Windows Server 2008 R2 Recovery Nightmare

DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

Honorary Master
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
28,263
Reaction score
7,769
Location
Table View
I'm hoping someone has had something similar in the past and could maybe point me in the correct direction.

I am attempting to do a system state restore on Windows Server 2008 R2. Our entire raid fell over during Christmas and we couldn't recovery it. I am now restoring from backups but the backup is giving a very non-descriptive error.

The machine is a virtual machine and when I originally set it up I copied the entire image over as a backup and then used Windows Server Backup to create daily backups. I have got the original image running now and I have dropped in to Directory Recovery mode but when trying to restore I get "The parameter is incorrect". Very helpful :mad:

Here are some screen shots of the errors:

This is where it bombs out:

Screenshot%202013-12-27%2018.59.16.png


Here is the error:

Screenshot%202013-12-27%2018.59.28.png


If anybody has any clue what is going on here could you please help me out, this is the only backup and I can't get Exchange restored without the system state.
 
Google "system state recovery failed to complete" it could be permission issue or something
 
TheGuy said:
Is ad installed on the vm?
Click to expand...

Yep, it's exactly like the previous install just a old version of it.

TheGuy said:
Google "system state recovery failed to complete" it could be permission issue or something
Click to expand...

I googled the crap out of it. It keeps on giving me hits for failed backups not failed restores. The backup I'm using completed successfully.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I'm hoping someone has had something similar in the past and could maybe point me in the correct direction.

I am attempting to do a system state restore on Windows Server 2008 R2. Our entire raid fell over during Christmas and we couldn't recovery it. I am now restoring from backups but the backup is giving a very non-descriptive error.

The machine is a virtual machine and when I originally set it up I copied the entire image over as a backup and then used Windows Server Backup to create daily backups. I have got the original image running now and I have dropped in to Directory Recovery mode but when trying to restore I get "The parameter is incorrect". Very helpful :mad:

Here are some screen shots of the errors:

This is where it bombs out:

Screenshot%202013-12-27%2018.59.16.png


Here is the error:

Screenshot%202013-12-27%2018.59.28.png


If anybody has any clue what is going on here could you please help me out, this is the only backup and I can't get Exchange restored without the system state.
Click to expand...

Is there any antivirus running on the server? If so try disabling during restore as it may be blocking the recovery
 
Also make sure the restored system has all the updates patches etc applied that were on the original server, may be a version compatibility issues
 
You're pointing it to the correct VM yes?
 
Are you trying to restore a full system state or granular recovery of files etc from the mounted image?
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Yep, it's exactly like the previous install just a old version of it.



I googled the crap out of it. It keeps on giving me hits for failed backups not failed restores. The backup I'm using completed successfully.
Click to expand...

Just because a backup completes successfully doesn't mean it is a working backup, have you ever tested the backups in a lab/dev environment?
 
Thanks for the input guys. I have already spent too much time trying to get the system state restored. Thrown in the towel now.

Only thing I need restored really urgently is our Exchange mailboxes so I'm just restoring the files from the backup and going to try the recovery storage group method to get our mailboxes back. If that doesn't work will probably have to fork out loads of cash for a third party edb recovery program.

Worst. Holiday. Ever :mad:
 
It amazes me how these things always happen during holidays.

I seriously think you need to look at live vim backup or replication of critical vm's. Would have saved you a world of hurt.
 
durbandave said:
It amazes me how these things always happen during holidays.

I seriously think you need to look at live vim backup or replication of critical vm's. Would have saved you a world of hurt.
Click to expand...

I know, server issues either happen when I'm on leave or at 2am in the mornings.

I guess I shouldn't have relied on the RAID to do what it was designed to do. I should probably look at using something more enterprise friendly than Virtualbox as you can't copy the image while the vm is running and using snapshots is apparently not an ideal backup solution, hence the reason I did the backups from the the guest itself.

Busy creating the recovery mailbox now, will let you guys know what happens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X