Today Microsoft have released a public preview release of the next version of Windows Home Server, codenamed Vail.
A few months ago an internal build of Vail, that was only available to a select few, including us WHS MVPs, got released into the wild. Well this is the “official” release. And even better for us that means we can now talk about it and we are not under that part of the NDA anymore!
Here are some of the key pointers for this release:
Windows Server “Vail” server software is a 64-bit only operating system.
System Requirements:
· 1.4 GHz x64 processor.
· 1 GB RAM
· At least one 160 GB hard drive.
Vail is based on Windows Server 2008 R2.
So, you probably want to know how to get it then, don’t you?
Well you will need to get it from Microsoft Connect, which you can do so from here: https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer
Note that it may take a little while for the download to show up on Connect so keep checking.
If you want to post your questions to the official Microsoft Vail forum, you can do so here:
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whsvailbeta/threads
It is important to note that this is not a Beta release, it is a Technical Preview release. The difference being is that technical preview releases are aimed at people with a certain level of IT knowledge and experience, and that the build is not complete, features may be missing, things may not work as expected, etc.
So, if you are in any doubt, do not use it! And whatever you do, do not use it as your production Windows Home Server box!
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, READ THE MANUAL! There are literally pages and pages of known issues that you should be aware of with this build. And remember, before you think that maybe Microsoft shouldn’t have released this as it looks like it is not fit for primetime, it is a technical preview and not a beta!
Let us know your thoughts on Vail, and watch this space for Vail articles 
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