Client Connector availability with Windows Home Server, Small Business Server and Windows Server Essentials for Supported Client OS

First published on TechNet on Nov 17, 2015

[This post comes to us courtesy of Schumann GE from Product Group, Sabir Chandwale and Sandeep Biswas from Global Business Support]

[This post is updated on October 21, 2015]

In today’s post we will discuss about the client connector availability for supported client OS joined to the following Server OS:

• 
  

  Windows Home Server 2011

  
  


• 
  

  Small Business Server 2011 Essentials

  
  


• 
  

  Small Business Server 2011 Standard / Premium

  
  


• 
  

  Windows Server Essentials 2012

  
  


• 
  

  Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2

  
  


• Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter with Essentials Experience Role

Client OS: Windows 7

SERVER OS	Client OS
Windows 7
Installation	Client Connect to Server	Client Backup	Client Backup restore	Package availability	Known Issue
Windows Home Server 2011	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Small Business Server 2011 Essentials	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Small Business Server 2011 Standard	Working	Working	NA	NA	INBOX	NONE
Windows Server Essentials 2012	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2	Working	Working	Working	Working after client OS hotfix installation	Auto download from DLC	NONE

Client OS: Windows 8/8.1

SERVER OS	Client OS
Windows 8 / Windows 8.1
Installation	Client Connect to Server	Client Backup	Client Backup restore	Package availability	Known Issue
Windows Home Server 2011	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Small Business Server 2011 Essentials	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Small Business Server 2011 Standard	Working	Working	NA	NA	INBOX	NONE
Windows Server Essentials 2012	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2	Working	Working	Working	Working after client OS hotfix installation	Auto download from DLC	NONE

Client OS: Windows 10 RTM

SERVER OS	Client OS
Windows 10 RTM
Installation	Client Connect to Server	Client Backup	Client Backup restore	Package availability	Known Issue
Windows Home Server 2011	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Small Business Server 2011 Essentials	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Small Business Server 2011 Standard	Working	Working with work-around	NA	NA	INBOX	Follow instructions as mentioned under Appendix-A
Windows Server Essentials 2012	Working	Working	Working	Working	INBOX	NONE
Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2	Requires  manually  installation	Working	Working	Working	X64 X86	User needs to manually download and install the client connector until the fix on the server is available which is being targeted to be released tentatively in October  November 17, 2015.

Appendix-A

User needs to add the following two lines to the XML file on the server located at -
C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Bin\WebApp\ClientDeployment\packageFiles\supportedOS.xml

<OS Architecture="9" RequiredProductType="1" RequiredSuite="" ExcludedSuite="512" SPMinor="" SPMajor="" Build="10240" Minor="0" Major="10" Name="Windows 10, AMD64" id="9"/>
<OS Architecture="0" RequiredProductType="1" RequiredSuite="" ExcludedSuite="512" SPMinor="" SPMajor="" Build="10240" Minor="0" Major="10" Name="Windows 10, x86" id="10"/>

So what do we mean by the te rms used above:

Working: No user functional loss when the client OS is upgraded to Windows 10 RTM. There is no change on the Current User Experience

• INBOX: The client connector software is available on the respective server and it is not required by the user to download it manually and install. There is no change on the Current User Experience


• Auto download from DLC : The client connector software is automatically downloaded from the download center when user runs http://servername/connect on the client. There is no change on the Current User Experience


• Working after client OS hotfix installation: It requires the user to install the client OS Hotfix manually for the Client Restore to function properly


• NA: The respective feature is not applicable


• NONE: No issues experienced while in-house repro
  

Resolution (Updated on 29/07/2015):

The Client Connector for Windows 10 to connect to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials has been released.

For x64 bit Windows 10 Client download it from here .

For x86 bit Windows 10 Client download it form here .

Note :

- The Client Connector needs to be manually downloaded and installed on the Windows 10 Client OS . Once the installation is completed follow the steps listed below,

Update (21/10/2015):