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Recover Windows Server 2008 from a Disaster

You can perform disaster recovery on Windows Server 2008 using the Bootable CD method.

To perform disaster recovery

  1. Start the system and insert the Windows Server 2008 installation media in the optical drive. Ensure that the BIOS is configured to boot from this optical drive. Insert the machine specific recovery disk in the floppy drive or USB port, and turn on the system.

    Note: You can also use the USB flash media for recovery. If there is more than one raw disk present in the system, you will be prompted to reboot the system. Click OK to reboot and follow step 1.

  2. Insert the CA ARCserve Backup Disaster Recovery media, and then click Next.

    Insert CA ARCserve Media

    The Advanced Disaster Recovery dialog opens and starts the recovery process.

  3. Specify the language and keyboard settings and click Next.
  4. Specify the path for machine specific disk, and then click Next. You can specify either a local path, or a network location.

    Note: In Windows Server 2008 disaster recovery, multiple instances of machine specific disks are stored on the storage media.

    The Choose Mode dialog opens.

  5. Select from the following modes that appear on the Choose Mode dialog:
    Express Mode

    Recovers the system by using the machine default settings stored during backup.

    Advanced Mode

    Recovers the system using the customized process. You can configure the network card, change the login credentials and also select the sessions.

For Express Mode:

  1. Select the Express mode, and click Next.

    Express Mode

    The Enter caroot Password dialog opens.

    Caroot Password

    As the disaster recovery session has to be restored during this period, you will be prompted to provide the caroot password. This could be for the following reasons:

    Note: This password is required to work with the saved session password or the encryption key to restore encrypted or password protected sessions. Enter the correct caroot password, if necessary, to avoid manual decryption of each session.

  2. Enter the password, and click OK.
  3. Click Next to start the restore process.

For Advanced Mode:

  1. Select the Advanced mode on the Select Mode dialog, and click Next.

    Advanced Mode

    The Enter caroot Password dialog opens.

    Caroot Password

  2. Enter the password, and click OK.

    The Load Drivers dialog opens.

    Load Drivers dialog

  3. Verify the devices and click Next on Load Drivers dialog.

    The Network connections dialog opens followed by the Session dialog.

    Network Connection dialog

  4. Select the session that you want to restore, click Next.

    Sessions List for Windows Server 2008

    You can enter the password for each session depending on the status of each key at the end of each row in the Session Assign dialog. Types of keys include:

    The Summary dialog opens.

  5. Verify the Summary list.

    Verify Summary screen

  6. Click Start Disaster Recovery to start the process.

    The data is copied from the specified sessions to the specified partitions. A progress bar shows the progress of the restore process.

    Note: You can run most of the 32-bit Windows programs, such as regedit.exe, from the DOS prompt window. Click Utilities, and select Run to open a Windows command line console window.

The Disaster Recovery process is complete.

Note: You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift+ r on the Disaster Recovery wizard to reboot.

When your computer restarts, it is restored to the state it was in at the time of the last full backup.

Important! If the CA ARCserve Backup database is installed on this computer and this computer is not the CA ARCserve Backup primary server, you must run the ARCserve Database Recovery Wizard at this time. For more information about the ARCserve Database Recovery Wizard, see the topic Recover the CA ARCserve Backup Database Using ARCserve Database Recovery Wizard in the CA ARCserve Backup Administration Guide.

Note: To run the Install and Reboot options on the Disaster Recovery wizard while using USB backup devices dialogs, use the following keyboard shortcuts: