The "New" NTBACKUP

If you've migrated from Server 2003 to Server 2008 you might have noticed that NTBACKUP has changed. Some would say for the worse since you can not specify only certain directories or files to be backed up. It can only do full drive copies. The GUI is also makes it impossible to do a scheduled backup to a network location. But worry not as it is possible with a little batch file that you can then run as a scheduled task. I've posted an example below.

wbadmin start backup -backupTarget:"\\server1\placeIwantbackuptogo" -include:C:,E:,X: -allCritical -vssFull -quiet

That will start a full backup of C, E, and X to the specified network location. Make sure you have space on your destination host for this. If you are up to date on your patches (which you should be) whne you do a restore you can do a regular restore as well as an "Exchange Aware" restore that will only restore the relevant Exchange 2007 files from the backup to the original or new location you specify.

Windows 7 and Sysprep Issues

I'm not sure exactly what Microsoft has done with Sysprep but it just does not work standalone with Windows 7. Certain services running can cause it to fail mid prep. The only working way to Sysprep a Windows 7 box is to use the AIK2010 which in itself is much more burdensome than only using Sysprep. I used the AIK2010 to Sysprep a machine, I was promptly greeted with a Sysprep computer setup error which forced the box into a reboot loop.

If you are planning to do a Windows 7 deployment make sure you do proper Sysprep and AIK testing and not just take for granted that Sysprep will just work like it always has.