I Hate Linux

Power Pack 1 and Tab Manager

With the recent public release the Release Candidate of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 it is imperative that any users of Tab Manager take special care when upgrading to avoid being incessantly nagged.

Problem

Due to changes in the way the Console in Power Pack 1 loads tabs and the way I hid tabs from the pre-PP1 tab loader, some add-ins may cause Tab Manager to crash on startup as well as see duplicate tabs within the console.

This situation is especially likely if any Microsoft tabs were put under the control of Tab Manager.

Solution

It is highly suggested that all users of Tab Manager use it to restore all tabs to their normal state and only then uninstall Tab Manager prior to upgrading to Power Pack 1 (RC or final), to do so:

Launch the Home Server Console
Launch Settings
Select the Tab Manager tab
Make sure the "Hide Microsoft Assemblies" check box is unchecked
Double click on each item listed in the "Managed Assemblies" list until the list is empty
Click the OK button
Click Yes to on Restart Required prompt
Re-launch the Home Server Console
Launch Settings
Select the Add-ins Tab
Locate Tab Manager from list of currently installed add-ins and click it's Uninstall button
Restart the Home Server Console

Note that if you have already installed the Power Pack 1 beta and you are seeing messages on startup of the console that certain Microsoft tabs (displayed as HomeServerConsoleTab.TabManager.Health.dll, HomeServerConsoleTab.TabManager.People.dll, HomeServerConsoleTab.TabManager.Sharing.dll, or HomeServerConsoleTab.TabManager.Storage.dll) you will need to manually remove them yourself after logging into your Home Server with Remote Desktop in order to remove the error as after Power Pack 1 is installed, Tab Manager is unable to over write the existing files (by design in Tab Manager for safety)).

Failure to restore the tabs to their original state prior to installation or deleting these files (if necessary) will not break your Home Server, it will instead lead to less than desirable operation through excessive warning messages on startup and some duplicated tabs.

If there are any questions on this issue feel free to post questions here or email me directly.