Recovering from a Disaster using WinPE › Overview of Windows PE Disaster Recovery

Overview of Windows PE Disaster Recovery

WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environment) is a minimal operating system that lets you prepare computers for Windows installations, copy disk images from network shared folders, and initiate Windows setup. Arcserve Backup lets you recover computers running the following operating systems from a disaster using Windows PE recovery CDs:

• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows 8
• Windows Server 2012

To create Windows PE recovery disks, Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit 8.1 (Windows ADK 8.1) or Windows Automation Installation Kit (Windows AIK) must be installed on the Arcserve Backup primary server or stand-alone server.

Be aware of the following considerations:

• When you install Windows ADK on computers running Windows 8, verify that the following Windows ADK features are selected:
  • Deployment Tools
  • Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE)
• The installation of Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) is not supported on Windows Server 2003 operating systems. As a result, you cannot generate Windows PE recovery CDs on Arcserve Backup servers running Windows Server 2003.
• You can use traditional disaster recovery methods (for example, using machine specific disks) to recover computers running Windows Server 2003, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 from a disaster.
• You cannot use traditional disaster recovery methods on computers running Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. You must use Windows PE recovery CDs to recover computers running these operating systems from a disaster.
• It is required to install Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) when you use the WinPE image to restore virtual machines on VMware Workstation 7 or ESX Server 4.0/4.1. You can download AIK from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5753.

  The following operating systems that AIK supports are:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2
  • Microsoft Windows Vista SP1
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 family
  • Microsoft Windows 7 family
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 family

  Note: By default, if both ADK and AIK are installed, the Create Bootable Image utility uses AIK to create WinPE images.

• When you use WinPE to perform a disaster recovery, you may not be able to connect to the backup server or the disaster recovery information (DRIF) location through the network. To correct this behavior, perform one of the following tasks:
  • Copy the following directory from the primary or stand-alone backup server to a USB drive.

    ASBU_Home\DR\PrimaryServerName\AgentName 
    

    Then complete the disaster recovery process and select the DRIF from the USB drive.

  • Copy the following directory from the primary or stand-alone backup server to a machine-specific disk (MSD).

    ASBU_Home\DR\PrimaryServerName\AgentName
    

    Then complete the disaster recovery process and select the DRIF from the MSD.

    Note: When the MSD does not contain sufficient free disk space (1.44 MB) to copy the DRIF, do not copy the directory named DRV to the MSD.