One of the main features of a Windows Home Server (WHS) is to provide Remote Access to your data and home network from anywhere in the world where there is internet access available. In this wiki we will illustrate how you configure the Remote Access feature in Windows Home Server.
To begin, open the Windows Home Server Console and click Settings in the top right corner to open the Settings window. In the Windows Home Server Settings dialog window navigate to the Remote Access section and click on the Turn on button to start the Remote Access configuration wizard.
The Remote Access wizard will attempt to auto configure your router using UPnP standards to forward port 80, port 443 and port 4125 from your WAN (Internet) to your Windows Home Server on your LAN.
The Remote Access configuration wizard will attempt to verify that your remote Web site is available locally and remotely. If your router does not support UPnP standards you must manually configure static port forwarding –please take a look at the Broadband Router Configuration wikis for detailed instructions on how to configure port forwarding for many popular router manufacturer and models.If you already had a domain name configured and your remote Web site is available from the Internet you will receive the Remote Access Successfully Activated dialog.
If you have not yet configured a remote access domain name for your Windows Home Server the Domain Name Setup Wizard will launch.
WHS Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM’s) ship with additional Domain Name Providers, but for the purpose of this wiki we will choose the “Windows Live Custom Domains” domain name provider which is provided free-of-charge by Microsoft. To proceed and register your remote access domain name you need to first sign into Windows Live with your Windows Live ID.
The “Choose a Domain Name” section allows you to pick a unique domain name which will be used to access your Windows Home Server remotely. You can quickly check if the chosen name is available by clicking on the Confirm button. To proceed, click on Finish and close the domain name wizard.
The domain name is used to connect to your home server while you are away from home. For example, we registered happyelf.homeserver.com for our home server. When we are away from home we can open our Web browser and type happyelf.homeserver.com in the address text box to connect to the Remote Access website on our Home Server.