For Windows PCs, XP brought 64-bit computing to reality, Vista made it acceptable, and Windows 7 is taking it mainstream. As with any shift to mainstream acceptance, however, confusion is sure to follow in its wake.

We've seen a dramatic increase as of late, both here and across the web, in the number of questions being posted by users experiencing difficulties restoring 64-bit installations from Windows Home Servers... including the HP MediaSmart Server, which is what we focus on here. With a few well constructed Google searches, you'll find a smorgasbord of forum threads and discussions on the topic, but few that really explain what's going on in less than hardcore geek speak; there are even fewer with easy to follow instructions on how to proceed.

With simplicity in mind, let's take a look at why restoring 64-bit PCs can be problematic, and a few different ways to go about it.

32... 64...  Why does the number of bits prevent me from restoring my PC?!

Not everyone with 64-bit installations of Windows will have problems with restoration from the Home Server. Those who do will undoubtedly have a problem with "drivers" which, simply described, is the software component that tells the computer how to recognize and use the hardware in your PC. 64-bit operating systems, like Windows 7 64-bit, have the ability to run both 32-bit and 64-bit programs. However, the drivers must be specific, meaning a 64-bit driver cannot be used in a 32-bit OS or vice versa.  

With that in mind, the next part of this puzzle is the PC restore disc itself, which is what you need to boot into in order to restore a PC from the Home Server. The restore environment on this disc is 32-bit, not 64.

That, in itself, is not the problem. As I said above, not everyone using a 64-bit OS will have restoration issues. Like a Windows installation disc, the Windows Home Server PC restore disc includes a wide variety of 32-bit drivers that supports a wide variety of PC hardware. If compatible drivers for your PCs essential hardware are included, you'll be just fine.

The problems start when the restore disc doesn't have 32-bit drivers for something in your PC that's essential to the restore process. If, for example, the disc doesn't contain a compatible 32-bit driver for your PC's network interface (which is common) then your PC won't be able to connect to the network and pull your PC backup image from the Home Server.

Reading the instructions for the PC restoration process, the first thing you'll think (or be instructed) to do is copy the restore drivers from the backup on the server and copy them to a flash drive. However, that won't work. You see, if you're running a 64-bit edition of Windows, the drivers installed are 64-bit drivers. If you copy those drivers from your Home Server backup, you're copying 64-bit drivers that won't work in the 32-bit environment of the restore disc.

That, as they say, is the "Catch-22." Of course, this is not the "only" problem users can face with restoring 64-bit installations from the Windows Home Server, but it is the most common. So, that's the issue we'll be focusing on here. 

So what do I do about it? What's the solution?

The ideal solution to this increasingly common problem rests with Microsoft. Now that 64-bit computing is mainstream, it's high time we had a PC restore disc intended for 64-bit installs... meaning a PC restore disc with 64-bit restore environment. This way, the drivers we save off from our backups on the Home Server would be recognized within the restore environment, and therefore allow us to easily restore 64-bit installations from the Home Server. Until that happens, we'll just have to work our way around it.

Fortunately, there are few drivers "essential" to the recovery process. The PC Restore disc should contain the majority of essential drivers your computer uses - like those for single drive SATA/IDE compatible storage systems. The headache devices are usually SATA AHCI/RAID and Ethernet devices. If you're running a RAID, you probably already have the knowledge and skills to work around it, but those lacking support for their network interface may not know how to proceed. 

What we want to do is find the 32-bit driver for your device - assuming there is one, of course.  With Windows XP still in heavy use and Windows 7 available in both 32 and 64-bit flavors, nearly all manufacturers will have 32-bit and 64-bit drivers available for their hardware devices... and will for the foreseeable future. Problematic devices may include custom, proprietary hardware sold by PC makers, but even these should be few and far between. 

Of course, finding these drivers can often prove challenging. And even if you do find them, most are packaged up in executable installers. Even experienced PC users may not know how to proceed in these cases. 

Finding Your Drivers

The best way to find the necessary drivers to restore your 64-bit PC is to look for them BEFORE you need them. To do that, you'll need to identify them. 

MediaSmart Home member Oathe shared his advice for identifying your specific components, like Ethernet controllers and Storage systems using the device manager:

"An easy way to do this is to simply open up the device manager ( right click My Computer icon on the desktop or from the Start Menu) and go to Manage. From there, click on device manager on the left. This will show you all your hardware, respectively. So, if you are in 64bit environment, knowing what your hardware is (for example Broadcom Netxtreme 57xx Gigabit controller ) should allow you to easily search the net for the driver right of the manufacturer's site." [comment edited for clarity]

Most will likely gravitate to finding drivers from a PC maker's (like Dell or Asus) support site over the maker of the specific chip, but Oathe's advice is particularly useful if the computer maker is no longer in business or doesn't offer the drivers you're looking for.

If your PC is down for the count, identifying your specific hardware components can be challenging. If your PC is store-bought from a major PC maker, like HP for example (assuming you haven't added new network or RAID cards,) finding 32-bit drivers should be relatively simple. However, if your PC is a home-built rig (that you didn't build yourself), identifying components can often mean cracking the case to get a look at what's inside. 

To understand how to locate and use the correct drivers for the restoration disc, let's work through a few case examples. 

Store-Bought PC - Ethernet Driver for the HP Pavilion dv6t

If you have a store bought PC, you'll usually find drivers in the support section of the manufacturer's website. Using the HP Pavilion dv6t as an example (a new HP notebook that ships with a 64-bit edition of Windows,) when accessing the support page for this model, you're prompted as to which operating system you use.

Even though you actually use a 64-bit edition of Windows, the ideal choice to make when looking for drivers to use for restoring your PC is Windows Vista (32-bit), although Windows 7 32-bit drivers 'should' also work fine in many cases. 

Locate the drivers for the wired LAN (not wireless) network interface card and download the driver package.

In the case of this HP computer, the downloaded file is an .exe format that contains both the 32 and 64 bit drivers for the NIC. A setup program determines which is installed on the computer.

You can't use the exe in its current .exe form, and therefore the contents of the .exe need to be extracted in order to get the driver files. We can do this in two ways:

1. The non-preferred way is by double clicking the .exe to launch the installer, which 'should' extract the contents of the .exe to a local temporary directory. If you can find that directory, you will be able to get at the driver files.


2. The preferred method is to simply unpack the executable to a folder, without actually executing it. Windows won't do this without third-party tools, but there are several programs that do. WinRAR is what I use (not free), but 7-Zip and Universal Extractor are free alternatives that should do this job just fine.

Let's assume you do this the preferred way and you unpack the contents of the exe, you should now have a folder with a bunch of stuff inside.

You should be able to simply copy the entire folder to your USB drive for restoration, but if you want to be more surgical, you can go in and find just the 32-bit drivers. One of the folders inside is called WINVISTA, which contains the driver files for both the 32 and 64 bit editions of Windows. Copy the 32-bit folder over to your USB drive, and you'll be set. 

If you plan on installing drivers from a 3.5 inch floppy disk during the restoration process, you'll need to take the surgical route due to space limitations on the disk. 

Home-Built PC - RAID Driver for the GSATA2 / Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P

I'm pretty confident that those who've built a PC and run a RAID array have the knowledge to find the drivers they need, but for those who may have a home-built PC on a RAID they didn't build, I like this example; in this case, there's no "PC maker" website to run off to and get drivers by make and model. You have to do a bit more sleuthing. The info below is also applicable to any driver in a home-built PC, I'm just using RAID as the focus here. 

A RAID controller, like an Ethernet network interface, will most commonly be integrated into the motherboard of the computer. It can also be a separate card, so you'll want to be sure which yours uses before you begin. If the computer boots, you shouldn't have any problems figuring out which it is, and getting the make and model of the motherboard. If it doesn't boot, you can get what you need to know by opening up the PC case and looking inside to see where all the disk drives plug in.  You 'should' also find the make and model printed or stamped somewhere on the board itself.

For this example, the there are 3 different chips that perform RAID functions on this motherboard. One is the Intel P55 chipset on the motherboard, which (in this case) is common and would likely be recognized by the restore environment. However, this board also contains the JMB362 SATA2 chip that also supports RAID functions, but likely wouldn't be recognized by the Home Server restore CD. Which chip is used will depend on which SATA ports the drives are connected to. You'll probably need to download and review the manual to determine which SATA ports are tied to which chip.

In this example, let's assume the JMB362 is used. The drivers for this chip are available at Gigabyte's website. Like HP's website, when clicking on the area to download related drivers for the Gigabyte motherboard, you'll be prompted to select which OS you're using. Again, we want to choose Windows Vista 32-bit regardless of which OS you actually use on the computer.

Please note, not all websites will "prompt" you; some websites will simply list out all drivers and leave it up to you to download the correct version.

Unlike the example above, the driver files (in this case) are handily available as a pre-installation exe, which when executed should extract the drivers to a floppy or USB disk for you.  

Accessing Your 32-bit System Drivers During the Restore Process

With the 32-bit drivers for your hardware loaded on to a USB key, you're properly armed to restore your 64-bit PC from the Home Server. 

After you've booted from the restore CD, you'll reach a screen where it will list out which network and storage devices the CD found on your machine. At the bottom, there's a button labeled "Install Drivers." Click the button and plug in your USB or floppy drive. Provided everything's been done correctly, it should detect your hardware properly and proceed to restore your PC. 

What if it still doesn't work? What are my options?

As I said above, not having the correct drivers is not the 'only' thing that can prevent you from restoring your 64-bit PC from your Home Server. If nothing you do seems to get the restore CD working properly, it is possible to restore your drive using another PC through the ClientRestoreWizard.exe program installed with the Windows Home Server Connector. Wegotserved has a walkthrough for this procedure, however I didn't have any success getting it to work when I tried it out (I honestly can't vouch that it works with the HP MediaSmart Sever, but then again I didn't spend very long trying it out either.)  Also, given that selecting the wrong drive could wipe out your host PC, I wouldn't recommend this procedure for the average PC user.

As a safer alternative in these rare cases, I'd recommend re-installing your OS and programs from scratch, then restoring your files through the backups in the home server console. Sometimes that's just the only way.