I installed WHS2011 onto my EX487 and has been running for two weeks now. I am backing up the system partition to a USB drive including a system drive 'image". I wanted to restore the system disc to an earlier state but I couldn't. I am quite surprised that MS did not consider to let headless units to restore their system partition. I asked this question to the Microsoft forums first. This is the response I got:

"If you install Windows Home Server 2011 yourself, you do so "locally", using directly connected monitor, keyboard, and mouse. You need to do your recovery the same way, as this is not a "Remotely administered server" as Microsoft defines it. It's probably possible, using the tools and information in the OPK, to create a remote restore capability of your own, but Microsoft doesn't expect people to upgrade their headless devices from V1 to Windows Home Server 2011, so they've made no provision for end user remote restores."

MS expects us to buy from a new system (OEM), not upgrade it on current OEM hardware. This is the relevant info from WHS online help:


Remotely administered server
In the model, the server is administered from a client computer after the Windows Home Server 2011 connector software is installed. This server recovery option requires that you run the server recovery process from a client computer on the same network. Because factory reset requires that a hardware-specific image be shipped with the server, the OEM must include a server recovery DVD when they ship the server from the factory.

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Restore the server from a backup

This option assumes that you configured server backup and that the server backup completed successfully at least one time prior to the server failure. Bare metal restore (BMR) supports recovery of the system drives only from a previous server backup. Following a BMR, the server is returned to the state that existed at the time of the backup that is used for the restore. This is typically the most recent backup, but in some cases it may be an earlier backup. Data recovery is done by using the Restore Files and Folders wizard after the system is restored.

Hi, that doesn't surprise me at all! WHS OEM hardware manufacturer ship recovery and restore DVD with their own hardware from which you can restore or do a full recovery of your server. Recovery or restore is handled by a x86 client computer connected to the same network as your server. If you decide to install another operating system on your headless server with an OEM disk, then it is not a supported method from Microsoft. That means you are on your own if any failure happens and need to reinstall your OS. As proposed in the response fom Microsoft, you can manage to do your own restore and recovery DVD like the original one shipped with your hardware. Only if you can do that, you will be able to use that disk and perform the recovery.

But, there is another option, of course not mentioned in the mail from Microsoft and I will share it with you. There is a user by the name of Cakalapati who manufactures a vga+ps2+serial cable that you can connect onto MSS, Acer and some others on a connector on the mainboard which will give you the opportunity to connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse so you will be able to run a server recovery the same way as if it would be a normal computer. In order to do that, you will need to either have a USB key or an external USB DVD-Rom.

Unless you have a very good knowledge about how to create a recovery and restore DVD like the one supplied, I can tell you it will be a lot of work because I have done some research. But, if you have the OPK package, it is possible to make one. For myself, I chose the option of buying the cable fo few bucks and not having an headache trying to make that DVD. And the cable option works really well at this!

Claude

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Microsoft MVP 2010 - Windows Home Server
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I wanted to follow-up this thread. My server began to hang at the reboot. I could not find out the cause without a VGA+PS2 debug cable you mentioned. I ended up buying one and found out that one of the Seagate 750gb drive with HP24 firmware had died. It would be impossible to find out the problem without a monitor and keyboard!