Create Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk for Disaster Recovery

If you are looking for a way to create Windows Server 2012 recovery disk in case your computer fails and restore it to previous date, please continue to read this article and learn the operating steps.

Ivy

By Ivy Updated on October 20, 2022

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What Is Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk?

Windows Server recovery disk, also known as Windows Server 2012 repair disk, is a recovery tool that can troubleshoot your server computer in trouble. And it can be any bootable media (eg: USB flash drive, CD/DVD, a floppy drive).

In general, if there is an installation disc coming with your computer, you can use it as a recovery disk. If not, you can download Windows Server 2012 recovery disk ISO file from Microsoft store and burn Window Server ISO to USB drive or CD/DVD. 

Note: Both the installation disc and recovery disk created by ISO can only be used on the specific computer. For example, you can use the Windows Server 2012 recovery disk to factory reset or repair Windows Server 2012, but it does not work for Windows server 2012 R2/2016/2019 or any previous version. Worse, you may confuse these recovery disks. 

Why Create Windows Server 2012 Repair Disk?

In most case, users may directly buy a server-based computer, Windows Server 2012, for example and use it without taking any unexpected things into consideration. But no one can promise that it will work well in the future, not to mention that it will soon end its life cycle on October 9, 2023 and it may run into trouble owing to system crash, hard drive failure, virus attack, etc.

Why Create Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk

Once your server 2012 runs into issues and becomes unbootable, you may need a Windows Server 2012 repair disk or installation disc. It is essential to start and repair your computer. The same is true for other operating systems, such as, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019 etc.

How to Create Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk Easily 

In general, Microsoft or most computer manufacturers no longer offer installation disc, you need to create Windows Server 2012 recovery disk (USB, CD/DVD or ISO). And this article provides you with 2 simple methods in the following, select one of them based on your needs.

  • If you just want to create Windows Server 2012 repair disk for the current computer, select Method 1. 
  • If you have multiple computers, you'd better create a univesal bootable USB, select Method 2 instead. 

After selecting the methods, please follow the corresponding  steps below. 

Method 1: Create Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk with ISO Image File

Here you will use Windows 7 USB DVD download tool, which also works perfectly for Windows Server 2012 largely, because the installation system used by Windows hasn't really changed since Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Step 1. Perform Windows Server 2012 recovery disk ISO download and open it. 

Step 2. Click "Browse" to find the downloaded ISO file.

Choose ISO File

Step 3. Select USB device as media type and click "Next" .

Choose Media Type

Step 4. Plug the USB drive into your computer and select it, then click Begin Copying. Then, this tool will format your USB device first, copy ISO files to your USB device and make it bootable.

Choose USB Flash Drive

When the process ends, you will have a Windows Server 2012 recovery disk. Please remember to check if the content of the recovery disk are exactly the same as the downloaded ISO file. 

Method 2: Create Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk with AOMEI Backupper Server

Here you will bootable USB media creator - AOMEI Backupper Server to create recovery disk once and for all and you can use it for  Windows Server 2003, 2008(R2), 2012(R2), 2016, 2019, 2022 as well as Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11/XP/Vista. And it supports 3 media types including USB, CD/DVD ot USB and the created media booting not only legacy BIOS but also UEFI.

In advanced edition, such as, AOMEI Backupper TechPlus edition, you still enjoy the easiest disaster recovery tool - AOMEI Image Deploy, which helps you boot multiple computers over network and restore system image to get them back quickly, even for dissimilar hardware restore.

Step 1.  Download AOMEI Backupper Server, install and launch it. Then, click Tools > Create Bootable Media in order.

Download Free Trial Server 2012/2016/2019/2022
Secure Download

Create Bootable Meida

Step 2. Select Windows PE - Create bootable disc based Windows PE (Suggested). The Windows PE-based bootable media can use all functions of AOMEI Backupper Server while Linux based bootable media only supports basic functions.

Winpe

Step 3. Select bootable media among CD/DVD, USB Boot Device, Expert ISO file, and click "Next" to start the task.

Choose Bootable Media

Besides, here are another two ways to boot your computer.
① Boot from AOMEI PXE tool.
② Boot into Windows 10 recovery environment (you need to add an entry to AOMEI Backupper recovery environment first).

How to Use Windows Server 2012 Repair Disk for Disaster Recovery 

Now, you have a Windows Server 2012 recovery USB, and once your computer fails to boot or encounter other computer failure such as black screen of death, you can boot your computer and repair Windows Server 2012 step by step. Also, you still have two methods corresponding to the methods you created bootable USB. Below are something you need to pay attention to:

  • Be sure you have  a valid full system image backup, or a bare metal  backup to allows you to perform system recovery or bare metal restore to dissimilar hardware. 
  • If you use the built-in recovery drive, please be sure the backup image is created by Windows Server Backup or Wbadmin. 
  • If you use recovery drive created by AOMEI Backupper, the backup also needs to be created by AOMEI Backupper.

Then, sroll down to corresponding methods and folow the steps to use recovery disk (USB, CD/DVD or ISO).

Method 1: Restore Windows Server 2012 with Built-in Recovery Drive

Step 1. Plug your Installation Disc or recovery USB into the optical drive. Then, connect the drive containing backup image to your computer and make sure it can be detected. 

Step 2. Set boot priority for installation disc or recovery USB and make Windows server 2012 boot to system recovery options. 

Step 3. In the Windows Server 2012 recovery mode, set the language and other preferences. Then, click Repair your computer > Troubleshoot System Image Recovery

System Image Recovery

Step 4. Select the operating system - Windows Server 2012.

Step 5. At the Re-image your computer screen, select the image created by Windows Server Backup. Then, click Next and follow the instructions until the last step.

Notes
① To reinstall Windows Server 2012(R2) without losing data, you need to backup the important files or folders in advance. 
②You can also perform Windows Server 2012 restore system state to repair your computer if your computer can still boot. 

Method 2: Restore Server 2012 from Backup with AOMEI Backupper Repair Disk

Step 1. Connect the storage media to your computer and be sure it can be detected. Boot your computer from Windows Server 2012 recovery disk, and click Restore and Select Image File to find the backup image.

Select Image File Winpe

Step 2. Tick Restore this system backup and click Next. By default, the backup image in the Restore list is the latest one, but if you create multiple schedule, you can choose previous backup (full/incremental/differential) to restore. 

Select Backup Image

Step 3. Preview your source partition and destination partition, then click Start Restore to restore the system image. If it detects you are performing Windows Server 2012 backup restore to different hardware, it will check the Universal Restore feature by default. 

Restore with Windows Server 2012 Recovery Disk

Notes:
① AOMEI Backupper Server only restore system image or disk image created by AOMEI Backuper. Please don't use this software to restore system image created by Windows Server Backup.
② If you want the easiest methods to boot computers over network and restore system image deploy to multiple computers, try  AOMEI Backupper Technician Plus. Also, you can copy installation directory for portable version creation and unlimited billable technical services to clients. 

Conclusion

Windows Server 2012 recovery disk is essential for every server users, because it can help you troubleshoot or repair your computer when it fails to boot. Among them, the most effective method is to restore Windows Server 2012 from backup, which helps to get your computer back quickly, even bare metal restore to dissimilar hardware. The same applied to create Windows Server 2008 recovery disk, Windows Server 2012 R2 recovery USB, Windows recovery 2016 recovery disk etc.

In addition, this software is still a Windows Server backup software to help users protect their server by its complete backup solutions, including system backup, disk backup, partition backup, file backup, daily/weekly/monthly scheduled backukp, incremental/differential backup, event triggers, USB plug in, etc. Please download the free trial version to enjoy these features right now.

Ivy
Ivy · Editor
Ivy is an editor of AOMEI Technology, she covers backup & restore,hard disk & partitions management and cloud files transfer and so on for AOMEI. She is an outgoing girl and enjoys helping people find solutions to their problems. She loves traveling, eating, reading and so on. She usually hangs out with friends at her leisure time.