How to - Install an Add-In
From We Got Served Wiki
Before we talk about how to install an add-in we should probably define what an add-in is. In the windows home server (WHS) world an add-in is a specially packaged piece of software which provides additional capabilities and functionality that is not available in the basic WHS operating system. Add-ins are usually written by third party developers some of which provide them free others which sell them for a small fee.
A very complete listing of add-ins can be found in the We Got Served (WGS) [add-in section.] You can also find discussion topics for each of the add-ins in the We Got Served Forums > Community Add-Ins > Windows Home Server Add-Ins for community developed add-ins and in We Got Served Forums > Windows Home Server Software > Software for Windows Home Server for commercially developed add-ins.
So, once you find an add-in that you want to install, how do you go about doing it?
- Download the add-in from the developer's web site. These download locations can be found in the add-ins section mentioned above. While you are at the developer's web site you should probably check to see if there are any special installation instructions.
- Move the downloaded add-in to the \software\add-ins shared folder on your server. Ideally you should download it directly to that folder.
- Double click on the Windows Home Server icon in your client computer's system tray to open the WHS console. Click on Settings in the upper right hand corner and then select Add-Ins from the list.
- In the add-ins section of the console you will see two tabs, Installed and Available. The installed tab lists those add-ins which are already installed while the available tab lists those which are available to be installed.
- If you are planning to install a new version of an already installed add-in, you should uninstall the old version first. Do this by clicking on the Uninstall button next to the old version. After the add-in uninstalls, the console will close. Reopen the console again and go back to the add-ins section as described in step 3 above.
- To install a new add-in, click on the Available tab. The add-ins available for installation will be listed there. Click on the Install button next to the one to be installed. After the add-in is installed the console will close. Reopen the console as described in step 3 to see your new add-in.
- If the add-in you want to install is not listed under the available tab then check to make sure that the downloaded <add-in name>.msi file is in the WHS Software\Add-ins shared folder. If the software was downloaded in zipped format, it will need to be unzipped before it can be installed.
Sometimes when you uninstall an add-in as in step 5 above, things go awry and it is not properly uninstalled. In those cases you can try the steps outlined in Manually Uninstall a WHS Add-in
Credits
This page was originally written by Etoa for We Got Served
