Bought on eBay did not come with disks, I can access server, but don't have connector password.
Is there an easy way to reset default password for server so I can add HD's and configure or will I need to reinstall WHS?

Also my Hard Drive Health light is Solid Red, I fully intend to add 2 1.5 tb and 2 1.0 tb drives, unless I can use the pair of 3.0 tb RAID/NAS WD's I have?

If I do need to do a fully reinstall anyone have the recovery software?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

_________________
The God's you worship are STEEL
At the Alter of Rock and Roll you KNEEL

Hi VaineDragon welcome to the forums!

Unfortunately the only way to change the server password is to know the current password and logon to the server to change it and not have to perform a server recovery.

Of course the other way is to perform a Server Recovery in which you would really want to perform a Factory Reset to put the server on a good footing.

You can only use drives up to 2TB in size and you can use drives of different sizes within your storage pool. You may want to review any and all information regarding the newer Advanced Format Drives AF Drives as some require certain things to be done while others do not for use in a Legacy OS System like WHSv1 which is based on Server 2003 or XP.

While you can use larger drives they would need to be formatted GPT and can not be added to the storage pool but left as unmanaged drives within the server..

When you look for your HP Server Disks there are 3 of which there are 2 versions v1.x and v3.0 if you use the 1.x disk set I recommend you use a 32 bit client to run the Server Installation if you obtain the v3.x you can use either a 32 or 64 bit client to run the Server Installation.

Keep an eye out on eBay as many do sell their recovery disks there as they sell their servers in parts to get more money rather then selling the server as a complete unit.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Thanks for the information, I was able to get a copy of the recovery disc, not sure what version, but same issue it wants a username and password to login is there a default for after recovery.

Also it will not allow me to install connector it says it's for 32bit only?

_________________
The God's you worship are STEEL
At the Alter of Rock and Roll you KNEEL

The Server Installation Disk does not require you to enter a Password only the Client Software Installation Disk or Client Recovery Disk will ask for that type of information.

The Server Installation software when run will provide you with instructions on how to place the server into its recovery mode and it will them make a connection to the server. After that it will ask you if you want to perform a Factory Reset which will format the drives in the server or a Server Recovery which will preserve any data which is on the server as it will just over write the System Drives OS Partition.

From there the Client software would be installed onto your computer and then you will be taken through the Server Configuration process where you will provide a Server Name and Password. This entire process takes about 1 hour to complete then you will have several hours of updates from HP and Microsoft to install so if the software is v1.x then you will be there for quite sometime and if its v3.x its a shorter process because the OS is more up to date.

Again there are 3 Server Disks:

(1) Server Installation Software - This is for installing the operating system WHSv1 on the server
(2) Client Software - This is for installing the console software onto your computer so you can easily connect and communicate with your server
(3) Client Recovery - This is use to recover the computer from a server backup image be it a Fully Recovery or just a single hard drive

You should also know the Server Disk Sets are specific to each server model because of the hardware differences so for your server an EX470 you need the disks specifically for the EX470 or EX475 as they are basically the same server as the only difference between them was the compliment of drives HP Shipped with the server. This model server is commonly referred to as the EX47x.

Other model numbers of the HP MediaSmart Server are EX48x, EX49x, LX19x, and then there is the DataVault x310 and x510 and each model series has their own unique set of disks and in some cases a different recovery method then your EX470.

Here is a link for the EX470 where you can download the Users Guide which will explain what you need to know: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prod ... g=en&cc=us

Because of a licensing agreement with Microsoft the WHS Software can not be downloaded from HP. Unfortunately HP no longer issues Recovery Disk Sets for the Windows Home Server Line and Microsoft would not have the software either because its written by HP for their servers to communicate with their severs. Now on Microsoft you can download the Client Installation and Client Recovery Software but not the Server Installation Software.

So the only way for you to obtain an EX470 Server Installation Disk or Server Recovery Disks as many will call it is to physically purchase a disk from another person on sites like eBay or to find someone who has a disk and ask them to make you a copy. As I mentioned before there are 2 versions, v1.x and v3.x and the more difficult copy to get is the v3.x but its that version which is actually more compatible with Windows 7 and 8 both 32 and 64 bit versions where as v1.x you need a 32bit client XP or Vista to have a smooth recovery process. Keep in mind your server model came out in 2007.

Here is a person selling his EX470 along with both sets of CD's. As of the time of this post there is 9.5 hours left to bid. Sometimes its worth it to have a backup server but that's up to you but because both disk sets are included it might be worth picking up. Keep in mind that you can not easily purchase replacement parts for your server. You can purchase a PSU but that will run you about $75 alone. Here is the link on eBay to check out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-MediaSmart-E ... 2c82ced38a

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Once gain thanks so very much for all you help and insight

I have a Windows 7 32bit laptop at work I can bring home, If I use the 32 connector for that machine I should be fine correct?

When the Recovery was finally finished I do notice the Hard Drive lights are both purple, I can see the server on my network \\HPSERVER, so I'm half way there I believe.If I can get the 32 bit machine to run the connector software I should be able to proceed correct?

Any further advice will be greatly appreciated.

_________________
The God's you worship are STEEL
At the Alter of Rock and Roll you KNEEL

I think you might be ok if you need the client software try entering this address in your browser: http://hpserver:55000 you should see a screen to download the client software from there you should be taken through a configuration process where you will name your server and assign the server password. Then you will be able to add users, add the drives to your storage pool and a few other things. It will be important to download all the HP and Microsoft updates first until there are no more available to download and install.

One of the HP updates will include the MacAffee AV software but that has been discontinued and you may get it to work but should it quarantine a file your server will pinch a fit that a files is open. So keep that in mind.

As for the hard drive lights being Purple its because they have not yet been added to the Servers Storage Pool but keep in mind that when you add a drive to your storage pool WHS will format the drive so if you have data on those drives you may not want to add them to your pool until you backup the files to a location of your choice.

Once your server is fully updated then you can install the client software on your other computers right from the server but in the link I mentioned above you would need to change the name hpserver to the actual name of your server. During the update process the client software will be updated and will need to be reinstalled as the client software you use must match what the server expects you to use so do not jump and install the client software on every computer you have until you have finished updating the server and its going to take a while because there are quite a few of them to process from Microsoft alone and HP has their updates too.

Once you get things setup the way you like then you can look at adding features to the server in the form of ADD-INS and there are some very nice ones on this site and for the EX470 there are some must have ADD-INS but the same is true for ADD-INS available on other sites many of which have been discussed and praised in great detail in the forums. I and others will be more then happy to point you in the right direction so that you get the most bang for your buck out of your EX470. It does have its limitations but if you learn to work with them then you will have a very good experience with it.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Thanks so very much, all you help and insight was invaluable.

I did find another Recovery Image which was ver 3x, Thanks to your help and me not giving up I now have a fully functioning HP EX-470 server

So to all out there I have both Recovery Images for anyone who may need them, just PM Me and I'll send the link.

Cheers
Dragon

_________________
The God's you worship are STEEL
At the Alter of Rock and Roll you KNEEL

Cool! Happy to hear your up and running.

Just a word of caution with the v3.x Media Functions, I would not turn them on because they will put such a load on the server and there are issues with Twonky not so much on the PacketVideo (I think that's the company name who puts out Twonky) but more so an issue HP created and this has more to do with collecting and converting video media. The photos and music are ok and if you want to use the media streamer then just convert your videos to MP4 on a client but do not configure the Collector and Converter and you will do just fine.

Personally I have always used a client to convert my media and then when I am happy with the conversion I will move the media to my server. However there are much better ways to stream media from your server then what HP provided but on the other hand they do have a built in streamer that you can access from the web as you will soon see but it only works with MP4's for video and if your ok with that then have a day with it and if not then there are other solutions you can put to use on your server.

Keep in mind the EX470 does have its limitations and its not the most Robust Server out there but if you utilize it properly it does a fine job as a central file storage server with Remote Access to your files.

Good Luck with your server and should you need anything just ask.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Hey man u can send the links?