Windows Server: How to Use WinRE to Copy Files to a Network Share

Summary: This article details the steps required to use WinRE to load drivers for a network card and connect to a network share to backup files from an unbootable server.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Instructions

Scenario:
A Windows server machine is in a no boot situation and there is data that must be backed up. We do not have a removable drive or one large enough to store the files. In this case, we can use WinRE to copy the files to a network share. 
  1. Boot to the Windows Recovery Environment. Sometimes the server boots to the recovery environment automatically after three failed boot attempts. If not, we can get to the recovery environment by booting to Windows media and choosing the repair your computer option on the first page of the Windows setup wizard. 
  2. Choose Troubleshoot option then Command prompt.
  3. Initialize the network stack. Run the below two commands, and press enter. After a short delay, the Command prompt should come back. 
wpeinit.exe 
Or 
wpeutil.exe

wpeinit
  1. Type the below command to see if the network adapters are available. If not, we must load the network driver as it is not available in WinRE if we do not see the adapters.
ipconfig
  1. To load the network drivers, download and extract the drivers and present them to the server through either a USB thumb drive or create an ISO and mount it using iDRAC. Locate the drive letter of the USB thumb drive or virtual-mounted ISO and run the following command to load the drivers. After a short delay, we should get our command prompt back.
drvload f:\drivername.inf
  1. Run the below command again and verify that our network adapters are seen.
ipconfig
  1. Assign an IP if an IP is not automatically assigned when using DHCP. To manually assign an IP, type the following:
netsh interface ip set address name= "Network Interface Name" static [IP address] [Subnet Mask]
Example: 
netsh interface ip set address name="NIC1" static 192.168.1.10 255.255.255.0
  1. Run the below command again and we should see the IP address that is assigned to the network adapter.
ipconfig
  1. Mount the network drive to the shared folder location where we are copying the files to. Run the following command. You can choose whatever drive letter is available and use the IP address of the remote server and share name that was previously created. 
net use B: \\192.168.1.20\sharename /u:Username Password
  1. Copy files from WinRE to our network share. Use either of the below commands:
copy xcopy 
Or 
robocopy
Example: 
robocopy C:\FolderToBackup B:\sharename /MIR
We should now see our files copying to the network share. 

Affected Products

Microsoft Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Windows Server 2019, Microsoft Windows Server 2022

Products

PowerEdge FC640, PowerEdge M640, PowerEdge M640 (for PE VRTX), PowerEdge MX5016s, PowerEdge MX740C, PowerEdge MX750c, PowerEdge MX760c, PowerEdge MX840C, PowerEdge R240, PowerEdge R250, PowerEdge R260, PowerEdge R340, PowerEdge R350, PowerEdge R360 , PowerEdge R440, PowerEdge R450, PowerEdge R540, PowerEdge R550, PowerEdge R640, PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R650, PowerEdge R650xs, PowerEdge R6515, PowerEdge R6525, PowerEdge R660, PowerEdge R660xs, PowerEdge R6615, PowerEdge R6625, PowerEdge R740, PowerEdge R740XD, PowerEdge R740XD2, PowerEdge R7415, PowerEdge R7425, PowerEdge R750, PowerEdge R750XA, PowerEdge R750xs, PowerEdge R7515, PowerEdge R7525, PowerEdge R760, PowerEdge R760XA, PowerEdge R760xd2, PowerEdge R760xs, PowerEdge R7615, PowerEdge R7625, PowerEdge R840, PowerEdge R860, PowerEdge R940, PowerEdge R940xa, PowerEdge R960, PowerEdge T140, PowerEdge T150, PowerEdge T160, PowerEdge T340, PowerEdge T350, PowerEdge T360, PowerEdge T440, PowerEdge T550, PowerEdge T560, PowerEdge T640, PowerEdge XE2420, PowerEdge XE7420, PowerEdge XE7440 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000195871
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 11 Dec 2024
Version:  6
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