Windows Server 2008 R2 – Using as a Desktop OS

Update - Success at last - See end of post!

Well I have had some partial success. I'll detail what I have done in the hope I help someone else in future [I will keep this updated as I progress].

The problem appears to be with the Win2k8 box being too restrictive with its security policy. The server has been locked down using the Security Configuration wizard, and although Windows XP could talk to the server fine, this was obviously too restrictive for Windows7.

So far I have started the SSDP service, the Computer Browser service, added inbound and outbound rules to the firewall for the Network Discovery and additional inbound File and Print sharing.

I still cannot connect using the machine name, i.e. \\server as it still repeatedly asks for the username and password. However if I connect using the IP address i.e. \\192.168.10.50 it accepts the username and password and allows access to the shares.

I will continue fiddling until I manage to work out a combination of what services must be running and what firewall rules must be set up to allow connection using the computer name.

Things to note

Evidentially windows XP machines being able to connect to a network share is no indication that all of the plumbing required for Windows7 to connect is accessible through the firewall.

Update: The following services need to be running in order to connect using the computer name to a share.

• Dns Client
• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Function Discovery Resource Provider
• SSDP Discovery

Additionally firewall rules need to be set (inbound and outbound) for:

• File and Printer Sharing
• Network Discovery

I hope this info helps someone.

This isn't an exact solution, but at home I record to the local hard drive, then run a robocopy script every 6 hours that moves *.wtv files that are more than a day old to my server, which is also mapped as 'recorded tv' in win7.

this keeps the space on my media centre hdd down.

the reason i have the at least 1 day old rule is i don't want it moving / trying to move a file that is currently being recorded. I doubt i'll find a tv show that has to record for more than 24 hours :)