What is the best way to create a full system image with Windows server 2008 R2 Std?  For instance, I would like to create a full system image of my server to a portable HD.  Lets say one day my server is stolen and I had to purchase a second server.  From that HD and Windows CD I want to be able to hit restore on this new server.   This new server works, functions, has all the programs, drivers, set up, etc like the first server.  Basically, I want to be able to create a full system image or back up that I could use to make clone of any server of the same brand.

Would I have to purchase a specific software for that?  Is 2008 R2 capable of this?

Responding in laymen terms would be highly appreciated since I am very new at this.

First W2K12 install, so, learning. W2K12 running in guest W2K8R2 Hyper-V. See error below. Been occuring since install, several events recorded within same 15 minute period each day, before and after joined to domain. Bing/Google searches and Event ID turned up no info. Quesrions:

1. Why are online backups not enabled by default? (what if this were an Exchange or AD machine, for example)
2. Where can I read up on scoped snapshots (again, searching yielded no info)
3. In what scenarios should I leave scoped snapshots disabled? In what scenarios should I enable?

incidentally, this particular vm will be for SQL 2012 Enterprise. Followed immediately by a SharePoint 2013 vm also running W2K12.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        vmicvss
Date:          12/10/2012 11:45:02 AM
Event ID:      13
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      <Name Removed>
Description:
Windows cannot perform an online backup of this system because scoped snapshots are enabled. To resolve this, disable scoped snapshots by creating the following registry value on this computer:
  PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\
  DWORD: ScopeSnapshots
  Value: 0
 Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="vmicvss" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49154">13</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-12-10T16:45:02.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>442</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer><name removed></Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Thanks,

Joan

Hello All,

I have a HP server that I have just installed Server 2012 standard, SQL Server 2012 and Sharepoint 2013.

When I try to take bare metal backup I get the error: "The system writer is missing", I have tried the backup as the local admin and domain admin.

The backup will only work if I decide to back up C:, once I select "Bare Metal" or "System State" the backup fails.

I have tried this solution: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc734021.aspx but have not had any luck yet.

When I run the command "vssadmin list writers" I can not see "System Writer" listed.

How can I add/turn on the System Writer?

We have a issue with our Server 2012 Standard server with Exchange 2010 running Windows Server Backup.  The backup is freezing the server to an extent that mouse and keyboard are frozen, the server does not ping and you are unable to send any sort of reboot command to the device.  It is a case we have to hard reset the server.

The configuration of the server is such: OS and Exchange installed on C drive, Exchange Data and Logs on D drive.  Full server backup configured to backup to dedicated disk in the server.  I am able to create and amend the backup schedule without issue and have checked I have the relevant VSS writers which are showing working status.  Upon the system freeze the event log stops, after reboot I have examined the logs which shows the VSS writers enabling and Shadow Copy status (there are no errors only informational).  The server is installed on the hardware so is not a virtual machine.

Upon first configuration of the windows backup it was working for several days but has then gone into the locking state.  I tried recreating the backup and reformatting the dedicated disk to no avail.  I am currently investigating dedicated backup applications for the server but still have a concern that if they are using any of the inbuilt backup technologies I may end up with the same issue.

Server is full patched with Windows Updates and Hardware is only 4 months old.

I have read several articles to ensure I have the backup correctly configured, eg. setting it to VSS Full Backup, rather than copy.

In erlier versions of Windows it was possible to repair a present installation by booting on the installation media and make a repair installation over the old one from there. When trying this with SBSE it will only give me the option to restore a backup... Is there no way to make a good old repair anymore?

Hi All,

I'm trying to create VSS Snapshot of a Windows8 VM by adding/engaging the Corresponding HyperV VM Component. The Snapshot creation getting succeeded but after DoSnapshotSet & Wait calls the HyperV writer Status reporting VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE error. What does this means, Is something wrong here? If so, what could be leading this. I see this is happening only If My Windows 8 VM has Storage Space configured. With Normal VHDs I didnt see this issue. Can anyone help here?

Setup Details:

1. Windows 2012 HyperV Server

2. Windows 8 VM with OS disk and another 2 VHDs(Say, VHD1 & VHD2)

3. A Storage Space configured out of VHD1 & VHD2

4. Creating Snapshot Using Sample Snapshot APP

Applicatiion Event Log when at the time Shadow creation.

A VSS writer has rejected an event with error 0x800423f3, The writer experienced a transient error.  If the backup process is retried,

the error may not reoccur.
. Changes that the writer made to the writer components while handling the event will not be available to the requester. Check the event log for related events from the application hosting the VSS writer. 

Operation:
   PostSnapshot Event

Context:
   Execution Context: Writer
   Writer Class Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
   Writer Name: Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer
   Writer Instance ID: {4a402786-34af-4967-8b4a-ffad7ac32cca}
   Command Line: C:\Windows\system32\vmms.exe
   Process ID: 4440

Thanks,

Sunil

Hi,

I am not sure if you can help me out with this, but if you know of some way, or some software that can do this it would be greatly appreciated. I currently have a server with Windows 2003 on it. It has a domain, but only roughly 15 users, and only really hosts a network drive. All in all there is a roughly 300GB of data. I need to keep basically a mirrored copy of this server for disaster purposes.  (office gets burnt down etc). 

If the server got destroyed then with this mirrored server I would then be able to let my employees run off the server remotely while another mirrored server is sent down to the new location to be installed. The mirrored server needs to be updated everyday as we mainly only use one software, but it obviously uses a SQL DB that is constantly changing and thus needs to be constantly backed up.

Does anyone know of a software that can perform this sort of function? I have three servers in total that I need this done to (I have spare servers that I may use), but the three servers only add up to around 300GB of data. 

Once the servers are mirrored there will only need to be updates to a small amount of data everyday so that everyday the servers are mirrored, and ready to go.

What are your thoughts on this? Any suggestions? Your help is greatly appreciated!

Thank You

Jamie G.

Hi there,  i have a question about restoring a server backup to different sized partition.  

my situation is: 

im currently running a raid 10 configuration (hp smart array) using 4 * 2Tb HDD's with a total 4Tb of usable storage space.

at the time of partitioning i didn't realize my server hardware doesn't support GPT booting. I created 1 logical drive with a total space allocation of 4TB, now of course when windows formats the drive I end up with only 2TB of usable storage (MBR restriction)

What i would like to do is, delete the logical drive (since i cant re size it) and create 2 new logical drives, the first being a 250GB C drive (MBR), and the second, a 3.75TB storage drive (GPT). So basically my question is,  can i backup all my current server settings, files and system state and be able to restore it to the new 250gb logical drive?  

i believe the total space being used on the current drive is 80gb of 2tb. 

i would really apprecaite any help or advice!

thank you for your time!

We have a couple of Windows Server 2012 machines we need to back up. I have set up an Openfiler box to store all the backups on. I've created a couple iSCSI LUN's and attached them to the machines to back up to. For the Exchange server, it works perfectly fine, but for one of the DC's it fails. They are both configured the exact same way.

In the application log, I see:

The backup operation that started at '‎2013‎-‎05‎-‎08T14:10:16.128584700Z' has failed with following error code '0x807800C5' (There was a failure in preparing the backup image of one of the volumes in the backup set.). Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.

In the Backup_Error log, it just says "Backup of volume C: has failed. The specified backup disk cannot be found."

The disk is there just fine, it even creates the whole "WindowsImageBackup" folder structure.

Hi,

Just wondered before I buy Server 2012....can you restore a Server 2008 backup onto Server 2012 ?

In my scenario I have one server 2008 R2 standard and  I may be getting Server 2012 for another physical server.  All out backups are done via Server 2008 and wondered, if its needed, can a restore be done onto the Server 2012 from a server 2008 backup ?

Cheers :-)

We have Server 2008 R2 that runs our AD and 7 vss writers are currently in failed state which prevents Backup Exec 2010 R3 from successfully completing backup jobs. Server reboot does not make any difference. Any advice how to correct this problem and restart failing writers would be greatly appreciated, please see below:

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Waiting for responses.
These may be delayed if a shadow copy is being prepared.

Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
   Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
   Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
   Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
   Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
   Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
   Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {2d04dd9e-7f50-4d73-a209-80e9948d2460}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {18d13944-9659-4b05-a29f-254176b9b83f}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {316433d1-184e-4b49-b119-531ad256f861}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
   Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
   Writer Instance Id: {5a5e8043-d7b4-42e5-89dd-e039472b677a}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'FRS Writer'
   Writer Id: {d76f5a28-3092-4589-ba48-2958fb88ce29}
   Writer Instance Id: {db6fab26-69d8-4906-b876-5ce442d03c8e}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'FSRM Writer'
   Writer Id: {12ce4370-5bb7-4c58-a76a-e5d5097e3674}
   Writer Instance Id: {5355b534-732a-4f2b-b8ba-73bf64063263}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {1bf8aaa9-a5f7-4fa7-bfca-dcbf3f2a880d}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {a03128e5-ee5f-4291-9782-aefa7ef3ab9c}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {627bd54e-9888-443a-ae46-09c5913ae911}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {d180c79c-c74f-4f3f-bff6-7029c764d465}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Dhcp Jet Writer'
   Writer Id: {be9ac81e-3619-421f-920f-4c6fea9e93ad}
   Writer Instance Id: {eeea94bc-4ecf-453b-83db-8ce7f080156e}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'NTDS'
   Writer Id: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757}
   Writer Instance Id: {21ce4154-6e49-4a03-929d-8d6bad8a7080}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

I just replaced my backup USB drive for my 2008R2 Server.  I cannot get the Server Backup program to perform a bare metal backup (or any backup for that matter).  I get the error message:  Backup failed to complete.  There is not enough disk space to create the volume shadow copy on the storage location.  Make sure that ....

My Server runs on the C: drive.  All files that need to be backed up including all Windows files are on the C: drive. The USB backup drive is E: drive.  It is a 3 Terabyte Seagate Backup Plus USB Drive.  I am a bit confused.  Is the shadow copy stored on the E: drive?  Do I have to create a partition on the E: drive for the shadow copy of the C: drive files to be stored?  The E drive is NTFS format same as the main C: drive.  I set the shadow copy size to 10000 Mg.  The drive I want the shadow copy of is the C: drive, correct?

Under disk management my C: drive has a 100Mg partition (System Reserved) and a 931Gig partition.  The E: drive shows a 2794Gig Partition.  All NTFS format.  My C drive is Raid (Mirror).  So can someone tell me what I am doing wrong or what I am missing?  My backup on the old drive was working fine but I thought it time to upgrade.  Also, since this E: drive is so huge can I partition it so that 1/2 works for bare metal backup and 1/2 works for my other backup needs?

Thanks for your help. We have a music store on the Commons Campus in the SubMixer. We are just across from Tech Link. But those guys don't work on servers ...

Hi, 

Since some time now i have not been able to use the Windows server backup tool anymore.

I cant really tell since when this started, but for all i know the windows server backup service worked fine.

I even created a backup schedule and it made some backups. 

I am running this windows server 2012 Standard at home with just a couple of basic applications.

The server is used to host several websites with IIS, it manages my local DHCP and is used for locally shared storage.

There are no other security applications installed yet, because i am trieing to get rid of this error first. (so no symantec or whatever)

Since some time i am having trouble opening the windows backup snap-in. 

When ever i trie to open the Windows server backup snap-in i get the following error:

A fatal error occurred during a Windows Server Backup snap-in (Wbadmin.msc) operation.

Error details: The Windows Server Backup service has stopped. 

Close Wbadmin.msc and then restart it.

Whenever this error occures the folowing error is show in the windows logbook:

I tried to find simmilar cases over the internet but i cant seem to find a solution for the problem. 

I already tried to remove and reinstall the Windows server backup feature, this did not help. 

Is there anyone here that can help me find a solution for this problem ?

Thank you !

Best Regards Maikel

i have a remote site with only a 2008 r2 domain controller which acts as file server and dns server and has sql express.

there is a backup going on locally there for database backup but my concern is .

I would like to have my domain backedup , adds+dns, so that in case of crash I can rebuild a server and reload it  on.

I would like it to be scheduled and done on a remote server path. I know we can use windows backup for that. But I would like to know also in case I need to rebuild a server. how I need to procees to reload the backup on it.

I have done a test to see if restoring system state will resolve my problem.

"I backed up system state via wbadmin and created a virtual server 2008 ,simulating the new installation of the os. I used the webadmin tool after the os setup. But I am having the below message:

"The recovery of the system state failed [5/9/2013 4:44 PM].
Log of files successfully recovered:
C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\SystemStateRestore-09-05-2013_16-44-11.log

Log of files for which recovery failed:
C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\SystemStateRestore_Error-09-05-2013_16-44-11
.log

The backup contains the Active Directory Domain Service which can be recovered o
nly when the computer is started in Directory Services Recovery Mode (DSRM). Eit
her start the computer in DSRM or try recovering by performing a system state re
covery to an alternate location."

In my case, the server does not have any other domain controller, thus I will need to create back the domain and go in dsrm?

Hi there,

I'm currently running into an issue with Hyper-V Server 2012 and adding a new target to a scheduled backup.

All technet posts I've read do not provide a solution (and generally in Hyper-V 2008 it worked)

The issue I have is that it won't add new disks without having the others attached to the server, which is fine for servers with 2 - 4 backup disks, but some of our clients have 5 backup disks and only 4 usb ports on their servers.

I've tried running the -addtarget handle with and without quotations, and I'm not entirely sure of where to go next. All I get is a "system cannot find the path specified" error.

Commands I've tried, which logically are the same command:

wbadmin enable backup -addtarget:{DISKID}

wbadmin enable backup -addtarget:"{DISKID}"

It goes through the process of formatting and labeling the USB drive but doesn't actually attach it to the schedule.

Any help would be appreciated.

Dan

Hi;

I have File Server running on Windows 2008 R2. Just want to take IMAGE Copy of My OS (Windows 2008 R2) & Applications installed on it. In case any failure in boot process in OS or any other Issue with the OS; it should not take me long to get it back running. Pleas help to know best way to take Bare Metal Backup/Ghost Image of this OS. I have seen Windows Backup Having some kind of this feature; Also Symantec having some kind of Software for this; Please suggest me.