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Have been trying to find a feature similar to Windows 7/Xp system restore point, but all I was able to accomplish so far was a full massive disk backup using the Windows Backup Server.

Is there a better option, when you capture just the system state w/out any storage? To be able to restore to a point-in-time the OS image, not the entire disk.

It's a Windows 2008 R2 server, but I think the same would matter for the 2008 as well.

This is the forced-options prompt I'm getting while choosing a bare-metal backup and attempting to skip full volume backup. None of the sub-folders can be skipped either.

So instead of a system image that took some 70MB at most in Windows7, I can now only backup the entire humongous drive each time, which is not what we're trying to achieve at all.

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  • There are no Restore Points in any Windows Server OS. Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 0:53
  • Will the registry backup then suffice as a hack option? Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 2:05
  • What is it that you're trying to accomplish? Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 2:11
  • Recover to a point-in-time after bad installations, Win patches, account security changes, gpo overrides etc Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 3:00
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    You're trying hard to avoid a backup. Why not back up your server? Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 4:19

1 Answer 1

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  1. Install Windows Server Backup

  2. Run the Backup Once wizard

  3. Select "Different Options"

  4. Select "Custom"

  5. Click "Add Items"

  6. Select "Bare metal recovery"

  7. Proceed with the rest of the Wizard

That would be the minimum you need to back up the server to recover it from a critical failure.

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  • I don't want to be a Debbie Downer - but Bare Metal does just exactly the same - when you choose that option, it auto-checks the rest and then proceeds to backup the entire disk. Does this work the same way for you too? Attempts to uncheck the Volume Backup uncheck the Metal option, so these appear to be bound. Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 22:03
  • You stated in your comment that your goal was Recover to a point-in-time after bad installations, Win patches, account security changes, gpo overrides etc. That's what a bare metal restore will do for you. You keep stating that you don't want to perform a "massive disk backup" but unless you perform a bare metal restore capable backup then you won't be able to recover the server. A bare metal restore backup backs up everything that is required to restore and recover Windows. Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 23:15
  • So this is very different from Restore Point then. A text file I saved in Documents folder is not required to restore Windows, yet it is getting included in the "Bare Metal". I think it's then safe to state that System-only backup has been stripped from earlier Windows versions and replaced by Full-Volume backup. So if you need to skip data, another partition is needed. Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 23:59

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