So I have had a Dell server dumped on my desk that need restoring back to friday's backup. Should be easy, but the backup files are VHDX and not VHD!. It's a bare metal install with no Hyper-V involved. The backup images are not seen in the recovery environment so I cant do the restore. Do I convert the VHDX drives to VHD in Hyper-V on another server? So does server 2012 just use VHDX by default now? If so any ideas why it cant see them?
I think Win8/Server 2012 use the new VHDX format. I wouldn't imagine there would be any reason why Hyper-V 2012 can't read VHDs though. Just to check, is the server you are trying to restore the VHDX file to running an earlier version of HyperV (like Server 2008 for example)?
Hi Guy's The backup's were made using the Server 2012 built in software. This is a bare metal install so there is no Hyper-V to restore to.
And you can't see them by booting off the DVD and restoring from there? If that's the case then sounds like corrupt backups (which isn't good). Fresh install then restore from the drive using WSB?
That's exactly it saspro. I have left then converting to VHD using Hyper-V overnight (1.2TB!) but I'm not holding my breath on that one. If they still are not seen, then fresh install it is. The thing is this guy just tries to do it all himself but cuts too many corners. He has been backing up to a Buffallo link station which does not even have usb connectivity! I had to copy the backups off over the network to a 2TB drive which is what I'm now working with.
Just incase anyone had any intrest in this. The backup on the NAS unit was corrupt and could not be recovered. I had to undo the damge done to the server by re-installing the mising componants manually with power shell. Basically the owner decided it would be of benefit to remove .NET Framework. This defaults the install to core mode with no GUI. You can add the .NET from the server 2012 installation DVD with the following commands... install-windowsfeature Server-GUI-Shell dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx4 /all /limitaccess dism /online /enable-feature /featurenameowershell /all /limitaccess dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:server-GUI-MGMT Now the server is up and running I forced the customer to buy a set of backup drives that can be rotated. I did a test restore to another server with no problems so atleast I know he has a working backup.
Welcome to dependency hell (for him at least) A friend of mine had the exact same problem when we were all playing with WS2012 at work. Figured he didn't need .NET so removed it, ignoring the fact it also unticked everything in the Graphical Management Tools and Infrastructure section under the User Interfaces and Infrastructure list. Luckily it can be reverted with a few commands.
Yeah, so much is reliant on .NET. Thing is I now have to fix the original fault with ISS! Effectivly I have just brought him back to square 1 before he broke it. He has some sage software that provides an internal website of sorts that wasn't working. But he doen't even have DNS role installed on the server so how can it work! Once he collects it and get's it on his LAN I can set a static ip and start adding some roles.
