Question : Problem: Windows 2008 Server: No NIC available when runnining Windows Complete PC Restore

I trying to test a full system recovery for a new server Windows 2008 server. I was able to backup the system to a network share. When I try to restore the system through the "Complete PC Restore Wizard" and booting the system with the install DVD no network adapter is available.

Running IpConfig all yields following result:
Host Name:
Primary DNS Suffix:
Node Type: Hybrid
DNS Routing Enabled: No
WINS Proxy Enabled: No

I know that the both network cards are working. I used them to backup the server to the network share. I suspect that no NIC driver is loaded.

The server configuration is:
HP ProLiant DL380 G5
Windows 2008 Server (64bit)
NIC BroadCom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE

When in running the "Complete PC Restore Wizard" from the install DVD, how do I gain network access so I can read the backup file from the network share?

Thanks for your help.

Answer : Problem: Windows 2008 Server: No NIC available when runnining Windows Complete PC Restore

Microsoft Support and I were unable to load the driver manually when booting into WINPE. They suggested two other options to get around the problem.

Option 1, Creating a customized WinPE image
This would require injecting the correct network drivers into the WinPe image and boot the server from the customized image. The idea is that the correct NIC driver is loaded and we would gain access to the network and allow us the read the file over the network. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709665.aspx .

Option 2, Use an USB drive to read the backup
With this solution the backup file is copied to the USB drive. The server is booted with WinPe. There is an UI that allows you to load drivers for remote storage devices and read files from the device.

We decided to go with option #2.