Learn how to boot a server into the Windows customer rescue system.
Rescue mode is a tool provided by OVHcloud that allows you to boot into a temporary operating system to diagnose and resolve issues on your server.
The functionality of rescue mode in general is described on our How to activate and use rescue mode guide.
The Windows customer rescue system option is only available for dedicated servers that have a Windows Server operating system installed. The following conditions apply:
- The rescue system for Windows (
rescue-customer-windows) runs in a virtual machine (VM) launched from the customer rescue system (rescue-customer, based on Debian GNU/Linux). - The server disks are attached to the VM with passthrough, so it is possible to access them.
- Other server components will not be accessible (CPU, RAM, network card, RAID card).
- The network is mounted with passthrough but without direct access to the network card. The VM carries the IP address and the MAC address of the bare metal server.
NOTE: Backing up your data should be the first step in rescue mode if you do not already have recent backups available.
If you have any services still online, rescue mode will interrupt them as the machine is being rebooted into the auxiliary rescue environment.
Requirements
- Microsoft Windows installed on your dedicated server
- At least 16 GB of RAM installed on the server
- Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
Instructions
Activating rescue mode for Windows
Log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel, open the Bare Metal Cloud section, and then Dedicated servers.
Click on your server's name to open the General information tab.
In the General information box, click the more options ... button next to Boot. Click on Edit in the context menu.
On the page Change the netboot, select Boot in rescue mode.
Select Windows customer rescue system in the drop-down menu.
The rescue mode notification email, including its login details, will be sent to the contact email address of your OVHcloud account. To use a different email address, enter it in the field Send new login details to the following email address.
Click Next.
In the Summary step, click Confirm.
You should now have a notification regarding the Netboot setting in the General information tab.
The final step is to restart the server. Click the button ... next to "Status" in the Service status box, then click Restart. Click Confirm in the pop-up window.
This "hard reboot" will take a few minutes to complete. You can check the current status in the tab named Tasks.
After you have finished your actions in rescue mode, remember to change the Netboot setting back to Boot from the hard disk before restarting the server.
Accessing your server in rescue mode
Once you have received the email informing you that rescue mode is enabled, you can log on to the Windows rescue mode system and access your server.
To establish a remote session to the Windows rescue mode system, you will need these credentials:
- IP address of the server
- Username of the temporary admin account (
Administrator) - Password for the temporary admin account
You can use the following connection methods to access your server via the Windows rescue mode system:
- Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
- KVM over IP (if your server allows it)
- OpenSSH (official Windows Server component)
RDP
To connect, use the Remote Desktop Connection client of Windows or any compatible application.
KVM
From the KVM login screen, you can select a different keyboard language.
You can change the accessibility options and enable the virtual keyboard:
You can find further information in our guide: How to use the IPMI console with a dedicated server
SSH
Open the command line application on your local device and enter the following command:
Example:
Enter the temporary rescue mode password when prompted. Example:
Find more information on SSH connections in our SSH introduction guide.
You can also use any SSH connection tool, such as PuTTY.
Importing disks to access your files
Once logged in to the Windows customer rescue system, you need to import (mount) the Windows server's disks before you can access the file system.
Expand for instructions
NOTE: The following exemplary instructions and screenshots will illustrate the mounting process based on a server with two mirrored disks (RAID1). The details displayed by the Disk Management tool depend on your server's disk configuration.
For additional information, consult the official Microsoft documentation.
If you require professional assistance with server administration, consider the details in the Go further section of this guide.
Right-click on the Start Menu button and open Disk Management.
Disk 0 contains the rescue system (volume C:). The disks of your Windows server will be displayed as Offline.
Right-click on each disk and select Online from the context menu.
The server disks are now recognized by the rescue system as Foreign, a status indicating, in this case, that the attached disks belong to a different operating system.
Right-click on a disk and select Import Foreign Disks... from the context menu.
If applicable, select the disks to import. Click OK.
Click OK.
In this example, the two disks of the server are mirrored; therefore, the status Resynching will be displayed. This is the normal process; the resynchronization will continue once the server is rebooted into its installed OS.
To access your files, right-click on the Windows partition of your Disk 1 and select Open from the context menu.
Recommended utilities
Additional software is not preinstalled on the rescue mode system. Below is a list of recommended tools available from the respective websites of their developers.
| Software | Description |
|---|---|
| CrystalDiskInfo | Disk diagnostics tool |
| 7-Zip | Archive management tool |
| FileZilla | FTP client |
Exiting rescue mode
In the OVHcloud Control Panel, change the boot mode back to Boot from the hard disk and confirm.
Then use the Restart function in your OVHcloud Control Panel.
Go further
How to activate and use rescue mode
How to reset the administrator password with the Windows Customer Rescue System
For more information and tutorials, please see our other Dedicated Servers support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.