Microsoft do not sell WHS as a retail product, the software is available only to OEMs and System Builders, however it is widely available in PC stores online and offline.
Choosing Your Hardware
Ideally your WHS will be running 24/7, so we’ve built our system
using low power and low noise devices. Though we won’t go in to
extended detail about how to choose and source parts, then build your
Windows Home Server, we do have some words of advice.
1) Choose hardware that is slow and low powered. WHS doesn’t require
a high end system to run effectively, so consider using a Celeron or
Sempron (or a mobile CPU if you’ve the budget) over a faster but hotter
and more expensive part.
2) Choose a motherboard with integrated graphics and as many SATA
ports as possible. The integrated graphics will cut down on an extra
component to buy and go wrong, while SATA ports are precious, as you’ll
want them for future expansion.
3) 1GB of memory is heaps. We’ve noticed a slight amount of
performance difference between running the system with 512MB and 1GB,
but beyond 1GB there’s nothing in it. Save your money by sticking with
1GB of RAM.
4) A well ventilated case will keep components cooler. Look for
cases with big, slow fans for a quieter time. Shuttles or small form
factor cases may look cool, but you’ll be kicking yourself when you
want to add another hard disk drive and don’t have enough room.
5) You don’t need fast disks. The main bottleneck will be your
network, so save some money and go higher capacity with 7200RPM hard
disk drives.
6) Keyboard, mouse and monitor won’t be needed after the initial
setup. Don’t spring for new gear that you’ll use once or twice then
leave to gather dust.
7) Power is important. You’ll be running the system all the time, so
choose a quality power supply – the greener the better, but you do want
one with a fan.
8) A cheap read-only optical drive will suffice. As it’s not a
directly interactive system, you won’t be burning from it. So save a
few dollars and get a DVD-ROM drive.
9) Windows Home Server is based on Windows Server 2003 R2. If there
are Server 2003 drivers for your hardware, it’s most likely to work. If
you have brand new hardware without support for Windows Server 2003,
then do some investigation to see if it will work before you spend the
cash. WHS is more forgiving than Server 2003 with modern disk
controller drivers, but still make sure you have the drivers on floppy
or a USB key before you start the installation.
Build your home
server like any other PC. Keep in mind a cool system is a stable
system, so pay attention to cable routing and air flow.If you just wish
to evaluate Windows Home Server before you splurge on a new system or
repurpose an old one, we’ve had luck running WHS in MS Virtual PC 2007
using “Windows 2003” as a client OS.
Next: Installing Windows Home Server