Testdrive Windows Home Server for Free

Microsoft jump-started the market for small, home-centric servers 2 years ago with the release of Windows Home Server, and they continue to innovate on the platform with the recent Power Pack 3 upgrade.  But not everyone has extra money lying around to buy a home server, and many are not convinced of the benefits of running one.  If you'd like to see if a Home Server would offer real value to your home or small business, you know longer have to buy a server simply to test it out.

This week, Microsoft started offering a free trial version of Windows Home Server for download.  You can easily install it on an old computer, or could even test it in one of the many free virtualization solutions for Windows such as Windows Virtual PC or VMware Player.  Simply go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/eval.mspx, download the ~800Mb ISO image, and either burn it to a disk or attach it directly to your virtual machine.  The trial only lasts for 30 days, but you could always reinstall it to give you more time to test it in your home (though of course you would have to reset your settings and re-transfer your files and backups).

If you find Home Server useful, you can easily either purchase an OEM copy of Windows Home Server for around $100 from Amazon, and could even activate your trial copy with the key from your purchased copy.  Otherwise you could purchase a stand-alone Home Server if you don't want to use your existing setup.

If Home Server doesn't offer enough power for you, you could try a trial of Windows Server 2008 R2.  This is a larger (>3Gb download), but the trial version actually lasts for 180 days.  If you're a high school or college student, you can instead get a free full version of Windows Server 2008 R2, 2008, and 2003 R2 through Dreamspark.

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