Active Direcotry Restoration Failed Windows Server 2016 after HP DL180 Gen 9 Hardware Failure

Question

We have HP Proliant DL180 Gen 9 Server, Which was having two SAS HDD in Predictive Failure state and suddenly due to this problem server crashed as HDD failed, So now we have only system state back of around 10 GB .

We are trying to restore it on another (HCL) server, We have installed fresh Windows Server 2016 Standard on it, then installed AD DNS File Server Resource Manager Server Backup (required roles) and then booted server in DSRM and trying to restore it from network (back up stored on shared folder),

System state Restoration start, Finishes without error and then ask to restart the server, After restart Windows Server 2016 is unable to boot in any of the mode (Normal /Safe/ DSRM) It goes to OS repairing / troubleshooting page.

Please tell where we are going wrong and how we can restore our DC, we have the only DC in the network and no Backup DC, we have only system state back up available, Does this hardware change making issue for us, or OS media , in HP server we have OS DVD provided by HP and in HCL we have installed OS that we have purchased separately.

Answer 1

Hi,

Based on my research, beginning with Windows Server 2008, it is not supported to restore system state backup to a new installation of Windows Server on new hardware or the same hardware.

If Windows Server is reinstalled on the same hardware, as recommended later in this guide, then you can restore the domain controller in this order:

Perform a full server restore in order to restore the operating system and all files and applications.
Perform a system state restore using wbadmin.exe in order to mark SYSVOL as authoritative.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/manage/ad-forest-recovery-determine-how-to-recover

Best Regards,

Answer 2

Can i recover some important folders sysvol ntds etc by selecting files and folders option from system state back up. And complete ad restoration.

Answer 3

Hey Thanks for the help ,

Final words, we were unable to restore the server from system state back , we have made new domain ( taken full server backup ) established in our network and currently shifting all clients to new AD.

so thanks a lot for the help..

Thank You.