Domain Controller Restore - Domain Could Not Be Contacted.

[boston33]

Hello,

We are required to do restore tests on our Windows 2003 Domain Controllers. The restore computer is using different hardware.

We created a Windows 2003 test server on a workgroup. The computer is on a separate test lan. We restarted into Directory Service Restore Mode. We restore C:\Windows and the system state. We copied the original hal.dll file to C:\Windows\System32. We restarted the test server normally. It reaches the desktop. If we open the Active Direct Users and Computers console, we receive this message,"Naming information cannot be located because: The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted."

Do you have any advice on this issue? Thanks for your help.

 

[ouzojd]

I just recently dis some test restores on different hardware. What worked for me is as follows:

Created a clean install of same OS, SP partition sizes etc.

Renamed to same name and IP.

Checked all drivers were working

Made sure my backup server and new server could ping each other by name and ip.

Restored C:\ and system state ( i used backup exec for this)

Installed any drivers it required before rebooting.

Rebooted back into windows

Rebooted into directory services mode then did an authoratative restore from an NT backup of the System State.
Rebooted and all was good.

If you are only recovering 1 DC and you have multiple in your production environment there is some additional things to do like clean up metadata for the DC you're not recovering.


Hope it all works.