What is the plsn for upgrading fails?

[Guest]

Hi,

I am upgrading Windows Server 2000 domain controller to Windows Server 2003
domain controller. What should I do if the upgrading fails? How can I back to
the Windows Server 2000 status?

Thanks in advance. Your help will be appreciated.

Lisa

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

I am upgrading Windows Server 2000 domain controller to Windows Server 2003
domain controller. What should I do if the upgrading fails? How can I back to
the Windows Server 2000 status?

Thanks in advance. Your help will be appreciated.

Lisa

Here are a couple of options:

- Perform a full backup, using ntbackup.exe.
- Restore the backup to a spare disk.
- Test the restoration.

- Create an image file, using an imaging product such as Acronis True Image.
- Restore the image to a spare disk.
- Test the restoration.

 

[Frank Booth Snr]

Here are a couple of options:

- Perform a full backup, using ntbackup.exe.
- Restore the backup to a spare disk.
- Test the restoration.

- Create an image file, using an imaging product such as Acronis True Image.
- Restore the image to a spare disk.
- Test the restoration.

With NTBackup can you not only restore the backup to the same disk with
identical format/partition? I'm sure I've read situations where people
have made a backup then tried restoring it to a new hard drive and it
failed.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

With NTBackup can you not only restore the backup to the same disk with
identical format/partition? I'm sure I've read situations where people
have made a backup then tried restoring it to a new hard drive and it
failed.

Your comments intrigued me, so I ran a three experiments.
They were exhaustive and exhausting and they confirmed
your suspicion about ntbackup.exe and my preference for
using an imaging product instead of ntbackup.exe.

Using Acronis Disk Director - Server
=========================
1. Connect a new disk as a slave disk.
2. Boot the server with an Acronis rescue disk and copy
the SBS installation to the new disk.
3. Disconnect the original disk, boot with the new disk.
4. SBS booted up with no problem.

Time taken: About 20 minutes. Result: Success.

Using a Bart PE Boot Disk
==================
5. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD, then format
the new disk.
6. Boot the machine with a Win98 boot CD, then run fdisk /mbr
in order to enforce a new disk signature.
7. Connect the original and the new disk as master and slave.
8. Use xcopy.exe with the appropriate switches to copy the
original system partition to the system partition on the new disk.
9. Disconnect the original disk, boot with the new disk.
10. SBS booted up with no problem.

Time taken: About 30 minutes. Result: Success.

Using ntbackup.exe
=============
11. Format the new disk under a Bart PE boot.
12. Create a folder c:\Windows
13. Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk, then run fdisk /mbr
in order to enforce a new disk signature.
14. Install Windows SBS on the new disk in c:\TempWin.
Do NOT accept the default folder c:\Windows.
15. Disconnect the new disk, boot with the original disk.
16. Boot into SBS.
17. Run ntdsutil.exe in order to set a password for the Directory
Services Restore Mode.
18. Create a full backup of the system partition, using ntbackup.exe.
Place the backup file on a networked drive or on a third disk.
19. Disconnect the original disk, connect the new disk.
20. Boot into Windows SBS.
21. Use ntbackup.exe to restore the backup file to the new disk.
Click the "Advanced" button and make sure to restore all
files to their original location and to overwrite ***all*** files.
22. Check if c:\boot.ini is correct.
23. Restore the folder c:\windows\system32\config from the folder
c:\windows\repair. ntbackup.exe does not appear to do this
automatically.
24. Reboot the machine.
25. Windows reports that "Directory Services cannot start".

Time taken: 3 hours. Result: Failure.
Perhaps someone else knows why this exercise failed.

 

[John John]

Your comments intrigued me, so I ran a three experiments.
They were exhaustive and exhausting and they confirmed
your suspicion about ntbackup.exe and my preference for
using an imaging product instead of ntbackup.exe.

Using Acronis Disk Director - Server
=========================
1. Connect a new disk as a slave disk.
2. Boot the server with an Acronis rescue disk and copy
the SBS installation to the new disk.
3. Disconnect the original disk, boot with the new disk.
4. SBS booted up with no problem.

Time taken: About 20 minutes. Result: Success.

Using a Bart PE Boot Disk
==================
5. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD, then format
the new disk.
6. Boot the machine with a Win98 boot CD, then run fdisk /mbr
in order to enforce a new disk signature.
7. Connect the original and the new disk as master and slave.
8. Use xcopy.exe with the appropriate switches to copy the
original system partition to the system partition on the new disk.
9. Disconnect the original disk, boot with the new disk.
10. SBS booted up with no problem.

Time taken: About 30 minutes. Result: Success.

Using ntbackup.exe
=============
11. Format the new disk under a Bart PE boot.
12. Create a folder c:\Windows
13. Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk, then run fdisk /mbr
in order to enforce a new disk signature.
14. Install Windows SBS on the new disk in c:\TempWin.
Do NOT accept the default folder c:\Windows.
15. Disconnect the new disk, boot with the original disk.
16. Boot into SBS.
17. Run ntdsutil.exe in order to set a password for the Directory
Services Restore Mode.
18. Create a full backup of the system partition, using ntbackup.exe.
Place the backup file on a networked drive or on a third disk.
19. Disconnect the original disk, connect the new disk.
20. Boot into Windows SBS.
21. Use ntbackup.exe to restore the backup file to the new disk.
Click the "Advanced" button and make sure to restore all
files to their original location and to overwrite ***all*** files.
22. Check if c:\boot.ini is correct.
23. Restore the folder c:\windows\system32\config from the folder
c:\windows\repair. ntbackup.exe does not appear to do this
automatically.
24. Reboot the machine.
25. Windows reports that "Directory Services cannot start".

Time taken: 3 hours. Result: Failure.
Perhaps someone else knows why this exercise failed.

Maybe you should have installed SBS to the default Windows folder then
have ntbackup restore everything to the folder with the overwrite switch
as you did. As far as I know ntbackup cannot copy (backup) some of the
files in use and the restore may have failed because some essential
system files were absent from the backup and as such they could not be
restored to the virgin Windows folder. That is just a theory...

John