By Ivy / Last update April 15, 2021

How to restore Windows Server 2008(R2)to previous date?

“I have a need to be able to do a system restore on server 2008 (or R2). I thought they had some new shiny product for this, but I don't see anything. We want a way to roll back updates and configuration changes. Does Windows Server 2008 (R2) have System Restore? How do I restore my Windows Server 2008 (R2) to previous date? Any ideas?”

It’s a great pity that Windows Server 2008 and other server-based computer does not include System Restore feature. But you still can use other features to achieve the same goal, namely system state backup or full backup. The latter is more powerful, because it can rescue your computer even when it’s in a serious status or refuses to boot.

As for how to restore Windows Server 2008(R2) to a previous date, you can use Wbadmin command line or Windows Server Backup. Or you can directly restore system image with third-part server backup software – AOMEI Backupper Server. Three methods will be introduced in details later.

Please note that system state backup or full backup is the core of restoring Windows Server 2008(R2) to a previous state. Therefore, you need to ensure that you have at least one copy of backup image. If not, please create a Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 system state backup or full backup at first.

Method 1: Restore system state backup in Windows Server 2008 (R2) using command prompt

Here you will use Wbadmin (Wbadmin.exe) command line utility to restore system state backup in Windows Server 2008 R2. It’s applied to other system, including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Then, see below and I’ll walk you through the detailed steps.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box, right click the command prompt and run as administrator.

Step 2. Type the system state recovery command based on the following syntax and press enter to execute system state restore.

wbadmin start systemstaterecovery -version:versionIdentifier --backupTarget:Backup Destination location –machine:server name –quiet

Notes:
● If you do not know the version and the backup target of your backup, you can type wbadmin get versions to gain this information. 
● The backup destination location can be a drive letter, a volume GUID-based path, or a remote shared folder path. If you just have one backup, you can choose not to specify backup target. 
● If there are multiple computers backed up to the same location, you can use “-machine” switch to specify the server to be recovered.
● The “-quiet” switch means to run the backup without prompt.

Taking Version identifier at 01:46 on 8/17/2017 and backup target on removable media as an example, you can type the following command in CMD:

wbadmin start systemstaterecovery –version 08/17/2017-01:46

System State Recovery

Method 2: Restore system state backup in Windows Server 2008(R2) with Windows Server Backup

Here you will use Windows Server Backup to restore system state backup in server computer, it’s a GUI-based built-in backup and restore software for server 2003/2008(R2)/2012(R2)/2016/2019/2020. The detailed steps are below.

Step 1. Type windows server backup and select it from the result list. Then, you will see its main page, click Recover under the Actions tab.

Step 2. On the Getting Started page, select This server and click Next.

Get Started

Step 3. Select a backup to perform system state recovery and click Next. All the available backups will be shown in bold, you can select one of them.

Select Backup

Step 4. Tick System State when you are asked “What do you want to recover” and click Next.

Recover System State

Step 5. Tick Original location and click Next.

Recover to Original Location

Step 6. Click Recover to start the recovery process. Just Wait until the process is 100% completed and click Finish to exit. 

Recover

System state backup only contains boot files, active directory, cluster database, the registry and other system files, thus you cannot use it to repair Windows Server 2008(R2) when it’s unbootable.

Of course, if you happen to have a full server backup, you can try Windows Server backup full restore but the process need to be performed in recovery environment.

If you don’t have a repair disk or installation disc, you could use Windows Server Backup alternative to create a system image backup and restore server 2008(R2) to a previous date.

Method 3: Restore Windows Server 2008 (R2) to previous date With AOMEI Backupper Server

Here you will use AOMEI Backupper Server, a third-party backup and restore software for server 2003/2008(R2)/2012(R2)/2016/2019/2020 and Windows 7/8/8.1/10/XP/Vista, it can help you restore computer whether it’s bootable or not. Moreover, it can restore to different computer having dissimilar hardware.

All the steps are almost the same, and the only difference is that you need to restore system image in the recovery environment if the server computer is unbootable. You simply need to create a bootable media with this software.

Well then, follow the steps below and learn how to restore Windows Server 2008 (R2) to previous date easily and quickly. Also, you can use the same steps to restore Windows Server 2012 R2 to previous date.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper Server, install and launch it. Then, click Restore and Select Task to find the image file.

Download Free Trial Server 2008/2012/2016/2019/2020
Secure Download

Select Task

Step 2. Select the backup image you want to restore and click Next. If you cannot see any backup in the following window, go back and click Select Image File to manually choose the backup image.

Select Backup Image

Step 3. Select to restore the entire system or just a partition and click Next.

Restore Entire Backup

Step 4. Confirm the operation summary and click Start Restore. If you are restoring to a computer with different hardware, it’s suggested to tick "Universal Restore" to get rid of incompatible drivers issues and ensure you can successfully boot from the new computer.

Universal Restore

Note: AOMEI Backupper Server is still a server cloning software to help users clone Windows Server 2008, clone server 2011 to new hard drive, clone Windows Server 2012 R2 hard drive, clone c drive in server 2019, clone Windows Server 2020 to new hard drive 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.

Conclusion

That’s all for how to restore Windows Server 2008 (R2) to previous date, so you can undo harmful changes or restore to a good state. In most cases, the system state backup is very useful. But if your computer fails to boot, you need a full backup that contains everything required to boot Windows.

That’s what AOMEI Backupper Server can do for you. Also, it has the ability to create bootable media to start the failing computer. Therefore, even if your computer is not bootable, you can restore it effortlessly.

If you want to protect unlimited PCs and servers within your company, you may choose AOMEI Backupper Technician Plus, the advanced version of AOMEI Backupper Server. With it, you can restore image to multiple computers simultaneously, which saves you much time and effort.