Sysprep'd my DC...

Essendon

I installed the WDS role on my DC which was also a DNS and DHCP server. I created a capture image from the source image file and added a boot image and according to Conrad I could boot to this wim. What I overlooked was that he had a second machine that he was going to use the boot image to boot off. Additionally, he sysprep'd the second machine, not his DC. In my naivety, I sysprep'd my DC and restarted it thinking I would be able to boot normally. All I wanted to do was to see the capture image I created in the image options at boot-up.

Well now, I cant bootup my DC. I dont have a backup either, I know what you must be thinking. It says installation cannot proceed because of some unexpected error. I can of course install the whole OS again, but that'll be a fresh install. Any way I can revive my DC, maybe install the WDS role on one of my other DC's and somehow get the stricken machine to pull an image?

LukeQuake

I'd suggest getting a backup of underlying the data on the disk/s first, this will be crucial if you have to do a complete reinstall.

Following that I’d suggest giving a Windows Repair console a go, try running this:-

sfc /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=d:\ /OFFWINDIR=*:\windows (* being the drive of you windows install).

Let us know how you get on...

Essendon

I missed stating that the machines are VM's. How do I get a backup of the disk if I cannot get the machine to bootup? Is there a way I can use the stricken DC's disk on a working VM?

I am using VMware Workstation 6.0.

MentholMoose

I think the OS is irreparably hosed. If you run sysprep on a domain-joined OS, one result is that it is removed from the domain, which can't be good for a DC. So back up the data from the DC (if any) and rebuild it. It sounds like you have other DCs in the domain, so also clean up the remnants of the dead DC from the domain.

Essendon wrote: »

I missed stating that the machines are VM's. How do I get a backup of the disk if I cannot get the machine to bootup? Is there a way I can use the stricken DC's disk on a working VM?

I am using VMware Workstation 6.0.

So the DC was a VM? If so, just add its virtual disk to a working VM (use the existing disk option) and you can grab the data from it. If there was anything important, make a copy of the virtual disk before doing anything else.

Essendon

I opened the stricken DC's (serve2) hard disk on a working DC (server1), created a backup of the stricken DC's disk over the network on another VM (server9). Next I chose the Complete PC restore option, now when I attempt to access the backup over the network it throws an error saying: The network path was not found error code: 0x80070035. Windows Firewall is off, the service is also disabled. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled and the backup folder is shared to Everyone. Network Discovery is turned on and other machines can ping server9 (the VM that has the backup) and server9 can ping other machines. Wonder why it still throws the error?

MentholMoose

Essendon wrote: »

I opened the stricken DC's (serve2) hard disk on a working DC (server1), created a backup of the stricken DC's disk over the network on another VM (server9). Next I chose the Complete PC restore option, now when I attempt to access the backup over the network it throws an error saying: The network path was not found error code: 0x80070035. Windows Firewall is off, the service is also disabled. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled and the backup folder is shared to Everyone. Network Discovery is turned on and other machines can ping server9 (the VM that has the backup) and server9 can ping other machines. Wonder why it still throws the error?

Are you using Windows Server Backup? Just google the error code and there are various solutions you can try. What are you trying to restore anyway?

kriscamaro68

What happens when you try to access the data locally on the server you backed it up on and not over the network? Also I know VM Ware can do backups of the state of the os and saves them to restore points basically. Have you looked to see if that is working? If so just restore off that. If it isn't working then I would suggest using this option next time so you don't loose everything.

Essendon

kriscamaro68 wrote: »

What happens when you try to access the data locally on the server you backed it up on and not over the network? Also I know VM Ware can do backups of the state of the os and saves them to restore points basically. Have you looked to see if that is working? If so just restore off that. If it isn't working then I would suggest using this option next time so you don't loose everything.

I think you are referring to snapshots. This was a relatively new installation and I had not made any snapshots. The data is accessible on the local computer.

@MentholMoose: Yes, I am using Windows Server Backup. Googling the error was the first thing I did, have tried a few things. Checked DNS, shares on server1 are accessible on server9, confirmed Network Discovery is on.

Someone suggested to change the location of the backup image, which I did, now I dont get that error but I dont see the image in the Select the location of the backup dialog box. Weird.

Hyper-Me

You missed this tidbit in your MCSA studies?

Im not trying to be rude, but i thought the fact that a DC cant be sysprepped would be a pretty common knowledge fact for an MCSA or higher.

Essendon

Yeah, just as the sysprep finished I was like...Whoops, shouldnt have done that since it strips out the SID's. I have read a few articles on TechNet and expertsexchange which have cleared out my understanding of sysprep.

We'll leave it at this since I have deleted the VM's and created a completely new network. We all learn somehow, dont we?

Hyper-Me

Essendon wrote: »

Yeah, just as the sysprep finished I was like...Whoops, shouldnt have done that since it strips out the SID's. I have read a few articles on TechNet and expertsexchange which have cleared out my understanding of sysprep.

We'll leave it at this since I have deleted the VM's and created a completely new network. We all learn somehow, dont we?

They say that an expert is someone who has made every mistake there is to make.

So yeah, no biggie. It costs you a few hours setting up new VMs but in the end you take away a valuable lesson so it was likely worth it.