2.6.6 Released
P80 – Version 2.6.6 Download Link
Its been a month since my last release and this is a good one. A lot of people have requested that they want to limit which users can access P80. Well here it is! You can now select three different security options for P80 in the WHS Console.
Security Options:
- Public: Anyone can use P80. I mean ANYONE. If someone knows the url for your WHS then they can use P80. This is not recommended, but thought some users could use this option. I take no responsibility for any wrong doing that happens.
- Private: Explicitly state which users can use P80. Once this is turned on, no one will have access until you select which users can access P80. Any user who has remote access turned on is available to be selected.
- WHS Users (Default): This is how P80 has been used and is installed as. Any user who has remote access turned on can use P80.
There is also an Options tab in the WHS console now. Here you can select to bypass the WHS website all together.If this is selected users will be given a dialog box to login to. So users can now directly link to the P80 website without having to login to the WHS website.
SIMPLISTIC! Props go out to Wearyeyed for the suggestion and is now paying for my hot tub bill this month (*joke* but he did donate some moooola, thanks man!) Thanks also to Fasthair and Rodger Beard for testing the security features early on for me.
Other Features:
- German Langauge: Is now in! Thanks go out to Franz Post for this and also catching some other missing translations.
- P80 now looks for specific words in the descriptions, the field above the computer name for windows machines, for the computers/laptops/servers/etc on your network. P80 will then display the appropriate graphic in the summary screen for that item. Keywords: Laptop, Netbook, Server, Desktop, Workstation, Notebook. If for example you have a severs description as “HP G4 Server – Gaming”, then the server would have an icon displayed as a server in the computers section of the summary screen.
- Torrent Downloader – For users who have a torrent application that monitors folders on their WHS for new torrent files. Enter in the folder name in the config screen of P80 and then copy \ paste torrent urls’ in the torrent section of P80′s summary screen. – NOTE – Torrent sites that require username/passwords do not work. This will be in the next version. Also make sure your torrent url has .torrent at the end.
Known Bugs:
1. On Japanese WHS’s a user can not select a user name to add to the P80 Private group with double byte characters until they first transfer one of single byte characters. Minor bug and want to get this version out.
2. Torrent Watcher does not work with sites that require user names or passwords.
Thank You’s
Also can I just give a big thank you to Masahiko Sada, a Japanese WHS MVP. He presented P80 at a conference a couple weeks ago and even got P80 mentioned in a Japanese magazine.
Thanks to everyone out there that voted for P80 on the readers polls. I really felt good knowing that my work has brought a lot of you some joy and/or productivity =).
Oh and Sam Wood. You are the man!
Fasthair – If I ever get the pleasure to meet you, the whiskey is on me.
Very nice add-in! Many thanks for providing!
One bug I have noticed, when you remove a PC from WHS console, it leaves behind an empty entry in the Computers list on the P80 summary page.
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4417/tempts.jpg
I will see if I can clean that up. I think a reboot of the server or if you run iisreset on the command line this should clear it up.
Thanks for reporting this!
Add-in is not working for me. I could install it – it’s visible in the list of installed add-ins. But there is no section for P80 in the WHS Settings.
In addition I get a messagebox at login saying that the last attempt to open the console failed because of a problem of HomeServerTab.P80.dll.
I did uninstall and install a couple of times. Same problem.
.NET 3.5 SP1 installed. Language German.
Any ideas?
This only seems to be happening to German\French WHS’s. Hrrmmmm. My testers did not report anything either. I wonder what is going on.
Check the Console log file, on your WHS not your client machine, (on your WHS, sort by date to find the most recent):
c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\microsoft\windows home server\logs\HomeServerConsole.xxx.log
Try the following:
1. Uninstall P80.
2. Reboot your server.
3. Navigate to c:\program files\windows home server\ and delete the HomeServerConsoleTab.P80.dll if it exists.
4. Run the WHS Console. If any error pops up click retry.
5. Exit and rerun WHS Console. No error should be popping up. If an error still pops up let me know.
6. Install P80
7. Run the WHS Console.
Indeed there is an exception in the log file.
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800708AC): Der Gruppenname konnte nicht gefunden werden. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x800708AC)
bei System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.Find(String name, String schemaClassName)
-> Translation: “Couldn’t find group name.”
So probably this group name is localized.
Just send me an email, if I can help you solving this issue.
(I have a .NET dev background myself.)
thomas $ mutzl . com
Version 2.6.7 is working on my German WHS!
Thank you for the fast response and fixing this localization bug within hours.
Oh – and thank you for this useful app!
Hi,
Same symptoms as Thomas. French WHS. New install.
Just a simple question before I install it.
If I select Private and select bypass the WHS website all together.
I will be given a dialog box to login to. Once I’m logged in.
What will I get access to?
What will I be able to see?
Will I see every thing like when I log through the server website. I mean HP photo viewer, Photo Publisher shared folders, remote access, videos, etc?
Thanks
Yes when you go through the WHS website you will see everything as normal. I am not changing that at all. This Private and Bypass option will not change anything like photo viewer/etc…
Selecting to bypass the WHSwebsite just means you can login to P80 without using the WHS website. So you can goto http://whserver/P80 and once you successfully enter in credentials that are allowed to see P80 you will then be transferred directly to P80.
I hope I answered your question. I would not worry though =)
Thanks very much for your quick reply.
I know that you wouldn’t worry much but you do create good addins
and that is why I would like to ask you about this
I don’t know if you can do it but anyway here we go
Would you be able to set permission for users with HP photo viewer in your addin?
At the moment we can’t use WHS user accounts to share movies. Why?
If you create an account to share movies, this user you have created log on to the server and can delete any other WHS users albums. WHS permissions don’t work with HP photo viewer, not matter whether you set user permissions to none or ready only. Once user has remote access enable it can delete and see other users albums
This is a Microsoft WHS bug logged by me in https://connect.microsoft.com
I would like to be able to share movies but I don’t want users to mess up somebody else albums
Let me know if you do understand what I mean?
This sounds like an addin specifically for the HP Media Servers. I do not have one of these so their is no way for me to develop this for you, unless you want to buy me one haha.
Works fine on any WHS rig, as far as I can see.
Mine is running on a RUVO MiniCap 7 NetTop and P80 seems to work just fine.
Also for the developer, yes the null entries in the list of PC’s does sort itself out if you reboot the server after removing a PC.
Again, thanks for the great add-in!
Yes it is for HP Media Servers ex490 which is useless at the moment.
I could test it for you if you develop it. It would be great if you could do that. I promise I will donate some cash so that you can buy yours
Keep it up
Just one more question for HP Smart home server users
Can you not add a new permission to your addin like Selecting to bypass the WHSwebsite log to P80 without using the HP home WHS website. Going to http://whserver/P80 and once you successfully enter in credentials be transferred directly to P80 but only to HP media streamer so that we can stream video and user accounts can only gain access to this. We don’t need all users to have access to everything in the server
We will appreciate your work and dedication, at the end will get you a HP server
I am not sure how the media streamer software works, but I am imaging its code that is compiled and thus I can not edit it.
There maybe a way to get around that though with setting permissions on the folders to select users and deleting the Remote Users Group. This is not WHS Console stuff, this is setting strict ntfs permissions on the folders/files themselves. So if you have a video folder on your server, select only to allow which users you want access. Go into file explorer, find the folder you want to change, right click and select properties and then go to the security tab. You may also need to turn inheritance off to do this. If you are not familiar with any of this, you may not want to do it.
In IIS there are security options as well which might help in this case. Anonymous access maybe turned on instead of Windows Authentication for that HP website. I would need to see a screen shot of IIS and all its sub directories though to better judge.
Please email me at p80support@gmail.com if you have any questions about this.
Been messing around a little with it, and it is pretty smooth…
Format ain’t half-bad on the old HTC 6800 I sport, and skipping the whole WHS site stuff is a real treat. I haven’t dove into it too much, though, as I have been working on about 6 hours sleep in the last 4 days, doing a bit-by-bit recovery operation after an ill-advised (read:stupid) bout of experimentation with RAID and homemade code to separate the C:\ from the D:\ and install the OS to a 36GB Raptor.
I really wasn’t using my head, and the decisions I have made since being tired have only proven slightly less ill-advised (stupid).
Anyhoo, not ignoring you, just got a bit (no pun intended) on my plate, and bit-level recoveries take a REAL long time against ~2.5GB of drive-space.
If you were closer, we”d go have a beer.
Cheers!
I saw your thread on the WGS forum and didn’t want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. I wish I had posted my thoughts on that as maybe I could of persuaded you not to do anything ill-advised, I mean stupid hahahaha.
Good luck man!
Hopefully my email didn’t go to the spam folder
No It didnt. I wanted to give more thought to your email and thus havent had time. I will be getting back to you tonight.
I just installed your p80 last night and I have to say it’s very impressive addin, well done
Keep it up