Performing a Non-Authoritative System State Restore for a Windows 2000 or 2003 Domain Controller

Important: Incorrectly restoring a computer's Windows 2000/2003 System State can make the computer unusable. We generally recommend that you restore the System State only when recovering the entire computer as part of a disaster recovery. See Restoring an Entire Computer and contact Customer Service.

If you are restoring System State for a Windows 2000/2003 domain controller and wish to perform a non-authoritative restore, you must start the computer in directory services safe mode, and run MyLiveVault to restore the System State data.

The Active Directory and Certificate Services cannot be running on the domain controller during the restore process.

Note: The ability to restore the System State on media may not be available to your Agent at this time. In this case, you will not see a Delivery tab on the Computer Restore form. Instead, you can restore the System State over the Internet. If you have questions, contact Customer Service.

To perform a non-authoritative System State restore for a domain controller

1. Decide if you want to have the restored System State delivered over the Internet (a Network restore) or on media (a Media restore):

   • If over the Internet: Go to step 2 below.

   • If on media: Follow steps 1 through 13 in Restoring System State for a Windows 2000 or 2003 System That Is Not a Domain Controller to request a Media restore of the computer's System State. After you receive the media containing the System State, go to step 2 below.

2. In MyLiveVault, suspend backup for the computer whose System State you are restoring.

3. Restart the computer in Directory Services Restore Mode, a special safe mode:

   1. Restart the computer.

   2. During the normal boot process, look for the following message at the bottom of the screen:

      For troubleshooting and advanced startup options for Windows 2000, press F8

      When this message is displayed, press F8. This message may only be displayed for a few moments; you must press F8 while it is displayed.

   3. From the Windows Advanced Options Menu, select Directory Services Restore Mode and press ENTER.

For more information about Directory Services Restore Mode, refer to your Windows 2000/2003 documentation.

4. When the computer finishes restarting, log in to Windows with local Administrator rights.

5. Restore the System State; your steps depend on the delivery method chosen:

   • If on media: When you receive the media, follow the steps in the document provided in the media package (either "Restoring Your Data From a NAS Device" or "Restoring Your Data From the CD-ROM"). These documents are also available from Restoring Your Data from Media. You will:

     1. Restore the System State from the media to your computer. It is automatically restored to its original location, overwriting the existing System State data on the computer.

     2. Restart the computer.

   • If over the Internet:

     1. Start MyLiveVault.

     2. On the MyLiveVault Home page, the All Computers form lists all the computers on your company account. Click Backup/Restore in the Action column for the Windows computer whose System State you want to restore.

     3. On the Computer Information form, click the Restore tab.

     4. In the New Restore section, click Restore Registry/System State.

     5. Click Restore.

     6. On the Computer Restore form, type a name for the System State restore job in the Name of restore box.

     7. In the Restore tab on the Computer Restore form, specify the version of the System State that you want to restore, either current or historic.

     8. Click the Delivery tab on the Computer Restore form, and click Network to restore your System State over the Internet.

     9. When you are done configuring your restore request, click Save.

     10. Review the information in the Computer Restore form's Properties and Specifications columns.

     11. Do one of the following:

         • Click Submit to accept the restore request and start the restore process.

         • Click Back to make changes to the restore request.

         • Click Cancel if you do not want to submit the restore request.

     12. Note the identification number assigned to this request, and click Done. This number is used in MyLiveVault with the restore job name you specified to uniquely identify this restore job.

     13. The restore job is automatically started, with the System State delivered over the Internet. You can track its progress in MyLiveVault. After the restore job completes, we will send an e-mail to the user who requested the restore notifying the requestor that the restore is complete.

     14. After the restore job completes, restart the computer.

6. In MyLiveVault, resume backup for this computer.

Related Information

Understanding System State and Registry Restore
Non-Authoritative Versus Authoritative Restore
Restoring the Windows 2000 or 2003 Cluster Database
Canceling a System State/Registry Restore Job
Restoring an Entire Computer