We've been running Windows Server 2012 in a VMware virtual machine for a few years now. The VM has the OS, apps, and user data on one virtual disk and automated system image backups on another virtual disk. I've tested the backups in the past, and they seemed to be fine, but I'm running into trouble now.
A few days ago, the VM refused to boot: it was caught in a repair loop that I couldn't extricate it from. After a few hours of troubleshooting, it seemed like it would be less work to restore from the most recent backup; unfortunately, that turned out to not be the case.
I dug up the Windows Server 2012 installation media and booted the VM from the ISO with the two virtual disks mounted. I chose the "Repair my PC" option instead of trying to reinstall the OS, and then clicked the "Troubleshoot" button. From there, I got to the "System Image Recovery" wizard.
The wizard found my backup on drive D:, but when I clicked through to start the restoration process, an error message popped up after a few seconds. The message read as follows:
The system image restore failed. Error details: The RPC server is unavailable. (0x800706BA)
I've attached a screen shot for reference:
No matter what options I select in the restoration process, I end up with that message. Is there something I can do to get past this point and restore the system?
Any guidance would be very much appreciated.
