Hey guys, so, I have a pretty good understanding of the windows operating system. Can do just about anything I can think of/need to on my local machine. Now it's tiem to expand my fields and learn something new. Networking! I have a fair knowledge about how everything works, so I can say i'm not as dumb as the average american. I can set up my network via router, configure access and firewalls, etc... Can't afford expensive schools to spend months re-learning what I already know just so I can get to the stuff I want to learn. So, here I am seeking advice on where to start. I have an old sempron system with 512 ram and TONS of old HDDs laying around(anywhere from 10-80gb, mostly 30gb) Why not build myself a home server? Okay, all is good, pieced together, now I just need to find the software to put on it and this is where I find the dead end where I have little knowledge lying behind. I want just the basics, a file storage/backup server for my local network(non WAN accessible) I mean, I need WAN access, but not for all my storage and whatnot, just for simple internet browsing and the occasional game on the other machines. I also would like a user account server (domain server I believe) so I can access all user accounts across all machines on the network, and be able to log in and access all my preferences/files/etc... on all machines. I apologize greatly for my poor vocabulary on the subject, like I said, I know little about servers/networking and that's why I'm here. Hopefully to find someone that is willing to teach me or to point me in the right direction and where to start. Here is a simple map of my current network Comcast | | Modem | | Router (4 wired LAN Ports + wireless) | | Wired PC #1 (windows 7 x64 RC) Wired PC #2 (XP Home) Wired Xbox360 Wireless laptop (soon to come Vista x64/windows 7 x64) Currently unconnected guest PC #3 (Vista x32 waiting for wireless card to be fixed) Specs of the machine I plan on using as the server AMD Sempron 64 3200+ SDA3200DIO3BW 2x 256mb ram(will be upgraded when funds are available) 2x network cards Variable HDD Space(currently 120GB) I have seen many setups for servers, not sure what the pros/cons of each are and what each setup is used for. modem | Server | router | clients or Modem | router | Clients + Server

so i understand, are you just trying to set up a file server? is the storage that you mention going to be locally attached? are you looking to have a cluster or anything like that?http://cbfive.com/blog

Sorry for my lack of vocab on this subject. I'm assuming the difference between local and cluster storage would be either stored on each individual machine or on the server that I plan on constructing. As far as that goes here is a list of what I believe would be the best for storage. Server: Movies, music, documents, pictures, etc.. the reason for this would be that it is more easily acessible for playing on separate machines. I am constantly sharing media files to my xbox and have to leave my pc on while doing such. Individual machine: Operating systems, program files, etc.. Mostly commonly acessed files that are computer specific and rarely transferred.

So, after tons of research. I think I have come to the conclusion that any retard can just install windows server 2008 RS, attach to network, and VOILA! it works?

that's pretty much the dealio. if it's 2008 or 2008 R2 just load up the File Services role. /richhttp://cbfive.com/blog

Okay, so after my aunt has totally annihilated my mother's XP home machine, and my windows 7 RC is almost up. I plan on backing up all important data, formatting and repartitioning all PC's and doing fresh installs. I have installed server 2008 R2 standard edition and added all user accounts, assigned them to the groups that I want and edited their permissions. Now what must I enable so that when I do a fresh install on all my other machines, I will have but a single local Admin account, and the rest must log in using the accounts I created on my server and have all the usual userdata(documents, music, favorites, desktop, etc...) stored on the server and just program files stored on each machine?

admin rights when you wipe and reload those machines, the local SAM database will be reset so if you are using local accounts, then you will have to recreate them. when you recreate the local accounts, don't make them admins. if you are using AD, you can pretty much just create the user accounts in the domain and join the workstations to the domain. By default, standard user accounts won't have local admin rights. user state and data this is a little trickier. getting the data back really starts with the question of how did you capture it? did you use USMT? did you use Easy Transfer? did you copy the documents and settings directory and/or the registry location? if you haven't backed up the data yet, i would recommend using Easy Transfer for any of your client operating systems. Make sure to use the Windows 7 version of Easy Transfer even on your XP or Vista machine. you can get the right version, by OS and architecture, here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer. thx /richhttp://cbfive.com/blog

Either I misunderstood your answer, or you misunderstood my question. I'm not trying to recreate any local accounts. Only the admin account that windows creates that will hopefully never get used. I am only backing up all data such as music, movies, documents, etc... in which I just plug in an extra HDD for the transfer. I plan on installing all the OS's and enforcing a domain login with roaming profiles and userdata but don't know how to go about such.

that's on me. if we are using domain accounts and want roaming profiles, we can do this by creating the users in the directory and then configuring the user account for a roaming profile by pointing the profile path on the profile tab of the user's properties to a network location. for more info on creating the share and configuring the account, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316353. and here are some best practices for roaming profiles: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784484(WS.10).aspx. with roaming profiles, it is common to also leverage redirected folders. there is a good guide for managing this here. it is for vista but should translate well to W7. let me know if i am still missing the boat. thx. /richhttp://cbfive.com/blog

No, you have provided me with more than enough information. I'm sure with a bit of reading I will figure it all out, or atleast know a bit more of microsofts vocab to preform a better search for myself.

lol, yea, it is always about the terminology. if you do have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. thx. /richhttp://cbfive.com/blog