Hello,
I originally posted this question in the General forum but was recommended to post here instead, so here goes:
I am having problems trying to test a DR bare metal restore of a physical Windows 2008 R2 Server to a Vmware Virtual machine. For DR recovery testing reasons. We have successfully used this process for recovering Server 2003 servers but are having no luck with carrying out the procedure from a windows 2008 R2 Server.
We use Arcserve for our backups which do a simple volume and system state backup and I am using this for the restore testing. It would be difficult for me to move backup solutions as we have many servers.
What happens is I build a Virtual Windows 2008 Server with the same Service Pack and Volume sizes as the physical server I want to restore, carry out a restore volumes and System state (I can successfully use this procedure for 2003 Servers)
On restarting the VM I get:
“Windows failed to Start” 0x00000e The boot selection failed because a required device in inaccessible
I have tried loading the command prompt from the repair option and doing the following:
Using Bootrec / RebuildBCD, Bootrec /FixMBR, Bootrec /Fixxboot
Using sfc / scannow
I have also tried using bcedit to set the boot manager and boot loader locations all with no luck.
I have also tried this tip from Mark Minasi:
1.Have a file level and system state backup performed with your backup software ( NetBackup was used) of the physical box
2.Build a new 2008 R2 VM using default hardware and name it the same as the box you are restoring (make sure to have VMtools installed)
3.Perform a file level restore from your backup solution to the new VM
4.Perform a system state restore to the server
5.Reboot to Windows Recovery CD
6.Cancel Auto repair if it starts
7.Click “Command Prompt Link”
8.Type regedit and press enter
9.Single click HKLM
10.Click File>Load Hive
11.Navigate to D:\Windows\System32\Config
12.Double Click System
13.Type VMRestore as key name
14.Navigate to HLKM\VMRestore\ControlSet001\Services\LSI_SAS
15.Right click the Start key and click Modify
16.Change Value Data: to 0 and click OK
17.Highlight the HKLM\VMRestore click single clicking on VMRestore in the tree structure
18.Click File>Unload Hive>Yes
19.Exit Registry Editor
20.Exit command prompt
21.Click Restart
22.You should now boot into the OS.
So far what ever I do does not seem to resolve the issue. Any advice or pointers to articles would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Andy