CT Droid
CT Bot
Well, the intuitiveness and ease of use of WHS had to end some time...and it ends with one of the most important functions...a full system restore.
Unlike individual backups, there's no obvious way to initiate a full system restore for a client PC. So, I went to the web. The web indicated that somewhere on the WHS system, there was an .iso, and you'd have to burn that to a CD, and then you boot from that. And from there its intuitive.
So I started just browsing on the WHS to see if I could find it. And hey, there under Software, is "Home PC Restore CD" directory. Woot, that wasn't so hard! Oh wait...why is there only a readme in here?? :huh: Ok, so the readme file tells me to go to a web address and download the Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD (personally, I think they could have stuck another "Home" in there somewhere...maybe before CD). So I download that, and it's actually an install program, and the INSTALLER tells me "Welcome to the Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD (Dual Boot) Setup." :huh: Dual boot....wth is that? Nothing where I downloaded it from microsoft indicated this was for dual boot. Maybe it doesn't matter...but if so, then putting (Dual Boot) in the name just seriously confuses the issue.
Running the software did indeed create an .iso, which is also named _dual. But I guess I'll have to give it a try.
Let me say that (other than the confusing effort of finding the restore CD) this is the first time where WHS didn't do what I expected, but in a negative way. You see, I had thought that in order to restore a PC, you had to burn a CD off of WHS first , and that the restore CD
would be tailor made for the PC you were restoring.
That was part of the reason I couldn't understand all the hoopla about having the correct drivers ready when booting from the CD. I mean, WHS has all the drivers for the target PC already, so once you burn the restore CD, they should all be on there, waiting, ready to be installed as the CD is booted. But....instead, they use a generic restore CD, and you have to use a USB drive to *copy* the drivers over at the specified point in the restore process. Now, I'll give it to WHS, they put all the drivers you need for the system in a convenient location so you can copy them to your USB drive when needed....at least they do that much. But I still think it would have made more sense to have to burn a PC-specific CD when looking to do a system restore. That restore CD doesn't have to contain any of the backup info...that would still all be downloaded from WHS. But it could contain the drivers and such. So you'd only need to burn that CD once per PC, unless you changed something like the network card (which who does that anymore anyway?)....and even then, worst case, you're talking a wasted CD. These things cost pennies.
This thread is not open. If you wish to respond, please respond using the original blog entry link. View the original blog entry
Unlike individual backups, there's no obvious way to initiate a full system restore for a client PC. So, I went to the web. The web indicated that somewhere on the WHS system, there was an .iso, and you'd have to burn that to a CD, and then you boot from that. And from there its intuitive.
So I started just browsing on the WHS to see if I could find it. And hey, there under Software, is "Home PC Restore CD" directory. Woot, that wasn't so hard! Oh wait...why is there only a readme in here?? :huh: Ok, so the readme file tells me to go to a web address and download the Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD (personally, I think they could have stuck another "Home" in there somewhere...maybe before CD). So I download that, and it's actually an install program, and the INSTALLER tells me "Welcome to the Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD (Dual Boot) Setup." :huh: Dual boot....wth is that? Nothing where I downloaded it from microsoft indicated this was for dual boot. Maybe it doesn't matter...but if so, then putting (Dual Boot) in the name just seriously confuses the issue.
Running the software did indeed create an .iso, which is also named _dual. But I guess I'll have to give it a try.
Let me say that (other than the confusing effort of finding the restore CD) this is the first time where WHS didn't do what I expected, but in a negative way. You see, I had thought that in order to restore a PC, you had to burn a CD off of WHS first , and that the restore CD
would be tailor made for the PC you were restoring.
That was part of the reason I couldn't understand all the hoopla about having the correct drivers ready when booting from the CD. I mean, WHS has all the drivers for the target PC already, so once you burn the restore CD, they should all be on there, waiting, ready to be installed as the CD is booted. But....instead, they use a generic restore CD, and you have to use a USB drive to *copy* the drivers over at the specified point in the restore process. Now, I'll give it to WHS, they put all the drivers you need for the system in a convenient location so you can copy them to your USB drive when needed....at least they do that much. But I still think it would have made more sense to have to burn a PC-specific CD when looking to do a system restore. That restore CD doesn't have to contain any of the backup info...that would still all be downloaded from WHS. But it could contain the drivers and such. So you'd only need to burn that CD once per PC, unless you changed something like the network card (which who does that anymore anyway?)....and even then, worst case, you're talking a wasted CD. These things cost pennies.
This thread is not open. If you wish to respond, please respond using the original blog entry link. View the original blog entry
