How can I enabled Server backup on my Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials server?

Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is provided only through specific OEM.  As such some OEM providers have chosen to disable the inbuilt backup utility that is used to backup the server itself.  The reason vendors have chosen to do this is due to the fact that the Windows Backup utility does not support source drives or destination drives greater than 2TB in size.  Therefore be advised that executing this may void any support you might get from the OEM vendor itself.

1. Open Regedit

2. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows Server\ServerBackup   as the screenshot below shows

3. Delete the ProviderDisabled entry and close Regedit

4. Open up Services.msc

5. Find the “Windows Server Server Backup Service” entry as the screenshot below shows

6. Change the service from Disabled to Automatic and Start the service and then close the Services console

7. Open the Dashboard from the link on the desktop

8. Navigate to the computers tab on the console and right click on the server computer

9. Run the Setup Backup for this Server wizard and follow the bouncing ball.

If you attempt to select a source drive that is larger than 2TB to backup, you will get the error message below.  This reinforces the restrictions that I mentioned at the start of this article.

Tags: Backup, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials

This entry was posted on Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 10:00 pm and is filed under FAQs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.