How To Add & Remove Roles In Windows Home Server 2011 To Get Additional Features

Adding roles is an important part of Windows servers. The Windows Server 2008 R2 based Vail, contains numerous roles that can be activated or deactivated (according to requirement). This can help in adding additional features to Windows Home Server 2011. In this post I will tell you how to add/remove roles to Windows Home Server 2011.

In this example, I will add Printer and Document services, which enables  creating a centralized printing server for network printing tasks.

To add or remove roles, go to Start –> Administrative Tools-> Server Manager.

In the next step, click “Server Manager” from the left hand side menu and select “Add Roles” in order to add an additional role. Alternatively choose “Remove Roles” to remove an existing role from the server. The first part of the wizard will sow you relevant information regarding the process, click Next to continue.

Select a role to add or remove and hit Next. In this example, I will add Printer and Document services, which enable a centralized printing server. Some of the other roles that you can add on Windows Home Server 2011, include, Active Directory (Federation and Right Management Services), DHCP, DNS or Fax Server, Remote Desktop Services, Windows Server Update Service (WSUS) and many more. Note: A Vail server cannot become a Domain Controller or join a Domain, therefore, Active Directory Users and Computers is not available to be added as a role.

The next step will display detailed information regarding the role that you are adding, hit Next to continue.

After that, select the role services to install and click on Next.

Click Install to add the selected role(s).

This will install the selected role(s) on your Windows Home Server machine.

In some cases (depending upon the role type), you may have to restart your system after adding or removing a specific role.