Restoring SharePoint from a backup in a different AD environment

20.5.2009    |    komentáře   komentářů: 0

Sometimes you need to restore an entire SharePoint 3 installation to a completely different server in a different AD environment (a Virtual Server test environment, an unrecoverable AD failure, etc.). Here is an example of how to solve this problem.

Backing up SharePoint using stsadm -o backup

We will back up SharePoint from the command line using stsadm.exe (to use stsadm.exe, run the commands from c:\Program files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN)

Run the backup command: stsadm.exe -o backup -url http://vassharepoint -filename H:\Backup\Sharepoint.dat -overwrite

This backs up SharePoint at http://vassharepoint to H:\Backup\Sharepoint.dat

Restoring SharePoint using stsadm -o restore

We will restore SharePoint from the command line using stsadm.exe (to use stsadm.exe, run the commands from c:\Profram files\Common Files\Microssoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN)

Run the restore command: stsadm.exe -o restore -url http://vassharepoint -filename H:\Backup\Sharepoint.dat -overwrite

This restores SharePoint at http://vassharepoint from H:\Backup\Sharepoint.dat

Restoring SharePoint to a different AD environment

Proceed as follows:

  1. install SharePoint on the new AD server and create an empty site accessible at
  2. restore it using stsadm.exe -o restore -url http://vassharepoint -filename H:\Backup\Sharepoint.dat -overwrite
  3. the restore ends with an "Access Denied" error because the Administrator account has a different SID in the backup and restore environments. Resolve this using:

stsadm.exe -o updatefarmcredentials -userlogin -password

DOMAIN\Administrator of the server where you are trying to restore SharePoint

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