64-bit Drivers Bad
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32-bit Vista Drivers Good
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To Be Continued…
I went back to the Dell website and downloaded the 32-bit Vista drivers to my USB stick but by now I was cranky and I had already started a Restore from a USB. You can see that article at:
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The Driver Solution is 32-bit
I would suggest to anyone with Windows Home Server that you have a folder with ALL of your 32-bit drivers for PCs on your network or secondary USB to avoid having to search around WHEN your hard drive fails. And trust me, they all fail. It is just a matter of when.
With the Windows 7 32-bit drivers would the Restore process have completed as normal? Possibly.
However, it seems that the Vista drivers are the better option.
For now anyway it seems like I (we) have a lot more testing and validation ahead of us. Are you ready fasthair?
What has your experience been with network drivers?
Tim
The driver issue with WHS Restore is part of the reason I put together the XFiles Edition Restore disk. Integrated a bunch of drivers.
and it works great! I use it all the time to restore my Windows 7 netbook that has a RealTek NIC. As you know it is one of the NICs that gives people fits. It works everytime without any extra steps.
So again I want to thank you for all of your hard work on the X:files. Truely a slick piece of software.
fasthair
I have a new capture device on the way so I will run the Restore on my Dell 15 next week with all three scenarios. I will then publish the videos with a quick write up.
1.) PP3 Restore CD with Win7 drivers
2.) PP3 Restore CD with Vista 32-bit drivers
3.) Your Restore CD
You ok with that?
Tim
HI Timothy,
Am I ready? Yup got a bottle of Crown Royal queued up for the task! Besides is the middle of winter so I can't ride so I might as well try to break something 🙂
I've been running through my head all of the different ways of doing this and I "think" I've got it all worked out. I've got three or four different Restore setups that I'm going to be working on. Should be fun!
fasthair
Hey thanks for giving me some credit!! =)
I really really really wish you weren't able to do so. LOL
Man, i struggled and struggled, i cried screamed and yelled at my computer.
All the while searching for possible reasons why the restore program wasn't finding my server.
I finally got it fixed. And Now, i have a backup copy of the 32bit drivers saved on my server, just in case i have to restore again.
And once again… thank you for having such a thorough how-to.
Seth
p.s yes it made me very cranky as well. lol
I had a similar problem restoring my 64-bit win7 on my HP Envy-15. I put 32bit drivers on a flash drive and they were recognized, but according to my router, the computer still was not connecting. After many hours of research, it dawned on my that WHS is running Win2003. I found older Win2003 x32 drivers for the same network card (Atheros 8131) and I was finally able to find the home server!