Windows Home Server install error
It was driving me crazy all day yesterday to have an error on the HP MediaSmart server I was trying to set up. The error I was getting was:
“The operation cannot be completed at this time.
Please try again later. If the problem persists, please contact Product Support”
In case you are wondering the support link they give you is worthless.
I still haven’t figured out the exact place the error was coming from but I know 100% now that is was something from my works domain policies stupid network. As soon as I tried setting up the server from a machine not on my work domain the installation happened without a hitch.
Unfortunately, I figured that out after already being on hold with HP. Either way it is working now and doing updates as I type this.
If you run into the same problem you may want to try un-joining a domain. And if you find which policy is causing this error please leave a note in the comments.
*Edit* 2009-04-16 I actually found that this was probably something to do with DNS not working on my work network. I also had some problems at home and realized I couldn’t ping the hostname of the machine. I added a entry on my Windows Vista machine to the hosts file found at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Once I had that entry in place I had a lot less problems connecting the software. It is just annoying that my DNS seems so screwed up.
*Edit* 2009-05-28 This was confirmed again when I was reading a review of the new LX195. Turns out they had a problem too and it was because they were using OpenDNS. I am also using OpenDNS at home so I would say this problem is confirmed and solved. To get this to work simply edit your etc file as I did above, or switch to your ISP’s DNS servers.