Table of Contents Backup / Restore Windows System State... 2 Supported versions... 2 Requirements and recommendations... 2 1.1 Overview... 4 1.2 How to backup Windows System State... 5 1.2.1 For Windows XP, 2003 / R2... 6 1.2.2 For Windows Server 2008 / R2, SBS 2011, Server 2012... 7 1.3 How to restore Windows System State... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3.1 For Windows XP, 2003 / R2... 8 1.3.2 For Windows 2008 / R2, SBS 2011, Server2012... 9 1.3.3 For Windows 2008 / R2 Domain Controller... 10
1 Backup / Restore Windows System State This chapter describes in details how to backup and restore Windows System State with Polaris Backup Professional. 1.1 Supported versions Please refer to Polaris requirements for a list of the supported versions. 1.2 Requirements and recommendations Please note: Windows XP and Server 2003 are no longer supported by Microsoft. As there will be no further updates to these operating systems it is recommend that you install a newer Operating System that can be updated as required. For System State backup of
2 Windows XP, Server 2003 R2 Please ensure that the following requirements or recommendations are met: 1. Polaris Backup Professional is installed on the computer to be backed up. 2. Sufficient disk spaces are required for the temporary directory (usually of size around 2 GB). 3. To configure the temp drive, select Options Choose the system state backup set from the drop down menu if more than 1 backup set exists, then select Options and Change. Although the system drive can be selected, it is better if the temp directory resides on a nonsystem drive such as D: or E: For System State backup of Windows 2008 R2, SBS 2011 or Server 2012, please ensure that the following requirements or recommendations are met: 4. Polaris Backup Professional version 6.3 or above is installed on the computer to be backed up. 5. The system volume must be formatted with NTFS. 6. Sufficient disk spaces are required for the temporary directory (usually of size around 10 GB). 7. The following Windows Features are installed on the client computer (under Server Manager): Windows Server Backup Features Windows Server Backup Command line Tool Windows PowerShell 8. Limitations on the temporary directory: Temporary directory must be a local or USB drive. Temporary directory can be a non-critical or critical drive. Temporary directory can only be set to the root of a drive. Shadow Copies storage location of temporary directory must be set to local. Please refer to the following Polaris Help Centre article for details. HUhttps://help.Polaris.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2869U
9. It is recommended that the temporary directory be configured on a local drive 10. The current virtual hard disk specification limits the size of a virtual hard disk to be 2040 GB (2 TB), which can fit a volume of size 2040 GB minus 2 MB. For details, please refer to: http://blogs.technet.com/b/ranjanajain/archive/2010/03/23/virtualhard-disk-vhd-architecture-explained.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/dd183729%28v=ws.10%29.aspx 2.1 Overview The following steps are performed during a backup job: 11. Connection from the backup client to the backup server is established. Download the server file list from the backup server. Commands are issued to create the System State data: Windows XP, 2003 (Ntbackup) Windows Server 2008, SBS 2011, Server 2012 (Wbadmin) System State data is temporarily stored in the temporary directory specified in the backup set. Server and local file lists are compared to determine which file will be uploaded Delta file is generated for modified file (if necessary). Data are encrypted, compressed, and uploaded to the backup server. System State data is removed from the temporary directory specified in the backup set. Backup completed successfully.
2.2 How to backup Windows System State Refer to the following instructions to backup Windows System State:
3 For Windows XP, 2003 / R2 12. Login to the backup application's user interface. Select the [Backup Settings] button and the Backup Set Wizard. button to start the New Create a System State Backup set by selecting [System State Backup] from the backup set type dropdown menu. Select [Next] to proceed. Configure a backup schedule for unattended backups. Select an encryption setting for your backup set. Press the [OK] button to complete the configuration of backup set. Scheduled backup will run automatically at the configured schedule time. Click [Backup] button on the left panel to perform a backup immediately.
4 For Windows Server 2008 / R2, SBS 2011, Server 2012 1. Login to the backup application's user interface. 2. Select the [Backup Settings] button and the button to start the New Backup Set Wizard. 3. Create a System State Backup set by selecting [System State Backup] from the backup set type dropdown menu. 4. Select [Next] to proceed. 5. Configure a backup schedule for unattended backups. Note: Multiple backup schedules of different types can be configured for the same backup set. 6. Select an encryption setting for your backup set. 7. Press the [OK] button to complete the configuration of backup set. 8. Configure the temporary directory of the System State backup set. 9. On the Polaris Backup Professional main menu, press [Backup Setting], then [Options]. 10. Click [Change] and select the temporary volume for backup. 11. Scheduled backup will run automatically at the configured schedule time. 12. Click [Backup] button on the left panel to perform a backup immediately.
5 Restore Windows System State For Windows XP, 2003 / R2 Refer to the following instructions to restore Windows System State on Windows XP, Server 2003 / R2: 13. Install Polaris Backup Professional on the machine to be restored to. 14. Login to the backup application's user interface. 15. Select the [Restore] button and the corresponding backup set. 16. Select the System State file (SystemState.bkf) to be restored and its restore destination. 17. Open NTBackup, in the Windows Start menu, click [Run ] and type in ntbackup. 18. Press [Next] and select [Restore files and settings] 19. Click [Browse], browse to the SystemState.bkf file which you have restored via Polaris Backup Professional, then press [OK]. 20. Expand and select the corresponding System State file from the left panel, press [Next] afterward. 21. Review the settings then press [Finish] to begin the restore process. 22. The restore process is now completed.
6 Restore Windows System State For Windows 2008 / R2, SBS 2011, Server2012 Refer to the following instructions to restore Windows System State on Windows Server 2008 / R2, SBS 2011, Server2012: 23. Install Polaris Backup Professional on the machine to be restored to. 24. Login to the backup application's user interface. 25. Select the [Restore] button and the corresponding backup set. 26. Select the System State file to be restored and its restore destination. 27. To view the backup version identifier, run the following command in the command prompt as administrator. > wbadmin get versions 28. To restore system state, run the following command in command prompt as administror. > wbadmin start systemstaterecovery - version:<versionidentifier> - backuptarget:<backupdestinationvolume> Eg: > wbadmin start systemstaterecovery -version:09/24/2015-09:16 -backuptarget:g: 29. Press Y to confirm the operations. After that, you need to wait for the restore, it may take several minutes to hours.. 30. After the recovery is completed, Click Y to reboot the computer.
7 Restore Windows System State For Windows 2008 / R2 Domain Controller Refer to the following instructions to restore Windows System State on Windows Server 2008 / R2 Domain Controller: Important: Authoritative restore of Windows 2008 Domain Controller is required only if you need to restore deleted Active Directories objects. Please follow the instructions below to restore a system state backup to a Windows 2008 Domain Controller: 31. Reboot the Windows Server 2008 / R2 Domain Controller in Directory Service Repair Mode (DSRM): Add the safeboot option to the default boot loader. In command prompt, type in the following command: >bcdedit /set safeboot dsrepair Reboot the computer. 32. Perform the restore on the Domain Controller: Open command prompt and type the following: >wbadmin get versions This will list all the known backups available. Type the following command to perform an authoritative restore: >wbadmin start systemstaterecovery version:<backup_version> -authsysvol For non-authoritative restore, please type the following command: >wbadmin start systemstaterecovery version:<backup_version> -authsysvol
Backup version is the identifier of one of the backup snapshots listed in previous step. 33. Reboot the Windows Server 2008 / R2 Domain Controller in Normal Mode: Remove the safeboot option to the default boot loader. In command prompt, type in the following command: >Bcdedit /deletevalue safeboot Reboot the computer. 34. The restore process is now completed.