- Topics Mentioned
- Operating System(s):
- Windows Home Server
So you got yourself a brand new Windows Home Server. Pretty cool, huh? Do you have an xBox 360 hiding somewhere too? Did you know you can connect these two together and totally show it off in front of your friends?
Yup, xBox 360 and your Windows Home Server are compatible devices that can work together. And today I’ll show you just how to do that … connect your xBox 360 to your Home Server that is, not how to show it off.
The setup is quite easy and it takes only a few minutes. When you’re done, your xBox 360 will be able to do these awesome things:
- create a photo slide show with pictures that are on your Home Server
- play music that is located on your Home Server — even from your iTunes
- watch videos that you have saved on your Home Server
Basically your xBox 360 will become a multimedia extension of your Home Server. You can stream music, photos and videos from your Home Server to your Xbox 360 and you don’t even need any additional software.
So if you think that watching your family vacation photos on the big screen sounds like fun, or rocking out to your favorite iTunes without leaving your couch is something you’d like to do — then follow these easy steps and do what you’re supposed to do with your Home Server — connect! Now let’s get to it!
Connecting xBox 360 to Home Server: Physical Connection
Before you start your configuration, you will need to physically connect your xBox to your Home Server. There are two ways you can do that:
1. Use an Ethernet cable – connect one end to your xBox and the other into your router, switch, or an internet jack, if you have one nearby.
2. Purchase a wireless add-on device and connect it to your xBox. The xBox wireless network adapter allows for easy integration with your home network and eliminates cables. This is what I am going to use in this example.
Pictured below is the wireless network adapter and how it fits into your xBox:
Connecting xBox 360 to Home Server: xBox 360 Configuration
1. Once the physical connection is in place, go ahead and start up your xBox.
2. Move over to the System blade.
3. Move over to the Network Settings option and click A to select it.
4. Move down to the Edit Settings option and again, click A on your xBox controller to select that option.
5. This is the place where we are going to be able to see the console’s networking configuration settings.
6. If you physically connected your xBox to your router, you should be able to see all your settings here, like your IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway, etc.
If you are using the wireless add-on, you will see exactly what is on the screenshot above. No worries — we can fix that. What we need to do next is to configure the wireless connection and we will be all set.
Move down with your controller, to the Wireless Mode option and select it.
7. xBox is going to search for wireless networks in your area. Once finished, it will display the results in a window.
Go ahead and pick your wireless network and then click A to select it. In our example we are going to select theLowes network.
8. If your wireless network is protected by a WPA key, go ahead and enter it now. If you do not have a key for your wireless network, your xBox is going to connect now. In our example, we need to enter the key.
9. Once you connect, go ahead and select Test Media to make sure everything is working.
10. Your xBox will perform a number of tests and then display the results.
11. Now you can go back to your Network Settings window and you will see that all the networking information is there.
Piece of cake, huh? Now you can enjoy all your favorite music, videos and photos right from your living room!
All you have to do is … well, how about I’ll let Scott Lowe, our Windows Home Server Training instructor, show you how to access your multimedia from your xBox.
Get the Most Out of Your Home Server with Home Server Training
See how easy it is to turn your Home Server into a DVR, access your documents from any PC with an Internet connection, easily share your photos, music, videos and much more. Let Scott Lowe show you how to take advantage of every feature your Home Server has to offer.
Learn more about Windows Home Server Training
I have have set this up at the house and it truly works well. The only difficultly I found was that the 360 doesn’t support all the codecs that a PC normally does and it isn’t just a quick download to fix the problem. If you are having issues with certain video playing you might want to check this faq: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/digitalmedia/videoplaybackfaq.htm
Dave
I am doing this at home as well and it works fantastic. I have been streaming video, music and photos previously through my Media Center machine, but now I can finally have all the file sin one central location, all backed up, and all working seamlessly.
Now if only MS would get to allowing more codecs as Dave pointed out in the other comment.
I put some other Windows Home Server info together, here http://www.squidoo.com/windows-home-server-info which may help other people decide if this is the right solution for them.
Great article,
The biggest use of being able to connect my XBox 360 to Windows Home Server would be to play games, so avoiding the scratching of discs by my kids!
However, this article does seem to cover this capability. So, is this even possible?
Hi
I was stupid enough to upgrade to the last xbox version. I can’t see the home server. or any PC. The MAC adress to XBOX are added to the home server too.
Notning to see on the network. Xbox live are ok.
Is there a way to connect the XBOX360 DIRECTLY to WHS? All the PC’s in my home are laptops and I would like the ability to connect my 360 to my WHS without having it go through another PC. Am I missing something or is this not possible yet?
Yes, possible:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pcsetup/whs.htm
Hello can you please upload all images in this tutorial again, because I can’t see any of the images in this page our send me a pdf file with complete tutorial.
Thank you in advance
Best regards
Hi Nuno,
Sorry about the images; we recently made some major updates to the site and some images got lost in the transition.
This post has been fixed now, but if you notice anything else askew let us know, ok?
Thanks!
Great.
You showed me how to set up the Wi-Fi on my 360. It does that for me.
The title of the post is:
How to Connect Your Xbox 360 to Your Home Server
Not show me how to hook up wi-fi then link to an over-priced guide.
1/10
What a waste of time — title and content have no relation to each other. 0/10.