?lang=en&cc=za&prodNameId=4248029&taskId=135&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=4248009&lang=en&cc=za

Choose “Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2” when asked to select your OS, this is the foundation for WHS 2011.

Reduce the onboard graphics usage to 32MB by accessing the BIOS and then the graphics memory to ensure that it looks like your system has more than 2GB RAM. I’ve heard some people say they could not get it to install even with 2GB and I presume it’s because their graphics card was using up to much memory and to WHS 2011 it looked like less than 2GB.

Installation takes a long time, not sure if this is normal but I’m guessing about and hour and a half.

Now after setting up my HP Microserver N36L as a Windows Homeserver I had to install the utilities to monitor the Raid and other Hardware. On the HP Support Site you can find a link to the AMD Download page where you can download the Chipset Driver which also includes the Raid Driver and the Raid utility.

Download the AMD Chipset Drivers for the HP Microserver N36L

If you have trouble connecting to the server, you may need to change your network or browser settings. Click here for help.

5 Drives

You can add another hard drive or move your boot drive into the space for the ODD (Optical Disk Drive).

If you run an operating system that can boot from USB then you’ll have a 5 bay NAS, with RAID 0 & 1, RAID 5 can be implemented in software.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=99190

WHS 2011 Anti-Virus

Doesn’t look like there is a free Anti Virus for WHS 2011. Would someone let me know if there is.

Add Ins

Drive Bender – $40 for Home, $89 for Business

http://www.drivebender.com/index.php/downloads.html

To learn more about…

HP Customer Repair Help

http://h20464.www2.hp.com/resultsCSR.htm?prodSeriesId=4248009&MEID=0A19D1A2-CF87-4F96-ABE4-2546FE1F5D48

Additional Useful Resources

http://blog.thestateofme.com/2011/05/14/review-hp-microserver/

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/15351-15351-4237916-4237918-4237917-4248009.html?dnr=1

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=104372

http://www.tekforums.net/guides-projects/hp-proliant-microserver-purchase-upgrade-setup-guide/

the HP Microserver and WHS 2011 for SOHO Backup

http://forza-it.co.uk/quite-possibly-the-perfect-soho-backup-solution/

[Any prices are quoted in US Dollars and subject to change without notice.]

4 thoughts on “Installing Windows Home Server 2011 on HP Proliant Microserver N36L or N40L”

  1. Hi Gene
    Can you send me more details on the computer you are trying to install to. Is it new, hardware specs (Processor, RAM, Hard Drive config) did it have an OS previously etc.

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