Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server (codenamed Quattro) is a home server solution developed by Microsoft, based on the Windows Small Business Server 2003 codebase. It aimed to help families back up important information by incorporating a server. It was first released to manufacturing on 16 July 2007 and was made generally available on 4 November 2007. The operating system was short-lived, with support having ended on 8 January 2013. It was eventually succeeded by Windows Home Server 2011, which is based on the same kernel and code tree as Windows Server 2008 R2, whose functionalities were later integrated into the Essentials edition of Windows Server 2012, which is based on the same kernel and code tree as Windows 8.

A key functionality of Windows Home Server is the Console, which allows the administrator to configure certain aspects of the server (such as managing computers in a network, viewing the status of disk drives and the ability to create and modify user accounts) through a dashboard application; users can remotely log onto an online server dashboard, host personal file shares on the server and publish images to the Internet — all of which is achieved through the use of the Home Server Connector software.

Although the kernel reports Windows Home Server as version 5.2, the version in the Home Server Console and the Preinstallation Environment is reported as 6.0.

Along with the launch of Windows Home Server, a children's book titled "Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?" was released to promote the then-new operating system.

System requirements
Microsoft recommends Windows Home Server to be installed on a system with an Pentium III running on 1 GHz or better, at least 512 MB of RAM, 70 GB of hard drive space, a SVGA display adapter or better display adapter, a 100 Mbit/s Ethernet network adapter and a DVD-ROM drive.

Windows Vista
Despite being based on Windows Server 2003, it does have aspects of Windows Vista, especially in WinPE where the Vista boot screen kicks things off followed by a few Vista icons in the selection menus before reverting to the 2003 installation and boot screen as well as icons. Despite this, it does not, however, contain the Windows Vista sound scheme, as many have rumored, as the XP sounds remained and are used. The Vista sound scheme would not be included until its successor.