SBS 2000 - New AD (users manually re-created) - Can I restore Exch

Hey guys,

Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS 2000
servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried to
restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a BSOD
on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode, safe
mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed to fix
the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave up and
reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to the
login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the keyboard
wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am ready
to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the users.
Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server information if
I did that or not? Thanks in advance!

Josh

Merv
Thu Jul 07 14:03:03 CDT 2005

Just a thought... If you apply SP4 before you install SBS 2000, SBS may have
not play nice with the service pack and this may have caused a problem when
you restored the system state. In general, SBS likes to be installed the
way it comes on the SBS CDs. Try again, this time installing Win2K then SBS
2000 and finally SP4 (or better yet, SBS SP1a which includes SP4 and other
fixes).

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

"JGraham" <JGraham@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9339544C-0078-48AB-8494-005559EE8110@microsoft.com...
> Hey guys,
>
> Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS 2000
> servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
> reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried to
> restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a
> BSOD
> on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode, safe
> mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed to
> fix
> the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave up
> and
> reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to
> the
> login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the
> keyboard
> wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am
> ready
> to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the users.
> Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server information
> if
> I did that or not? Thanks in advance!
>
> Josh

JGraham
Thu Jul 07 14:12:20 CDT 2005

Hello Merv,

Thanks for getting back to me. Just one question on that though. I read in
the disaster recovery guide that when you restore your system state you need
to be on the same service pack as you were originally. Is that correct? So if
the machine had SP4 on it when I did the backup, I would need to restore to a
machine that has SP4 and not another service pack on it right? Just want to
make sure I read it right the guide right... thanks again for the help!

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" wrote:

> Just a thought... If you apply SP4 before you install SBS 2000, SBS may have
> not play nice with the service pack and this may have caused a problem when
> you restored the system state. In general, SBS likes to be installed the
> way it comes on the SBS CDs. Try again, this time installing Win2K then SBS
> 2000 and finally SP4 (or better yet, SBS SP1a which includes SP4 and other
> fixes).
>
> --
> Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
> ===================================
>
> "JGraham" <JGraham@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9339544C-0078-48AB-8494-005559EE8110@microsoft.com...
> > Hey guys,
> >
> > Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS 2000
> > servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
> > reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried to
> > restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a
> > BSOD
> > on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode, safe
> > mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed to
> > fix
> > the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave up
> > and
> > reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to
> > the
> > login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the
> > keyboard
> > wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am
> > ready
> > to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the users.
> > Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server information
> > if
> > I did that or not? Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Josh
>
>
>

Merv
Thu Jul 07 14:22:49 CDT 2005

Yes, that's correct. You need to be on the same service pack. While SBS
SP1a includes SP4, to eliminate any other potential problems, it may be best
for you to stay with plain vanilla SP4 (if that's what you had installed at
the time of your system state backup). The other fixes and features of SBS
SP1a can be added after you get your server back up and running.

Also, when you do this type of operation, you really should have a full
backup of your server in case things go bad. An image of your server using
Ghost 2003 or similar would be even better. This way, you can get back to
square one easily if things don't go as planned. Also, Windows 2000 may
suffer from the SFN/LFN problem (short file name/long file name) during
restore and an image gets around this.

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================
"JGraham" <JGraham@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:70F3D46D-B489-4620-ADB0-8275CA68EB64@microsoft.com...
> Hello Merv,
>
> Thanks for getting back to me. Just one question on that though. I read in
> the disaster recovery guide that when you restore your system state you
> need
> to be on the same service pack as you were originally. Is that correct? So
> if
> the machine had SP4 on it when I did the backup, I would need to restore
> to a
> machine that has SP4 and not another service pack on it right? Just want
> to
> make sure I read it right the guide right... thanks again for the help!
>
> "Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Just a thought... If you apply SP4 before you install SBS 2000, SBS may
>> have
>> not play nice with the service pack and this may have caused a problem
>> when
>> you restored the system state. In general, SBS likes to be installed the
>> way it comes on the SBS CDs. Try again, this time installing Win2K then
>> SBS
>> 2000 and finally SP4 (or better yet, SBS SP1a which includes SP4 and
>> other
>> fixes).
>>
>> --
>> Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
>> ===================================
>>
>> "JGraham" <JGraham@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:9339544C-0078-48AB-8494-005559EE8110@microsoft.com...
>> > Hey guys,
>> >
>> > Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS
>> > 2000
>> > servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
>> > reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried
>> > to
>> > restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a
>> > BSOD
>> > on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode,
>> > safe
>> > mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed
>> > to
>> > fix
>> > the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave
>> > up
>> > and
>> > reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to
>> > the
>> > login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the
>> > keyboard
>> > wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am
>> > ready
>> > to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the
>> > users.
>> > Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server
>> > information
>> > if
>> > I did that or not? Thanks in advance!
>> >
>> > Josh
>>
>>
>>

MitchellAyers
Thu Jul 07 15:44:03 CDT 2005

I have had the exact experience this past weekend. After many hours on the
phone with MS PPS, the problem was not resolved. I have had to to a complete
reinstall of the server and salvage what I could from the desktop profiles
(application settings, favorites, etc).

There are some steps that I might reccomend for the workstaions if you are
interested to salvage some of the users info.

As far as exchange, I am having good luck with restoring public folders and
individual mailboxes using Veritas BE. I have not tried a total Information
Store restore.

"JGraham" wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
> Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS 2000
> servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
> reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried to
> restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a BSOD
> on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode, safe
> mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed to fix
> the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave up and
> reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to the
> login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the keyboard
> wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am ready
> to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the users.
> Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server information if
> I did that or not? Thanks in advance!
>
> Josh

JGraham
Fri Jul 08 10:52:02 CDT 2005

I'm actually in the process of getting ready to do an image of that drive
when I read this. :) My worry is that now that I have spent so much time
rebuilding this server again back to almost normal - when I do the restore on
AD again it will kill my system. I really don't want to go through the 4
hours of rebuilding it again. GAH. Like I said when I tried to do the AD
restore the first time I couldn't get back into the system at all. Hopefully
it will work this time. Wish me luck!

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" wrote:

> Yes, that's correct. You need to be on the same service pack. While SBS
> SP1a includes SP4, to eliminate any other potential problems, it may be best
> for you to stay with plain vanilla SP4 (if that's what you had installed at
> the time of your system state backup). The other fixes and features of SBS
> SP1a can be added after you get your server back up and running.
>
> Also, when you do this type of operation, you really should have a full
> backup of your server in case things go bad. An image of your server using
> Ghost 2003 or similar would be even better. This way, you can get back to
> square one easily if things don't go as planned. Also, Windows 2000 may
> suffer from the SFN/LFN problem (short file name/long file name) during
> restore and an image gets around this.
>
> --
> Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
> ===================================
> "JGraham" <JGraham@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:70F3D46D-B489-4620-ADB0-8275CA68EB64@microsoft.com...
> > Hello Merv,
> >
> > Thanks for getting back to me. Just one question on that though. I read in
> > the disaster recovery guide that when you restore your system state you
> > need
> > to be on the same service pack as you were originally. Is that correct? So
> > if
> > the machine had SP4 on it when I did the backup, I would need to restore
> > to a
> > machine that has SP4 and not another service pack on it right? Just want
> > to
> > make sure I read it right the guide right... thanks again for the help!
> >
> > "Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> Just a thought... If you apply SP4 before you install SBS 2000, SBS may
> >> have
> >> not play nice with the service pack and this may have caused a problem
> >> when
> >> you restored the system state. In general, SBS likes to be installed the
> >> way it comes on the SBS CDs. Try again, this time installing Win2K then
> >> SBS
> >> 2000 and finally SP4 (or better yet, SBS SP1a which includes SP4 and
> >> other
> >> fixes).
> >>
> >> --
> >> Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
> >> ===================================
> >>
> >> "JGraham" <JGraham@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:9339544C-0078-48AB-8494-005559EE8110@microsoft.com...
> >> > Hey guys,
> >> >
> >> > Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS
> >> > 2000
> >> > servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
> >> > reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried
> >> > to
> >> > restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a
> >> > BSOD
> >> > on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode,
> >> > safe
> >> > mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed
> >> > to
> >> > fix
> >> > the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave
> >> > up
> >> > and
> >> > reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to
> >> > the
> >> > login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the
> >> > keyboard
> >> > wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am
> >> > ready
> >> > to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the
> >> > users.
> >> > Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server
> >> > information
> >> > if
> >> > I did that or not? Thanks in advance!
> >> >
> >> > Josh
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

JGraham
Fri Jul 08 10:57:04 CDT 2005

Hey Mitchell,

Ya, this problem is driving me crazy. I have everything else on the server
running perfectly right now, except pulling all of the AD and Exchange
information back in. I'll take any help I can get, if you would like to email
me at jgraham@anexix.com, I would really appreciate it. Thanks again!

Josh

"Mitchell Ayers" wrote:

> I have had the exact experience this past weekend. After many hours on the
> phone with MS PPS, the problem was not resolved. I have had to to a complete
> reinstall of the server and salvage what I could from the desktop profiles
> (application settings, favorites, etc).
>
> There are some steps that I might reccomend for the workstaions if you are
> interested to salvage some of the users info.
>
> As far as exchange, I am having good luck with restoring public folders and
> individual mailboxes using Veritas BE. I have not tried a total Information
> Store restore.
>
> "JGraham" wrote:
>
> > Hey guys,
> >
> > Got kind of an urgent problem. I wanted to reinstall one of our SBS 2000
> > servers. I backed up the system state and exchange using NT Backup. I
> > reinstalled W2k, updated to SP4, and reinstalled SBS 2000. When I tried to
> > restore the System State I keep getting errors. The first time I got a BSOD
> > on boot up after the restor. I cound't get into anything (Safe mode, safe
> > mode w/ command, directory services restore mode), and nothing seemed to fix
> > the problem. I tried repairing and still had the same problem. I gave up and
> > reformatted, did the whole thing over and next time it would boot up to the
> > login screen, but this time I didn't have a mouse pointer, and the keyboard
> > wouldn't work. (It worked outside of windows - during boot) I almost am ready
> > to just create a new AD with all of the same info and recreate the users.
> > Would it still be a possibility to restore the Exchange server information if
> > I did that or not? Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Josh