Reinstalled windows server 2012 now activation won't work

[dslabbekoorn]

My system drive was failing and I couldn't clone it for the life of me.  Put in a new 120GB SSD and installed windows clean on it.  Was unable to deactivate license before I re-installed WSE2012.  How can I get the activation back?  Also, can I somehow still use the existing client computer backups (on a separate drive not in the pool) with the new install or am I doomed to backup all the clients all over again? (Groan)

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Well, you're license for StableBit DrivePool is ready to be activated, actually. So that should let you activate just fine. If it doesn't, please head to https://stablebit.com/Contact and open up a ticket and we'll get that resolved for you.

 

As for hte client computer backups, yes you definitely can. If it doesn't let you move the folder to the existing one... there is a registry hack that you can do.

Stop the client backup service on the server (there may be 2-3 services for it), and then open up Regedit.

Find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server\Backup". And find the "DatabaseName" string. Set this to whatever path you want it to be, and then start the services back up.

It may show the computers as "archived" but they will still be there.

 

Also, I'd highly recommend setting up a Server backup drive. It's a nightly and incremental backup. Would allow you to restore to a new drive without any issues. I've even used it to clone a disk to a SSD, as well.

[dslabbekoorn]

Thanks, that's a load off my mind.  I'll keep you posted.  I do have a backup drive for the server, but it was for a 200gb drive and my SSD was only 120gb.  Only 70gb was actually used, but the restore wouldn't work as the program claimed the partition was too small for the backup to fit and the original drive died before I could trim it down. Clean install and rebuild is tedious but best in the long run.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Yeah, unforutantely, it's pretty strict about that.

 

I know it may not help now... but in the future, if you have a drive with enough space space, you could create a VHD, mount it in the restore enviroment (Shift+F10 to bring up a command prompt), and then restore to that. Once that's done, you could clone the VHD's content to the SSD.

It's a bit convoluted, but it's an option that would work.

[dslabbekoorn]

Got it all installed and working, DNS was nearly all set up as the clients still had the correct settings, just had to add comcast and google as forwarders on the server.  Put PLEX on the server, set it up as a service and all my media is good to go and showing on all the Rokus.  Was able to get rid of some old folders that were unused but locked when the new OS released them, neater.  All clients reconnected and working.  New SSD in as OS drive, much faster for everything.  Have a new CPU coming (Quad core AMD Phenom II 965, and 4gb more memory to finish out the upgrade.  Hardest part will be mounting the new CPU heatsink, 3.4ghz CPU puts out 125 watts of heat, Cooler master 212 evo needed to cool that bad boy.  All done for about $110 US.  I love ebay.  This upgraed beast should be able to handle anything I can throw at it for the forseable future.  Oh by the way,  the old backups were "available" to restore from only.  Still had to run a full backup on each client to get a usuable backup set started in the dashboard.  Even the client backups seemed to go faster with the new setup.  Server backup now knows the SSD and I think I'm ready to relax a little now.  It's not a hobby it's an adventure!  Haven't tried setting up DCHP on the server yet, still reading up on it, don't know if it's better than the router doing it or not.  Never added a role to the server and started it up yet  Thanks for all your help,

[Christopher (Drashna)]

I'm glad to hear that everything has "settled down" and in. Glad to hear it!

 

As for DHCP.... I don't personally. You're router should be fine. But I would recommend configuring it to hand out your server's IP address as the primary DNS, then the router's IP as the secondary (or skip this) and the last entry as either your ISP's or Google's DNS servers (as most consumer routers have spots for 3 DNS servers). 

This ensures that your network will continue to have internet access in the case of your server crashing, and you can use the domain "properly" (and no autoconfigure).

 

And is this Server 2012 Essentials, or Server 2012R2 Essentials?

[dslabbekoorn]

It is WSE2012, and I currently have the router pointing to the server as primary DNS with itself as # 2 and comcast and google as #3 & 4.  Sounds like it isn't worth the effort to put DCHP on the server, which is what I was beginning to believe.  With only 4 computers, about that many Apple devices and the Rokus, it doesn't seem my network is complicated enough to warrent the more powerful server DCHP.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

That, and if the server is off for whatever reason, it causes a lot of the devices to lose their IP address temporarily. So more hassle than it's worth.