Restoring Active Directory on new Hardware

We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as dns,
dhcp, file server, active directory.

Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room of
our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be up
and running again.

That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 ( like
the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with active
directory.

So since two weeks, I try to do that.
I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server. I
always finish with :
problem with hal.dll or bsod .

After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003 installation
with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to reboot



Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
restore missing file only.

Is the a way to do what I need ?

I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to prevent
fire !!

thanks

frank

Hello frank423,

Unfortunal it is not supported to restore to different hardware. You can
try but it will result in blue screen most of the time. I never heard that
it works.

Maybe you can try, if you have system state backup to start with AD itself.
so you have at least the domain back.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as
> dns, dhcp, file server, active directory.
>
> Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room
> of our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take
> to be up and running again.
>
> That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 (
> like the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup
> with active directory.
>
> So since two weeks, I try to do that.
> I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware
> server. I
> always finish with :
> problem with hal.dll or bsod .
> After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003
> installation with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I
> got a messages telling : the active directory password is wrong...
> press any key to reboot
>
> Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
> My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
> I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig
> file,
> restore missing file only.
> Is the a way to do what I need ?
>
> I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to
> prevent fire !!
>
> thanks
>
> frank
>

You have to come up with the same hardware (rent it, borrow it, steal it)
and restore to it.

Then load up the new hardware fresh from scratch, and install DNS on it but
do not configure the DNS

Then run DCPromo on the new hardware to make it a DC,...leave it run for a
day or so,..or at least a couple hours so the "borrowed" DC will replicate
to the new DC.

Run DCPromo on the "borrowed" hardware to reduce it to a member
server,...then move it to a workgroup. Then wipe the Drives and give it
back to whoever you stole it from. The FSMO Roles should transfer
automatically via the DCPromo process. The Global Catalog setting is manual
though.

Moral of the story,...backups are not good enough,..in fact they are almost
worthless with DCs. You need 2 or more DCs and don't locate them where you
will loose all of them at the same time in a fire. If you can't go that
extreme then make sure that whoever you buy the hardware off of can
sell/rent/lease you identical hardware for Disaster Recovery.

Note: The hardware doesn't have to be exactly identical,...mainly the
Drive Controller (or RAID Controller) must be able to run from the same
drivers. Its a good idea if the CPU is the same or very close.


In the future,...hardware virtualization,...which is getting more popular
all the time,...will render the hardware problem a "non-issue" because
virtual hardware stays the same no matter what physical hardware it runs on.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

"frank423" <frank423@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6B7705AF-69F0-448D-8C1C-BA042A4FDD22@microsoft.com...
> We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as dns,
> dhcp, file server, active directory.
>
> Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room of
> our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be up
> and running again.
>
> That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 ( like
> the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with active
> directory.
>
> So since two weeks, I try to do that.
> I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server. I
> always finish with :
> problem with hal.dll or bsod .
>
> After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003 installation
> with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
> telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to
> reboot
>
>
>
> Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
> My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
> I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
> restore missing file only.
>
> Is the a way to do what I need ?
>
> I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to prevent
> fire !!
>
> thanks
>
> frank


As Meinolf and Paul mentioned, it is not supported. However you can follow a
certain article to configure the machine BEFORE you back it up and shut it
down, that will allow it to come up on another machine, and IDE and VGA will
come up, then you have to of course install your normal VGA, NIC and other
drivers, but at least it comes up. I've used this succesfully in the past.

You receive a Stop 0x0000007B error after you move the Windows XP system
disk to another computer (works for Windows 2000 and 2003, too, but I
haven;t tested it with Vista or 2008 yet):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314082

--
Ace

This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties or guarantees and
confers no rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2003 & 2000, MCSA 2003 & 2000, MCSA Messaging, MCT
Microsoft Certified Trainer
aceman@mvps.RemoveThisPart.org

For urgent issues, you may want to contact Microsoft PSS directly. Please
check http://support.microsoft.com for regional support phone numbers.

If you ever get back up, one thing that might help you in the future is to
buy one more copy of the Server OS. Load Microsoft VirtualServer on the new
DC machine machine and install the additonal Server OS in a Virtual Machine
inside Virtual Server. Now that may seem silly with it on the same
machine,...but the idea is that it is "hardware-neutral" and the VHD file
will exist on your Tape Backup.

Then in a disaster like this you can grab any machine that will run and load
VirtualServer on it, then copy the VHD file from the Tape into the right
location and start it up in VirtualServer and "Wha-La!",...you have a
running DC. Do a little Meta-Data Cleanup and you are ready to build the
new DC on the new Hardware.

Another even simpler solution is to run a cheap copy of XP on the Main
Hardware in the first place and then use either VirtualPC or VirtualServer
and then build your DC as a Virtual Machine within one of those two. After
a disaster it is the same process,...Load XP fresh on whatever is strong
enough to run it, restore the VHD file from tape and you are back in
business. When the new hardware arrives,...load XP on it,...repeat the
process and move the VHD over to it.

Yet another option is Server2008 Hyper-V. MS has a special free version of
it (commandline only,..no GUI) that is meant just for this purpose.
Hyper-V is MS's new virtualization software (similar to VirtualPC or
VirtualServer). The method of dealing with disasters with it would be
similar to above.


--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

IF you have AD backup,
make a new DC with same name and DNS,
and reboot the DC with directory services restore mode,and restore the AD
backup...
you will get same DC configruation.....




"frank423" wrote:

> We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as dns,
> dhcp, file server, active directory.
>
> Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room of
> our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be up
> and running again.
>
> That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 ( like
> the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with active
> directory.
>
> So since two weeks, I try to do that.
> I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server. I
> always finish with :
> problem with hal.dll or bsod .
>
> After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003 installation
> with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
> telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to reboot
>
>
>
> Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
> My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
> I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
> restore missing file only.
>
> Is the a way to do what I need ?
>
> I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to prevent
> fire !!
>
> thanks
>
> frank

A couple of notes, when you do a restore, even if on the same hardware make
sure that the install o/s is at the same patch level as the recovering o/s.
I seen this time and time again where folks don't do this and it always
seems to fail. I can recover any o/s if I start with the same o/spatch
level and restore to a virtual machine. So if you were to restore to a
virtual guest and then bring up some hardware you could make it the second
dc in your domain and replicate to the physical machine from the virtual
machine. That should work for you.

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
2008, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup This
posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"frank423" <frank423@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6B7705AF-69F0-448D-8C1C-BA042A4FDD22@microsoft.com...
> We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as dns,
> dhcp, file server, active directory.
>
> Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room of
> our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be up
> and running again.
>
> That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 ( like
> the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with active
> directory.
>
> So since two weeks, I try to do that.
> I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server. I
> always finish with :
> problem with hal.dll or bsod .
>
> After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003 installation
> with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
> telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to
> reboot
>
>
>
> Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
> My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
> I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
> restore missing file only.
>
> Is the a way to do what I need ?
>
> I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to prevent
> fire !!
>
> thanks
>
> frank

I didn't think you could restore AD without restoring the System State.
How do you do the AD separately?

Everytime I ever tried it I had to do a System State Restore with it and it
always blue-screened just like the OP because the hardware was different..

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

"Gaurav Bhardwaj" <GauravBhardwaj@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:111ACB2F-6646-4349-A3D1-24E44B24297A@microsoft.com...
> IF you have AD backup,
> make a new DC with same name and DNS,
> and reboot the DC with directory services restore mode,and restore the AD
> backup...
> you will get same DC configruation.....

I am telling you,because i Did it,yes it is write that i have system state
backup....
and it worked..

"Paul Bergson [MVP-DS]" wrote:

> A couple of notes, when you do a restore, even if on the same hardware make
> sure that the install o/s is at the same patch level as the recovering o/s.
> I seen this time and time again where folks don't do this and it always
> seems to fail. I can recover any o/s if I start with the same o/spatch
> level and restore to a virtual machine. So if you were to restore to a
> virtual guest and then bring up some hardware you could make it the second
> dc in your domain and replicate to the physical machine from the virtual
> machine. That should work for you.
>
> --
> Paul Bergson
> MVP - Directory Services
> MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
> 2008, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
>
> http://www.pbbergs.com
>
> Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup This
> posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>
>
> "frank423" <frank423@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6B7705AF-69F0-448D-8C1C-BA042A4FDD22@microsoft.com...
> > We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as dns,
> > dhcp, file server, active directory.
> >
> > Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room of
> > our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be up
> > and running again.
> >
> > That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 ( like
> > the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with active
> > directory.
> >
> > So since two weeks, I try to do that.
> > I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server. I
> > always finish with :
> > problem with hal.dll or bsod .
> >
> > After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003 installation
> > with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
> > telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to
> > reboot
> >
> >
> >
> > Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
> > My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
> > I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
> > restore missing file only.
> >
> > Is the a way to do what I need ?
> >
> > I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to prevent
> > fire !!
> >
> > thanks
> >
> > frank
>

Phillip Windell <philwindell@hotmail.com> wrote:
> If you ever get back up, one thing that might help you in the future
> is to buy one more copy of the Server OS. Load Microsoft
> VirtualServer on the new DC machine machine and install the additonal
> Server OS in a Virtual Machine inside Virtual Server. Now that may
> seem silly with it on the same machine,...but the idea is that it is
> "hardware-neutral" and the VHD file will exist on your Tape Backup.
>
> Then in a disaster like this you can grab any machine that will run
> and load VirtualServer on it, then copy the VHD file from the Tape
> into the right location and start it up in VirtualServer and
> "Wha-La!",...you have a running DC. Do a little Meta-Data Cleanup
> and you are ready to build the new DC on the new Hardware.
>
> Another even simpler solution is to run a cheap copy of XP on the Main
> Hardware in the first place and then use either VirtualPC or
> VirtualServer and then build your DC as a Virtual Machine within one
> of those two. After a disaster it is the same process,...Load XP
> fresh on whatever is strong enough to run it, restore the VHD file
> from tape and you are back in business. When the new hardware
> arrives,...load XP on it,...repeat the process and move the VHD over
> to it.
> Yet another option is Server2008 Hyper-V. MS has a special free
> version of it (commandline only,..no GUI) that is meant just for this
> purpose. Hyper-V is MS's new virtualization software (similar to VirtualPC
> or
> VirtualServer). The method of dealing with disasters with it would be
> similar to above.

I must second Phil's suggestion. VMWare or HyperV will make life a lot
easier and you can stop caring about your hardware specifics.

I have seen it done as long as you have the same sp level in the backup as
the cd using for the restore.

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
2008, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup This
posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"Gaurav Bhardwaj" <GauravBhardwaj@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:145B6312-B074-4E8B-8D7F-47B121BA5BBE@microsoft.com...
>I am telling you,because i Did it,yes it is write that i have system state
> backup....
> and it worked..
>
> "Paul Bergson [MVP-DS]" wrote:
>
>> A couple of notes, when you do a restore, even if on the same hardware
>> make
>> sure that the install o/s is at the same patch level as the recovering
>> o/s.
>> I seen this time and time again where folks don't do this and it always
>> seems to fail. I can recover any o/s if I start with the same o/spatch
>> level and restore to a virtual machine. So if you were to restore to a
>> virtual guest and then bring up some hardware you could make it the
>> second
>> dc in your domain and replicate to the physical machine from the virtual
>> machine. That should work for you.
>>
>> --
>> Paul Bergson
>> MVP - Directory Services
>> MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
>> 2008, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
>>
>> http://www.pbbergs.com
>>
>> Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup This
>> posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>>
>>
>> "frank423" <frank423@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:6B7705AF-69F0-448D-8C1C-BA042A4FDD22@microsoft.com...
>> > We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as
>> > dns,
>> > dhcp, file server, active directory.
>> >
>> > Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room
>> > of
>> > our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be
>> > up
>> > and running again.
>> >
>> > That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 (
>> > like
>> > the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with
>> > active
>> > directory.
>> >
>> > So since two weeks, I try to do that.
>> > I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server.
>> > I
>> > always finish with :
>> > problem with hal.dll or bsod .
>> >
>> > After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003
>> > installation
>> > with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
>> > telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to
>> > reboot
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
>> > My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
>> > I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
>> > restore missing file only.
>> >
>> > Is the a way to do what I need ?
>> >
>> > I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to
>> > prevent
>> > fire !!
>> >
>> > thanks
>> >
>> > frank
>>

Hi frank423
"if you have purchased the similar hardware" following steps should work
1.restore the system state backup to alternate location (preferebly
c:\NTDSRestore .. you need to create this folder)
2. then run dcpromo /adv switch and select to promote from the backup.
select the location where you restored in step in 1

this way you just installed a additonal domain controller , you would now
need to clean the metadata of old server from active directory
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc736378.aspx

cheers ..!

"frank423" wrote:

> We are a small business, only have one windows 2003 server acting as dns,
> dhcp, file server, active directory.
>
> Two week ago, a fire was succesfully contain in the main electric room of
> our office. But, if everything had burned, how long would it take to be up
> and running again.
>
> That mean : buying a new server, installing windows server 2003 Sp2 ( like
> the old one), retrospect 7.5 and trying to restore the backup with active
> directory.
>
> So since two weeks, I try to do that.
> I can't find a way to restore my backup to a different hardware server. I
> always finish with :
> problem with hal.dll or bsod .
>
> After restoring, if I try to repair the windows server 2003 installation
> with the cd, after the first reboot during the setup I got a messages
> telling : the active directory password is wrong... press any key to reboot
>
>
>
> Nevertheless, nothing seem to work.
> My two server are windows server 2003 sp2.
> I try to restore with restore entire volume, replace correspondig file,
> restore missing file only.
>
> Is the a way to do what I need ?
>
> I dont want to have to bring my server at home each night, just to prevent
> fire !!
>
> thanks
>
> frank