Restore Files or Applications not supported in Windows PE

Question

Hello,
I would like to restore a few files using Windows Server Backup coming with Windows Server 2008 R2. The OS is not booting so I started Windows PE. I use WBadmin with the option -itemtype:file to start the recovery but WBadmin claims that it is not supported to recover files or applications in Windows Preexecution Environment.
Is there a trick to overcome this flaw?
By the way, I installed Windows Server 2008 R2 in a VHD and now try to figure out how to backup and restore the OS. "WBadmin start backup -allCritical" is not possible. "WBadmin start backup -include:c:" works, but as I explained it is not possible to restore the VHD file in Win PE.
- Jiriki

Answer 1

Hi Jiriki ,
For working around the limitation of restoring files in WinPE., you can:
          1)       Boot from Win7 R2/Client setup DVD (same architecture as installed OS).
2)      Goto Repair Windows -> Cmd prompt (WinRE).
3)      Run diskpart.exe -> list vol, you can identify the drive where backup is stored.
4)      Go to the location where VHD’s are kept (WindowsImageBackup\<computername>\Backup…\*.vhd
5)      Mount the vhd’s through Diskpart -> select vdisk file=”<vhd-file>”, attach vdisk.
6)      List volume to get the drive letter of mounted VHD partition.
7)      Copy required files from mounted VHD volume to the recovery target. xcopy.exe /cherky <mountedvhd>:\... <recovery-target>\
E.g: Xcopy /cherky G:\*.ps1 C:\ . Then run detach vdisk
Note that this will only work for windows server 2008 R2 WinPe , not in Windows Server 2008.
- Suhas Rao [MSFT]