How to Create Restore Point in Windows Server 2008 (R2)

Can I create restore point in Windows Server 2008 (R2)

Restore point is a snapshot of your Windows system files, program files, registry settings, and hardware drivers. It is included in Windows Client OS like Windows 10/8/7, and can be used to perform a system restore - undo changes you made and restore the computer to previous date. But can you create a restore point in Windows Server 2008 (R2) and other newer OS?

Unfortunately, Windows Server 2008 (R2) does not come with restore point and system restore features, nor do other server-based computers. But Windows Server does include system state backup feature to achieve similar purpose, you can create system state backup with Windows Server Backup and Wbadmin to protect the OS of Server 2008(R2)/2012(R2)/2016/2019/2022, etc.

What a Windows Server 2008 (R2) restore point should include

System restore point in Windows Server 2008 (R2) refers to the System State backup, which is a copy of all related information of your operating system and configurations. According to Microsoft, a System State backup includes the following things.

• Boot files, including the system files, and all files protected by Windows File Protection (WFP)

• Active Directory (on a domain controller only)

• Sysvol (on a domain controller only)

• Certificate Services (on certification authority only)

• Cluster database (on a cluster node only)

• The registry

• Performance counter configuration information

• Component Services Class registration database

Then, keep reading below and learn how to create system state backup in Windows Server 2008 (R2). 

How to create Windows Server 2008 (R2) restore point easily 

As mentioned earlier, there are two ways to help you create Windows Server 2008 (R2) restore point, namely using Windows Server Backup and Wbadmin command line utility. For professional, it's suggested to use command line, since it's more flexible.

 Method 1: Create restore point in Windows Server 2008 (R2) via Windows Server Backup

Here you will use Windows Server Backup,  a fantastic built-in backup and restore software in server-based operating system, to create system restore point in Windows 2008 (R2). 

Then, without further ado, let’s get started to create a system state backup right now with the following steps.

Step 1. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Windows Server Backup subsequently, then you will enter the main page of it. Click Backup Once... under the Actions tab. If you want to create system state backup regularly, you can choose Backup Schedule…option.

Step 2. Tick Different options and click next. 

Step 3. Choose Full server option in this window and click Next. It contains all your server data, applications, and system state, so you can use it to do full system recovery together with system state recovery.

Then click Add Items, and tick System state option in the popping out window.

Tip: Alternatively, you can also choose Full server to create a full system image backup as restore point, which can prevent your computer from suffering any disasters, such as startup failure.

Step 4. Specify your destination path to save your backup. You can choose any local drive recognized by your computer or save to network share.

Step 5. Click the drop-down list and choose a backup destination to save the image. Then, click Next and Backup to create system restore point in Windows Server 2008 R2. 

Method 2: Create Windows Server 2008 (R2) restore point with Wbadmin 

Here you will use Wbadmin command line utility to create Windows Server 2008 (R2) restore point, which is user friendly to IT technicians. But it’s complicated for most users. You could consider using Windows Server Backup. 

Step 1. Click Start Menu and type cmd in the search box, then run command prompt as administrator.

Step 2. Type a command based on the following syntax and press Enter to execute system state backup.

wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:X: -quiet

Notes: 
• The X: paremeter refers to the drive letter of the partition you want to save your backup
• The -quiet parameter can undo the prompt before you start backup. That's to say, if you do not type-quiet parameter, you will receive a prompt “Do you want to start the backup operation?” and you need to type Y to ensure that you want to perform this operation. To avoid it, you should add –quiet parameter at the end of command.

That’s all for how to create a system state backup in Windows Server 2008 (R2), you can use either backup software with GUI-based interface or command line. But this kind of backup only works out small failure unless you create a full server backup. And you may feel disappointed when your computer is in the event of serious problem like boot failure.

At this case, all you need is a full system backup that contains the operating system and boot-related partition(s) required to start Windows. Please continue to learn in the next part.

How to create a full system backup to avoid system crashes 

AOMEI Backupper Server is professional backup software for Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012(R2), 2008(R2), 2003, and Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, etc. With it, you create a full system backup, disk backup, or other backup types in simple steps. So you can rescue the computer from any disaster, even if it fails to boot. Below are some features to make it more convenient:

You could create a schedule backup in daily/weekly/monthly, specific events like system shutdown, or automatically backup USB flash drive with USB plug in feature.

You could manage backup disk professional with rich backup features, such as, compression, spliting, full/incremental/differential, automatic backup cleanup, etc.Thus, you don't need to worry about the Windows server backup disk full issue.

You could create a Windows Server 2008 bootable USB just in case your computer fails. 

You could perform Windows Server backup and restore to new hard drive, computer, even with different hardware. In advanced edition, you are still able to restore system to multiple computers over network at a time. 

Then, let’s have a closer look at how to create a restore point in server 2008(R2) with AOMEI Backupper Server. You can backup server 2008 (R2) to any device as long as it can be detected by your server computer, such as, external hard drive, network drive, cloud storage etc. Please connect the device in advance.

Step 1. Download the server backup software -AOMEI Backupper Server and install it. To backup multiple server computers, try AOMEI Backupper TechPlus edition.

Then, launch it and click Backup > System Backup subsequently in the deep-blue screen. After that, it will select the system partition and boot-related partition(s) required to start windows.

Step 2. Click where the arrow point and choose the desired destination path to save image backup. You can backup Windows Server 2008 (R2) to external hard drive, USB, network drive, NAS, etc.

Step 3. Click “Options”, “Schedule Backup” , and “Backup Scheme” customize backup settings and manage disk space. Then, confirm all options you choose and click "Start Backup" to create a full system backkup in Windows Server 2008 (R2). 

About Options: 

You can comment, enable email notification and encryption for backup, set compression level, create pre/post-command etc.

About Backup Schedule:

• Daily/weekly/monthly backup: Select daily backup, weekly backup or monthly backup according to the change frequency and backup system regularly and track changes of the backed up files. For off-peak hour backup, please check the Wake the computer to run scheduled tasks option. 
• Event triggers: To backup system without interfering any of your operations, "System Shutdown" in Event triggers is recommended.
• USB plug in: To automatically backup to or from USB when it's plugged in, please set a scheduled backup task with "USB plug in" feature.

About Backup Scheme:

• Incremental or differential backup: Both features save you much backup time and disk space by backing up only changes. Note the incremental backup is the default option. 
• Automatic Backup Cleanup: This feature fully resolve backup disk full issue by deleting old backup automatically and always keep the latest backups with By quality, By time, By daily/weekly/monthly. Among them, the last option is tiered and it keeps backups for the longest time.

Tips:
• All the success backup task will be listed under the Home tab. If you want to make changes to a task, please select the backup task and coresponding options.
• You could switch to the Tools tab and select Create Bootable Media. It helps you restore server 2008(R2) to previous date without booting into Windows or when your computer refuses to boot.
• To protect data safely in multiple computers or within a company,  you could create a portable version of AOMEI Backupper and backup system without installing this software again. Try AOMEI Backupper Technician or TechPlus edition. 

Conclusion

In fact, you can create a restore point in Windows Server 2008 (R2) with the help of system state backup feature and it is also available on server 2003/2012/2016/2019/2022 and its R2 version. Please note this feature does not help if your system crashes and want to get it back quickly. So you'd better create a full system backup with AOMEI Backupper Server.

In addition, this software is still a server cloning software to help you clone Windows Server 2008, clone server 2011 to new hard drive, clone Windows Server 2012 R2 hard drive, clone c drive in server 2019 etc. This is another form of backup and restore and it’s easier. You can simply replace hard drive and boot from it without having to restore the image first.