Server 2008 Full PC Restore from Network Backup
If you use the built-in wbadmin (Windows Server Backup) utility for backing up Server 2008 to a network volume and suddenly have said server crash, you will need to do a Full PC Restore from the installation medium. This is, by all means, not a trivial or straightforward task. Here is how I got it to work:
Server 2008
1.) Boot off from the server 2008 installer disk
2.) Choose Install
3.) Click Repair
4.) Open the Full PC Restore gui
5.) Next, etc. till you get to the network option
6.) Choose to Browse the network (it won't find anything but it loads the interface to where you can get to them via the command prompt)
7.) Switch back to the original gui screen and launch the command prompt
8.) In the command prompt, enter: netsh interface ipv4 add address "Local Area Connection" IPADDR NETMASK GATEWAY
***Where IPADDR is your ip address, NETMASK is your subnet mask, and GATEWAY is the gateway address for your network
***If you get an error like "The interface does not exist" try running wpeinit before the netsh command
9.) Go back to the full pc restore gui and you should be able to browse and use the UNC connection \directory you are looking for
9B) When giving credentials for share do not specify domain
Server 2008 R2
1.) Boot from the Server 2008 R2 install media
2.) Choose Next
3.) Choose Repair Your Computer
***If you get an error like "The interface does not exist" try running wpeinit before the netsh command
9.) Close the command prompt
10.) Click System Image Recovery
Server 2008
1.) Boot off from the server 2008 installer disk
2.) Choose Install
3.) Click Repair
4.) Open the Full PC Restore gui
5.) Next, etc. till you get to the network option
6.) Choose to Browse the network (it won't find anything but it loads the interface to where you can get to them via the command prompt)
7.) Switch back to the original gui screen and launch the command prompt
8.) In the command prompt, enter: netsh interface ipv4 add address "Local Area Connection" IPADDR NETMASK GATEWAY
***Where IPADDR is your ip address, NETMASK is your subnet mask, and GATEWAY is the gateway address for your network
***If you get an error like "The interface does not exist" try running wpeinit before the netsh command
9.) Go back to the full pc restore gui and you should be able to browse and use the UNC connection \directory you are looking for
9B) When giving credentials for share do not specify domain
Server 2008 R2
1.) Boot from the Server 2008 R2 install media
2.) Choose Next
3.) Choose Repair Your Computer
4.)Click the radial button for Restore your computer using....
5.)As it says, click Cancel for more options
6.) Click Cancel to get to the command prompt options
7.) Click Command Prompt
8.) In the command prompt, enter: netsh interface ipv4 add address "Local Area Connection" IPADDR NETMASK GATEWAY
***Where IPADDR is your ip address, NETMASK is your subnet mask, and GATEWAY is the gateway***If you get an error like "The interface does not exist" try running wpeinit before the netsh command
9.) Close the command prompt
10.) Click System Image Recovery
11.)As it says, click Cancel for more options
12.)Make sure Select a system image is selected and click Next
13.)Click Advanced
14.)Click Search for a system image on the network
15.)When prompted, read the security warning and choose Yes if you want to proceed
16.) Enter your \\server\share UNC string and you should be able to restore from the backup file/s located on the share now
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