Bare Metal Restore of Windows 2008 Server from Remote WBADMIN Backups

As most users of Windows 2008 Server know you can easily use the WBADMIN command as a backup solution. WBADMIN allows to use remote shares as storage locations for backup sets. Below are the steps to perform a bare metal restore using a backup sets located on a remote share. In order for this to work you will need to have a DHCP server running on your network that will give out an IP address to the host being recovered.

1. Boot from the Windows 2008 CD. Click Next


2. On the Install Now Window, Click the Repair Your Computer link


3. Click Next again to move to the next window


4. Choose Windows Complete PC Restore
   


5. When the error message about not finding a valid backup comes up, click Cancel


6. On the Restore Your Entire Computer for a Backup window, select Restore a Different Backup and click Next


7. On the Select the Location of the Backup window, click the Advanced button


8. Click Search for a Backup on the Network


9. Click Yes when prompted


10. Type in the network location of the backup and click OK


11. Enter in your AD Admin account credentials (domain\userid) when connecting to server hosting the backup sets and click
    OK


12. Highlight the backup set location for the computer you want restored and clickNext



13. Highlight the backup point you want to recover and click Next
    


14. Click Next. Depending upon the type of restore you might have to check the "Format and repartition disks" checkbox
    
    


15. On the Summary page, click Finish
    
    


16. Check the I confirm that I want to format the disks and restore the backup checkbox. Then click
    OK to start the recovery process