Windows7 and windows 2008 R2 VaultDR online backups do not boot after restore (4047235)

Date: FEB 2011
Product & Version: Netvault all
OS Version: windows7, windows 2008 R2
Module & Version: VaultDR online all up to 3.5


Symptoms:

When restoring Windows7 and windows 2008 R2 VaultDR online backups, the system does not boot after restore as the system Active, primary partition is not restored.
The restore completes without warnings.
When checking the binary log for the backup of the failing restore we see the following showing netvault vaultDr plugin warning that it is not able to backup this partition as it fails to retrieve a logical drive letter.
Warning 2011/01/27 15:05:37 45 Data Plugin UKW1907 Failed to get Logical Drive Letter for partition (1) of Disk (0). This partition cannot be backed up


Cause:
Currently windows 7 and windows 2008 R2 have yet to receive supported platform status with vaultdr online, and as such are currently unsupported.
The problem seems to be that VaultDR plugin is unable to backup unmounted partitions, i.e. those without a drive letter assigned to them.

This problem has been resolved on vaultDr online V4.0 if you are unable to upgrade for any reason follow procedure below:




Create a drive letter B on the system, Active, primary partition with prescripts and removing the drive letter after backup completes with a postscripts.

When we restore the system, Active, primary partition has a drive letter of B but the system still boots. Then you can manually remove the drive letter in window disk management to stop people using this partition.

The workaround requires 2 scripts to create the drive letter.
One to invoke diskpart and a second script to supply the parameters required to add the drive letter.
Both scripts should reside in the ...\netvault backup\scripts directory and createdriveletter.bat is the script that should be put into the pre Script field.

Files :
createdriveletter.bat
cdl.txt


To remove the drive letter the workaround requires 2 scriptsr.
One to invoke diskpart and a second script to supply the parameters required to remove the drive letter.
Both scripts should reside in the ...\netvault backup\scripts directory and removedriveletter.bat is the script that should be put into the Post Script field.

Files:
removedriveletter.bat
rdl.txt
All Example files mentioned are attached to the this solution



Note: these scripts have only been tested on windows7 32 bit with netvault installed in the default location on disk 0.
So If the netvault directory is different or the disk number is different, modifications will be required.
For explanation on how the script work either go to URL below or see attached document diskpart.docx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415