Ever found out your WHS connector software was missing? I mean, from the server side! Well normally it would reside in \serverSoftwareHome Server Connector Software, aka http://server:55000 — but sometimes not. At least not for me when my laptop was nagging me for a connector upgrade that simply wasn’t there…
It seems some users have been mysteriously missing these files due to a PP1 install, while others simply deleted it. I discovered mine missing after a failed hard drive (and replication wasn’t turned on for the Software share..) Read on for the fix.
I honestly don’t remember if replication is turned off for the Software share by default, or if I disabled it. It made sense to stick software in there, and my collection is a bit big for me to replicate and still have available storage space.
So after a HDD crash, I was left with nothing here. I kept getting prompts of an outdated connector client on my laptop but could not upgrade it — I believe the error actually said there was an issue contacting the server not just about missing files…
Well, the quick fix is about as easy as it gets.
- Recreate SoftwareHome Server Connector if you don’t have it.
- Create the subdirs DOTNETFX20 and WindowsInstaller31
- Add files! I found dotnetfx.exe and WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe in C:Redistr on my WHS box. Imagine that! Guess where these files go (ahem, see step two.)
- Add more files! I poked around and found C:WHS with several good looking files with WHS, Connector, Install, Upgrade, Setup, and other such words in them including MSI’s. Oh boy! They even had recent file dates, leading me to believe they were newer and the ‘updated’ version of the connector my laptop was crying for. But which files? Being a man who doesn’t like unnecessary copies of files all over the place, I wanted to find out which specific files were needed instead of all of them. Before anything else my eye first focused on a batch file called ConnectorInstallAssistant.cmd — being *ahem* familiar with batch, I noted immediately the file names needed and further, that the batch file copied them without my intervention… so I ran the batch, and voila all needed files are present.
- Udpate your connector software! Instead of waiting for another “please update me” balloon prompt from my connector software, I just went to http://server:55000 and clicked “Download Now” — HOW EASY!
Get it done.
Leave a Reply