Laptop can't connect to WHS when restoring

[ericwish1]

I have a Windows Home Server that, up until now, I was under the impression that it worked fine. I say this because I have a desktop and laptop backed up on it and I have previously (successfully) restored my desktop. But I just tried restoring my laptop and I get an error that my laptop needs to be connected to the network and to make sure that my server is on (as if I didn't know that already). This error comes up after the driver install screen. I proceeded to follow the instructions for installing drivers and was able to get the networking drivers installed on my laptop and I still got the same error. I also tried hooking up and Ethernet cable from my router directly to my laptop and that still didn't do it. So if anyone knows how to fix this, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[ericwish1]

I should note that when I attempted to restore my laptop I installed both the wireless and the LAN driver to attempt this. And both times I tried this, my laptop was still not able to find my Windows Home Server.

 

[kegobeer]

Did you download the latest restore CD? Usually when I have issues restoring from my WHS, it's because I was using an old restore version. You might also need to find XP drivers for your NIC (never use the wireless - it's slow and not very dependable during a restore).

 

[ericwish1]

So do I just get that from the Microsoft site? The restore CD I was using was the one that came with my purchased version of Windows Home Server.

 

[kegobeer]

Go here and download the latest:

Download details: Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD

 

[ericwish1]

Is there a way to do the restore without having to use a CD, because my laptop doesn't have a CD drive. I figured there would be a way to boot from a flash drive? If so, could you/someone tell me how to do it?

 

[kegobeer]

Extract the ISO to your hard drive, then follow this guide to make a bootable flash drive:

Creating a Windows 7 Installation USB Drive on a Friday night - Using Windows Home Server

 

[ericwish1]

So, I tried that and for some reason every time I try booting from a removable drive it says "Reboot and Select proper boot device...". So it almost seems like I have to have an external CD drive.

 

[ericwish1]

It's been about 3 months and I still have not seen a response on here. I have downloaded the latest version of the restore CD and I did a test run to see if my laptop would restore. I used the Windows Home Server Drivers to install my ethernet connection as well as my wireless. I proceeded to attempt to connect to my WHS with a wired connection. After all that my laptop still cannot locate the server even if i do it manually and type in the name of my WHS. Can someone please help me out with this?

 

[LuKangSung]

I feel your pain

I put the hard drive into a working desktop and restored it that way. If it was your boot drive you need to do something with BCD from the command prompt. It took a month's supply of aspirin.

Good Luck