Restore issue...let's see who can figure THIS one out.

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  ReVeLaTeD said:

  OK.
  
  I'm doing a restore from my WHS.  I was under the (mistaken) impression that I could simply initiate the backup from the computer if I had access to it, then it would just reboot into DOS to do the rest of it, similar to how a clean install or System Restore would operate.  Mind you, the OS is installed and functioning.
  
  Unfortunately, it needs to boot from CD, which I don't really mind.  What I do mind, and don't understand, is the fact that while every other Windows DOS-based interaction can successfully and completely load the proper drivers, the WHS Restore Console cannot.  In fact, it seems as though it doesn't even attempt to load any driver except for video card, hard drive, and input devices.  Err, if you know you need a network connection to connect to the server, why not detect and load the network drivers automatically?  The OS installer can do it, even without the OS being installed.  What's the problem here??
  
  Anyway...here's my problem.  I boot up the disc - great.  It shows me my hard drives - great.  No network devices found - not great.  So I grabbed the driver folders directly from the server, loaded them onto my USB stick, plugged it in and did the Install Drivers.  It thought for a moment, then said "drivers found!"...only to have removed the hard drives completely!  What's worse it didn't even pick up the network adapters.  The only thing that shows is the USB stick.
  
  I figured maybe it just wasn't smart enough to navigate the folder structure for the drivers, so I pulled the files out and dropped them into the root.  Loaded it up again, same issue.  No matter what I try, same thing.  I even put all of the drivers for all of the storage devices just so it didn't have to bother searching for the correct ones.
  
  Any ideas?
  
  UPDATE: OK I got it to at least stop removing all of the hard drives by formatting the USB stick to NTFS instead of FAT.  Problem 1 solved.  But I still can't get it to pick up the network adapter.        

  
  Just to confirm:  You got the drivers for that computer from the Windows Home Server Drivers for Restore folder in the backup?  If so, what OS and bit version are you trying to restore?

  Monday, March 9, 2009 3:23 AM

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  Thanks for the reply, I figured it out, at least part way anyway.
  
  So I got it to read the driver finally.  It seems there were two issues: First, the restore CD wanted the USB stick formatted a specific way (not 16 bit FAT, even though it's only a 512 MB drive that should work fine).  Then, after reading deeper into the threads from over a year ago, I was unaware, and unexpecting, of the glaring oversight regarding 64 bit vs. 32 bit restoration.  Seems the restore CD operation is 32 only which of course does not provide adequate support for 64 bit OS's.  I agree with the original poster: That's a glaring oversight that should be fixed, easiest way of course being a seperate 64bit restore CD.  But I digress.
  
  So I got it to acknowledge the NIC using the 32 bit version, great good, but now it won't connect.  I suspect this is now due to one of two things:
  
  A: NETBIOS is not properly kicking in.  Since the drivers default to use NETBIOS setting off the DHCP server, and my router IS the DHCP server, it means that NETBIOS isn't functioning unless I force it to, or by way of a HOSTS file change.  I do have a proper HOSTS file, but no way to tell the restore CD to use it.  For some reason my network blatantly requires either a HOSTS file entry or NETBIOS to connect to the server from the Connector; it won't just use the IP even though said IP is static.
  
  B: The NIC is not properly pulling an IP through DHCP.  Would be nice if the restore wizard would allow you to verify connection settings before attempting the connection...but whatever.  Strange though, because it did find the server successfully.
  
  I'm inclined to think the first is the issue, because I have the same problem every time I configure a client.
  
  Since the OS is up and running I'm going to just drag the files back across from one of the old backups, blow them away and just re-set everything up again.  I can always restore the OS from the factory image; it just seems counter intuitive to what WHS claims to be able to do, but oh well.
  
  For reference (and to actually answer your question), my client is Vista 64 Premium.        

  Monday, March 9, 2009 3:45 AM
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  1. If the restore wizard finds the server your client will have IP in the appropriate range. 
  2. Concerning the "NETBIOS"  issue, please check if your DHCP server is handing out DNS server addresses that points to addresses outside your local network. If yes please reconfigure, set primary DNS server address (handed out by DHCP server) to DHCP server address.
  1. You can also configure the DHCP server to alway assign the same IP address to your homeserver (based on MAC address) so you don't need to set static IP address.
  3. For restore you can try using crossed pair UTP cable for direct connection of the client and the homeserver, and set homeserver to get IP and DNS by DHCP. This should clear all network issues (if you use 32 bit driver). If it doesn't there's most likely some hardware issue, or TCP/IP or NIC configuration problem on your home server.

  Monday, March 9, 2009 1:08 PM

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  With a second client PC you can also use the method described in this FAQ.
  Best greetings from Germany
  Olaf

  Monday, March 9, 2009 2:22 PM

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  brubber said:

  1. If the restore wizard finds the server your client will have IP in the appropriate range. 
  2. Concerning the "NETBIOS"  issue, please check if your DHCP server is handing out DNS server addresses that points to addresses outside your local network. If yes please reconfigure, set primary DNS server address (handed out by DHCP server) to DHCP server address.
  1. You can also configure the DHCP server to alway assign the same IP address to your homeserver (based on MAC address) so you don't need to set static IP address.
  3. For restore you can try using crossed pair UTP cable for direct connection of the client and the homeserver, and set homeserver to get IP and DNS by DHCP. This should clear all network issues (if you use 32 bit driver). If it doesn't there's most likely some hardware issue, or TCP/IP or NIC configuration problem on your home server.

  
  Thanks.  My router has a DynDNS setup but that's it.  I was under the impression that the driver configuration to use or not use DNS suffixes determined whether end PCs would use that (by default, no DNS suffix).  I'll toy with that.
  
  Regarding the IP address that's what I've got going - the router assigns them based on MAC, but in the window it shows as "Static".  I'll check to see if I manually entered it on the server, but I don't recall doing so.
  
  What I want to avoid is having to use any sort of direct hardware connection or reconfiguration to do this.  I should be able to restore directly over my LAN.  If I can't then it means WHS won't work for me, as backup and simple restore is the only feature that I'm using it for.  I'll toy with the first couple, and see if that resolves it.
  

  Monday, March 9, 2009 2:37 PM
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  ReVeLaTeD said:

  Thanks.  My router has a DynDNS setup but that's it.  I was under the impression that the driver configuration to use or not use DNS suffixes determined whether end PCs would use that (by default, no DNS suffix).  I'll toy with that.
  
  

  
  
  In general your router supplies both IP address and DNS server to your clients. Clients should be configured to get IP address and DNS Server address automatically. If router hands out DNS server address outside local LAN (often ISP provided DNS server addresses) the client will try and lookup your homeserver using the external DNS server, which will fail for obvious reasons. If you set your router to handout local DNS Server (in most cases using IP address identical to default gateway will work) your router, which DOES have knowledge of your private network, will handle DNS requests. If it doesn't find the address on the local network it will forward the request to an external DNS server.
  
  

  ReVeLaTeD said:

  What I want to avoid is having to use any sort of direct hardware connection or reconfiguration to do this.  I should be able to restore directly over my LAN.  If I can't then it means WHS won't work for me, as backup and simple restore is the only feature that I'm using it for.  I'll toy with the first couple, and see if that resolves it.
  

  
  
  
  Sometimes it simply doesn't work that way due to hardware, driver or network configuration problems. In those instances the easiest and quickest solution often is a direct connection, or mount the hard drive in another client (as Olaf suggestes)
  
  

  • Edited by brubberModerator Monday, March 9, 2009 3:49 PM delete duplicate citation
  • Marked as answer by ReVeLaTeD Tuesday, March 10, 2009 3:42 AM

  Monday, March 9, 2009 3:27 PM

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