Due to issues with UPnP not being enabled, or not being integrated properly, some MediaSmart and Windows Home Server users are having trouble with configuring Remote Access. Without remote access, you cannot host a photo webshare over the Internet, nor can you remotely control PC’s or get access to shared files like music, video and important documents. To assist everyone with these issues, we’ve put together some tips for troubleshooting. This takes a basic understanding of networking and your router/network layout. It’s best if you know the full details of your network layout including your ISP, the internal IP of your router, PC’s on the network, and the password of your router before contacting HP or anyone else for help.

Ports Being Blocked by ISP? You can try all of these things below hundreds of times and using different ports and things still may never work, but this is rare. Some ISP’s block port 80 inbound, which means your MediaSmart server will only be accessible using HTTPS or port 443. It’s very RARE that an ISP’s blocks ALL PORTS inbound. If this is the case, you are out of luck with the remote access feature. In most cases, if port 80 is blocked, port 443 should be open. If you can’t figure it out, call your ISP and ask them, or do some troubleshooting with DMZ to your laptop, shut off any firewall software like Windows Firewall and try using software like PortDetective.com or a site like ShieldsUp to test your ports. If you find open ports, simply turn off DMZ and forward that port to your MediaSmart.

IMPORTANT - MUST READ: If you have any other routers on your network. This includes DSL or Cable modems with built-in routers, Vonage or other IP Phone devices this could be the cause of your trouble. You can try to set the DMZ from the Vonage or VOIP, DSL or Cable device to your router and then try the MS Router config again. This could solve your issue. If you have a vonage router that is in FRONT of your normal router, you can try to move the vonage device behind the router. Make sure you reboot your cable modem, router and vonage device (in that order pausing 1 min before powering up each device). Make sure the MediaSmart server is connected to the normal router and not the vonage device (unless that’s your setup)

Step 1 - Make sure the MediaSmart server can be reached internally using a Browser or Home Server Console
Using the INTERNAL IP Address or hostname of the MediaSmart. For example: 192.168.1.103 - To find the internal IP address of the MediaSmart server, use a laptop or desktop on the same network as the MediaSmart and run the Home Server console. Once the Console opens, click MODIFY under Remote Access. Click DETAIL in the router section and you’ll find the current IP of the MediaSmart and the Router IP. If you can’t get in via Windows Home Server console, you can also find the IP of the MediaSmart by logging into your router and look under the Status, Local Network, DHCP Client list. Most routers have a similar layout for DHCP clients in the status area.

Step 2 - Make sure WEBSITES are turned ON under Remote Access!!!
If you can see the MediaSmart website INTERNALLY, this means all is OK inside the network and it’s now got to do with port forwarding, port blocking, or firewall issues.

Step 3 - Unconfigure the router setup
If the router setup under from MS isn’t working for you the port forwarding must be done manually. It’s best to unconfigure the MS settings under the router section. To do this, click UNCONFIGURE in the ROUTER section of remote access. This removes the UPnP forwarding tables.

Step 4 - Log into your router and set DMZ
Then log into your router port forward and set the DMZ to the INTERNAL IP address of the HP MediaSmart as shown in step 1

Step 5 - Obtain your WAN IP
Goto http://www.mywanip.com from a system inside the same network that the MediaSmart resides…Write down the WAN IP that you see - this is the WAN IP of the network that the mediasmart resides on. This IP should match the WAN IP/Internet IP of your router under the STATUS area.

Step 6 - Write down the WAN IP address from step 5 and then you can try to connect remotely using one of the options below using the following URL formats : http://WANIP or https://WANIP (where WANIP is the IP address of your Cable or DSL modem where the MediaSmart resides)

1. You can leave the location and jump on another ISP connection. This means going to work and trying it, or if your neighbor across the street has a different ISP, use their browser. Enter in each URL in the format shown above.
2. If you have one, use a cellular WWAN modem like verizon EVDO) and try your website using the format above. (or call a friend that is tech savvy and have them try it) You should never try this from the same location, its NOT a valid test in most cases.
3. Call a friend that is tech saavy and ask them to try your website using both of the formats above.

Step 7 - If this works (you can see the websites come up), that’s it, your are DONE! This means that during the initial setup the port forwarding wasn’t set properly or the MS UPnP port tool didnt work properly for some reason. If you moved hardware around, that could have been the culprit. Now that everything works, you want to tighten up security by removing DMZ in your router and then forwarding port 80 TCP and 443 TCP to your LAN IP address of the MediaSmart in step 1.

Step 8 - You can now go back into the MediaSmart Home Server using Windows Home Server Console and re-enable the DOMAIN NAME setup with HP Personal or Custom domains through TZO.COM or use the MSLive setup if you have not already set it up. You can now use your domain name to connect to your server remotely. IMPORTANT NOTE ON DOMAINS: When you are at the same location as the server, sometimes the domain name won’t work from the inside of the network. This is known as the “loopback issue” with routers. If this is the case, you can use the internal IP address when you are at home, and the domain name when you are away

Step 9 - If all of this this DOESN’T work, this means either your ISP blocks all ports or you could have a “double NAT” scenario where a DSL or Cable Modem, vonage router or some other router is UPSTREAM in FRONT of your router. See the note above at the beginning of this tutorial for help. You can also call your ISP and ask if the modem they provide acts as a NAT router or firewall. If they say yes, ask them to put your broadband modem in bridge mode - this setup will then turn off the “double NAT”. Doing it this way means your router is the only firewall on the system. Repeat your tests until something works.

* If you have a vonage router or some other router in front of your router, you should DMZ the first router in the chain to the second router, then DMZ from the second router to the MediaSmart. This is useful for testing, and once everything is working from an external location, tighten up the port forwarding by turning off DMZ and forward only port 80, 443, 4125 TCP to the IP of the MediaSmart server. If you are using manual port forwarding, it’s always best that you set a Static IP address on the MediaSmart. You can see our Tutorials section and view the tutorial on setting a Static IP address on your MediaSmart server.