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USB NIC supported by Restore CD? RRS feed

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    Has anyone used a USB NIC (wired, not wireless) during a client restore?
    If yes, can you please tell me which one?

    thank you

    PS - As an alternative, an Express54 card would be OK.  But I assume a USB NIC would be less expensive.

    Thursday, January 21, 2010 3:18 AM

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    You could try the method using Windows 7 from this thread (I just stepped through using a quick made USB key with the Windows 7 installation files until reaching the "choose a computer to restore)".
    After preparing the stick copied the files mentioned in that thread from the latest WHS Restore CD to a folder named WHS on the stick. Into the same folder I put also a whsinit.cmd which contains the in above thread mentioned calls to register the DLLs and run the executable.
    Booted up from the stick and on the first screen pressed Shift+F10 to open a cmd prompt.
    You will now have to find the drive letter of your stick (here it was the first free drive letter, F: due to one disk and two optical drives), using dir with different drive letters (dir e: etc) should reveal it.
    Assuming drive e: for the stick on your client enter the following commands:
    E:
    cd \WHS
    whsinit

    I am not sure, if Windows PE 3.0 is capable to work directly with your USB network adapter or if you have to inject them into boot.wim using WAIK.

    Edit: With this configuration Disk Manager does not load, so maybe you have to copy/register some more files or prepare the disk partitioning before or use diskpart.exe to do so.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    • Marked as answer by lotbass Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:46 AM
    Friday, January 22, 2010 3:28 PM
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    Supported? Technically yes, but I doubt there will be any drivers for those devices built into the Restore CD. You'll need to prepare a set of drivers on a USB flash drive for use when the Restore CD allows you to add drivers prior to a restore.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, January 21, 2010 3:37 AM
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    If you have more than one client PC, the method from the FAQ How to restore a client PC, if the network connection does not work in the CD based restore environment may be a better option.
    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:45 PM
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    You'll need to prepare a set of drivers on a USB flash drive for use when the Restore CD allows you to add drivers prior to a restore.

    Yep, I've done that on other systems. 

    I am hoping to find someone who has already found a USB NIC that works.  That way I'll know working drivers are available.

    Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:43 PM
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    If you have more than one client PC, the method from the FAQ How to restore a client PC, if the network connection does not work in the CD based restore environment may be a better option.

    Unfortunately removing the hard drive from my system is not an easy process.  Plugging in a USB NIC would be much easier.  (I have been unable to find a driver that works with the embedded NIC and my system has no PCI slots.)

    :-(
    Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:49 PM
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    You could try the method using Windows 7 from this thread (I just stepped through using a quick made USB key with the Windows 7 installation files until reaching the "choose a computer to restore)".
    After preparing the stick copied the files mentioned in that thread from the latest WHS Restore CD to a folder named WHS on the stick. Into the same folder I put also a whsinit.cmd which contains the in above thread mentioned calls to register the DLLs and run the executable.
    Booted up from the stick and on the first screen pressed Shift+F10 to open a cmd prompt.
    You will now have to find the drive letter of your stick (here it was the first free drive letter, F: due to one disk and two optical drives), using dir with different drive letters (dir e: etc) should reveal it.
    Assuming drive e: for the stick on your client enter the following commands:
    E:
    cd \WHS
    whsinit

    I am not sure, if Windows PE 3.0 is capable to work directly with your USB network adapter or if you have to inject them into boot.wim using WAIK.

    Edit: With this configuration Disk Manager does not load, so maybe you have to copy/register some more files or prepare the disk partitioning before or use diskpart.exe to do so.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    • Marked as answer by lotbass Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:46 AM
    Friday, January 22, 2010 3:28 PM
    Moderator
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    You could try the method using Windows 7 from this thread
    Great suggestion Olaf!  I was able to use that method to complete a restore using NIC on my motherboard.  (The NIC did not work with the Restore CD or any of a number of Vista, XP or Server 2003 drivers I tried.  But, it did work with the method mentioned in that thread.) 

    Thank you very much.
    Sunday, January 24, 2010 10:10 PM
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    Has anyone used a USB NIC (wired, not wireless) during a client restore?
    If yes, can you please tell me which one?


    In case anyone else is trying to do restore via a USB NIC, the following NIC did NOT work for me.
    - TrendNET TU2-ETG

    Using this NIC and adding drivers via a USB key, I could connect to the WHS server.  Unfortunately the network connection failed during the restore.
    Sunday, January 24, 2010 10:14 PM