AD Restore to Different Hardware

[Jeffrey]

I am trying to test an AD and Exchange restore in my test environment.
The server I am trying to restore is a ML370G2 running Windows 2000
Server Standard and is acting as a domain controller and Exchange server.

I have referenced the following Microsoft articles, but am still running
into the same issue (inaccessible boot device):

How to perform a disaster recovery restoration of Active Directory on a
computer with a different hardware configuration
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=263532

How to move a Windows installation to different hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=249694

How to perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175/

For my first series of tests I tried restoring into VMWare Server
virtual machine. I do a base install of Windows 2000 and then restore
my backup using NTBackup. Upon the reboot I receive a Stop error -
Inaccessible Boot Device. I go on to try the repair options to no
avail. The upgrade in place process also fails on the reboot after it
copies files with the inaccessible boot device error. I cannot access
the recovery console either, when I choose my installation the machine
reboots before even prompting for a password.

I tried this morning to restore to an older Compaq server instead of a
VM (an ML530). I have run into the same issues here as well with the
inaccessible boot device errors. The repairs and upgrade in place
process also fail with inaccessible boot device errors.

In the past I have done test restores of AD and Exchange from one VM to
another VM with no issues, but of course in that scenario the hardware
matches - so I avoid all the hardware mismatching problems that I am
running into now.

I feel like I am getting tunnel vision at this point and am hoping
someone can point out something I am overlooking. Any thoughts or
suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeffrey

 

[Brian E]

One thing this article does not tell you is to copy the following files after you have put the base OS onto the new hardware, these files are built as the OS is installed and are important to keep.
boot.ini
ntdetect.com
ntldr
from the root of the drive
Then copy from the system32 directory
hal.dll
kernel32.dll
ntdll.dll
ntoskrnl.exe

Copy them to a folder somewhere.
Now restore your data, restore your system state, and right before you reboot, copy all of these files back to their original location. This will solve the inaccessible boot device.


I am trying to test an AD and Exchange restore in my test environment.
The server I am trying to restore is a ML370G2 running Windows 2000
Server Standard and is acting as a domain controller and Exchange server.

I have referenced the following Microsoft articles, but am still running
into the same issue (inaccessible boot device):

How to perform a disaster recovery restoration of Active Directory on a
computer with a different hardware configuration
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=263532

How to move a Windows installation to different hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=249694

How to perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175/

For my first series of tests I tried restoring into VMWare Server
virtual machine. I do a base install of Windows 2000 and then restore
my backup using NTBackup. Upon the reboot I receive a Stop error -
Inaccessible Boot Device. I go on to try the repair options to no
avail. The upgrade in place process also fails on the reboot after it
copies files with the inaccessible boot device error. I cannot access
the recovery console either, when I choose my installation the machine
reboots before even prompting for a password.

I tried this morning to restore to an older Compaq server instead of a
VM (an ML530). I have run into the same issues here as well with the
inaccessible boot device errors. The repairs and upgrade in place
process also fail with inaccessible boot device errors.

In the past I have done test restores of AD and Exchange from one VM to
another VM with no issues, but of course in that scenario the hardware
matches - so I avoid all the hardware mismatching problems that I am
running into now.

I feel like I am getting tunnel vision at this point and am hoping
someone can point out something I am overlooking. Any thoughts or
suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeffrey

 

[John]

For dissimilar system restore you will build your Windows system with the base OS, make it a standalone server and install the same service pack. Then just restore ONLY the system state from a previous back.. Verify the back use is not older than 60 days. On reboot you may receive a few errors. But you should be able to login without any issue..
You will then need to run metadata cleanup,,ntdsutil to get rid of any errors..
Hope this helps
John
One thing this article does not tell you is to copy the following files after you have put the base OS onto the new hardware, these files are built as the OS is installed and are important to keep.
boot.ini
ntdetect.com
ntldr
from the root of the drive
Then copy from the system32 directory
hal.dll
kernel32.dll
ntdll.dll
ntoskrnl.exe

Copy them to a folder somewhere.
Now restore your data, restore your system state, and right before you reboot, copy all of these files back to their original location. This will solve the inaccessible boot device.


I am trying to test an AD and Exchange restore in my test environment.
The server I am trying to restore is a ML370G2 running Windows 2000
Server Standard and is acting as a domain controller and Exchange server.

I have referenced the following Microsoft articles, but am still running
into the same issue (inaccessible boot device):

How to perform a disaster recovery restoration of Active Directory on a
computer with a different hardware configuration
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=263532

How to move a Windows installation to different hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=249694

How to perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175/

For my first series of tests I tried restoring into VMWare Server
virtual machine. I do a base install of Windows 2000 and then restore
my backup using NTBackup. Upon the reboot I receive a Stop error -
Inaccessible Boot Device. I go on to try the repair options to no
avail. The upgrade in place process also fails on the reboot after it
copies files with the inaccessible boot device error. I cannot access
the recovery console either, when I choose my installation the machine
reboots before even prompting for a password.

I tried this morning to restore to an older Compaq server instead of a
VM (an ML530). I have run into the same issues here as well with the
inaccessible boot device errors. The repairs and upgrade in place
process also fail with inaccessible boot device errors.

In the past I have done test restores of AD and Exchange from one VM to
another VM with no issues, but of course in that scenario the hardware
matches - so I avoid all the hardware mismatching problems that I am
running into now.

I feel like I am getting tunnel vision at this point and am hoping
someone can point out something I am overlooking. Any thoughts or
suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeffrey

 

[Jeffrey]

One thing this article does not tell you is to copy the following files
after you have put the base OS onto the new hardware, these files are
built as the OS is installed and are important to keep.
boot.ini
ntdetect.com
ntldr
from the root of the drive
Then copy from the system32 directory
hal.dll
kernel32.dll
ntdll.dll
ntoskrnl.exe

Copy them to a folder somewhere.
Now restore your data, restore your system state, and right before you
reboot, copy all of these files back to their original location. This
will solve the inaccessible boot device.

I tried this earlier this afternoon. Install base OS, match service
pack to that of the original server and then copied the files listed
above off to another directory. I then ran the restore and before the
reboot copied the files back to their respective locations. There were
file in use errors for two of the files, but when checking file dates
they were the same.

On reboot I received the inaccessible boot device error. I am doing a
parallel install now of 2K server so I can see the restored install. I
am still open to suggestions as to how to get past the inaccessible boot
device error.

Thanks!
Jeffrey

 

[Jorge de Almeida Pinto [MVP]]

after restoring the backup to different hardware you could repair the
installation and see if that works (by using the install media)

--

Cheers,
(HOPEFULLY THIS INFORMATION HELPS YOU!)

# Jorge de Almeida Pinto # MVP Windows Server - Directory Services

BLOG (WEB-BASED)--> http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/jorge/default.aspx
BLOG (RSS-FEEDS)--> http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/jorge/rss.aspx

 

[Jeffrey]

after restoring the backup to different hardware you could repair the
installation and see if that works (by using the install media)

I have tried the repair options several times (on both by VM tests and
physical hardware tests). I have tried just the fast repairs and the
upgrade in place repair. Neither have worked.

For the upgrade in place repair it finishes copying the files and then
reboots to it can get into mini-Windows - on that reboot it fails with
the inaccessible boot device before it can even start mini-Windows.

If I could get a hardware redetection to run I think I would be okay, I
just can't seem to get to that point.

Thanks!
Jeffrey

 

[Jeffrey]

To add another note to this. I did do a parallel install of Windows
2000 Server. If I take c:\2KRECOV\system32\config\SYSTEM file and move
it to my restored directory (c:\winnt\system32\config) I do make it past
the inaccessible boot device problem. It will then boot to the very
beginnings of a desktop before it reboots on its own (no login prompt,
no icons, just the desktop background color and then the reboot). The
same thing occurs in Safe Mode.

thanks,
Jeffrey