I'm trying to find the best way to manage all my photos. I store them on my server (currently at WHS v1) and I will be upgrading to WSE 2012 in the coming weeks. Since both my wife and I want to work on the photos, it doesn't make sense for us to have two different local library files (file which manages your photos within Photoshop Elements). I've tried putting the library file on the server with the application on my local computer but the performance was unacceptable. I'm curious if I can load Photoshop Elements on WSE 2012 and then run the application remotely - like a client/server approach. Will that work? What should I be worried about?

I wouldn't do it on the server, but, I needed something like this.
I built a barebones shuttle, maxed it out with cpu and memory then installed win7pro 64 bit and the family uses it headless via remote desktop, it sets next to the server.
It does the dvd/cd/audio ripping and has the flatbed scanner attached and has the graphics apps and is attach the the media server so it is backed up and has direct access to storage.
Worked for us.

If your server had the horsepower it might be an option, but I don't like mixing tasks and would not want the wife on the server

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

From a horsepower perspective, my new server should be up to the task with a Xeon e1230v2 processor (4 cores and 8 threads), SSD system drive, and 8 GB ram. I was also not considering giving my wife remote desktop access to the server but placing a short-cut on her machine to the app. Would this even work?

There is a possibility you might be able to install Photoshop Elements on WSE2012 I would pose the question to Adobe which produces Photoshop Elements to see if their software is compatible with WSE2012 and run in a server environment. While I am still playing with WS2012 I have yet to play with Remote Desktop connections to see if works the same as I was use to in a corporate environment where by everything I needed to work with was there on my own personal desktop allowing me to use the desktop as I would a client which should be possible in a domain setup. If I am correct then you should be able to setup Photoshop Elements provided it could be run in a server operation and Adobe may have a specific version of the software for use in a server environment. So you need to contact Adobe to see what they have to say.

Personally I have always taken the approach to keeping 3rd party software off my server unless I knew it would not present a problem. Now WSE2012 does have support for VPN and so you could achieve what your looking to do keeping the Photoshop Elements software on your clients and access your files via a VPN Connection thus maintaining your central storage theme. I also do not place files in process or files I am working on, on the server I keep them on my clients until they are complete. Any media files I work on is done on the client side to keep the server free for other server tasks. This of course is a personal preference not the law of the land.

If your building a server to run WS2012 I would recommend you build it with a bit more horsepower then you actually need and allow room for future upgrades should you want to install a more powerful CPU and more RAM. All my server builds have quad core processors and the newer builds can handle memory up to 32 GB but the most I have run is 8 GB of which 2-3 gets used but that's with WHS2011 and my WSE2012 test server has 2 Duel Core Opteron with 16 GB of ECC RAM but I have yet to push it to see what it can do but its actually an older HP ProLiant Server and was just happy to get WSE2012E to load and run on it but its not the intended server to run it if I go down that road in future.

_________________
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

The VPN part would or in theory should make that work but accessing the server with a RDP connection would provide her with her own desktop on the server. This part I have yet to play with so its all speculation on my part.

_________________
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

I do not believe Photoshop Elements can run as a client-server application.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?