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excerpt: "Find out how to use the OVHcloud rescue-customer-windows mode to troubleshoot your dedicated server"
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updated: 2024-05-21
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title: "How to activate and use Windows rescue mode"
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excerpt: "Find out how to use the OVHcloud rescue system for Windows to troubleshoot your dedicated server"
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updated: 2025-01-28
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---
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## Objective
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The *rescue-customer-windows* mode is a tool provided by OVHcloud that allows you to boot to a temporary operating system with the aim of diagnosing and resolving problems on your server.
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Rescue mode is a tool provided by OVHcloud that allows you to boot into a temporary operating system for the purpose of diagnosing and resolving issues on your server.
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The functionality of rescue mode in general is described on our guide page:
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[How to activate and use rescue mode](/pages/bare_metal_cloud/dedicated_servers/rescue_mode)
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Usual tasks this rescue mode is appropriate for include:
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The option **Windows customer rescue system** is only available for dedicated servers that have a **Windows Server** operating system installed. The following conditions apply:
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-[Resetting the administrator password](/pages/bare_metal_cloud/dedicated_servers/rcw-changing-admin-password-on-windows)
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- Repairing a broken operating system
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- Fixing a software firewall misconfiguration
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- The rescue system for Windows (`rescue-customer-windows`) runs in a virtual machine (VM) launched from the customer rescue system (`rescue-customer`, based on Debian GNU/Linux).
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- The server disks are attached to the VM with *passthrough*, so it is possible to access them.
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- Other server components will not be accessible (CPU, RAM, network card, RAID card).
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- The network is mounted with *passthrough* but without direct access to the network card. The VM carries the IP address and the MAC address of the *bare metal* server.
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> [!warning]
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>
@@ -21,101 +39,211 @@ Usual tasks this rescue mode is appropriate for include:
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> If you have any services still online, rescue mode will interrupt them as the machine is being rebooted into the auxiliary rescue environment.
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>
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**This guide explains how to reboot a server into *rescue-customer-windows* mode.**
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**This guide explains how to boot a server into the Windows customer rescue system.**
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## Requirements
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- Microsoft Windows installed on your [dedicated server](/links/bare-metal/bare-metal)
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- At least 16 GB of RAM installed on the server
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- Access to the [OVHcloud Control Panel](/links/manager)
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## Functional information
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## Instructions
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The *rescue-customer-windows* mode runs in a virtual machine (VM) launched from the *rescue* system (based on Debian GNU/Linux).<br>
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The server disks are attached to the VM with *passthrough*, so it is possible to access them.<br>
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Other server components will not be accessible (CPU, RAM, network card, RAID card).<br>
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The network is mounted with *passthrough* but without direct access to the network card, this implies that the VM carries the IP address and the MAC address of the *bare metal* server.
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### Activating rescue mode for Windows
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> [!warning]
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>
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> Restarting or shutting down the VM of *rescue-customer-windows* will not reboot the server on its original OS.
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> To reboot on the original OS, please refer to the documentation below.
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Log in to your [OVHcloud Control Panel](/links/manager), open the `Bare Metal Cloud`{.action} section and then `Dedicated servers`{.action}.
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## Instructions
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Click on your server's name to open the `General information`{.action} tab.
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<aname="netboot"></a>
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In the **General information** box, click the button `...`{.action} next to `Boot`. Click on `Edit`{.action} in the context menu.
The rescue mode notification email including its login details will be sent to the contact email address of your OVHcloud account. To use a different email address, enter it in the field `Send new login details to the following email address`.
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You can only activate rescue mode from your [OVHcloud Control Panel](/links/manager). Go to the `Bare Metal Cloud`{.action} section and select the server from `Dedicated servers`{.action}.
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Click `Next`{.action}.
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Look for "Boot" in the **General information**box and click on `...`{.action}, then on `Edit`{.action}.
You should now have a notification regarding the `Netboot` setting in the `General information`{.action} tab.
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Choose `rescue-customer-windows`{.action}. Specify an alternative email address below if you do **not** want the login credentials sent to your customer account's primary address.
The final step is to restart the server. Click the button `...`{.action} next to "Status" in the **Service status** box, then click `Restart`{.action}. Click `Confirm`{.action} in the popup window.
Once the modification is complete, click the `...`{.action}' button to the right of "Status" in the box labelled **Service status**.
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This "hard reboot" will take a few minutes to complete. You can check the current status in the tab named `Tasks`{.action}.
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Click `Restart`{.action} and the server will reboot into rescue mode. This may take a few minutes.
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> [!primary]
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>
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> After you have finished your actions in rescue mode, remember to change the `Netboot` setting back to `Boot from the hard disk`{.action} before restarting the server.
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You can check the progress in the `Tasks`{.action} tab. Once the rescue system is available, you will be sent an email containing the credentials (including the login password) of the rescue mode Administrator user.
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### Accessing your server in rescue mode
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{.thumbnail}
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Once you have received the email informing you that rescue mode is enabled, you can log on to the Windows rescue mode system and access your server.
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This email is also available in your [OVHcloud Control Panel](/links/manager) as soon as it is sent. Click on the name associated with your NIC handle (Customer ID) in the menu bar in the top right-hand corner, then select `Service emails`{.action}.
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Once you have finished your tasks in rescue mode, please remember to reset the boot mode (netboot) to `Boot from the hard disk`{.action}, then reboot your server.
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To establish a remote session to the Windows rescue mode system, you will need these credentials:
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### Connection to *rescue-customer-windows*
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- IP address of the server
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- Username of the temporary admin account (`Administrator`)
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- Password for the temporary admin account
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Once you have retrieved your password, you have three options for connecting to the server:
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You can use the following connections methods to access your server via the Windows rescue mode system:
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- Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
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-SSH (official Windows OpenSSH Server component)
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-KVM IP (if your server allows it)
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-KVM over IP (if your server allows it)
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-OpenSSH (official Windows Server component)
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> [!warning]
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>
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> In any case, you will be asked to enter your password.
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>
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> The user to log in is `Administrator`.
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>
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> The password is sent via a `secret-as-a-service` link.
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#### RDP
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/// details | Unfold this section
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To connect, use the `Remote Desktop Connection` client of Windows or any compatible application.
You can find further information in our guide: [How to use the IPMI console with a dedicated server](/pages/bare_metal_cloud/dedicated_servers/using_ipmi_on_dedicated_servers)
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Attached disks may be displayed as `Dynamic Volumes`. To access them, please refer to the [official Microsoft documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/troubleshoot-disk-management#a-dynamic-disks-status-is-foreign).
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///
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### Recommended utilities
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#### SSH
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/// details | Unfold this section
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Open the command line application on your local device and enter the following command:
Find more information on SSH connections in our [SSH introduction guide](/pages/bare_metal_cloud/dedicated_servers/ssh_introduction).
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You can also use any SSH connection tool, such as [PuTTY](/pages/web_cloud/web_hosting/ssh_using_putty_on_windows).
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///
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### Importing disks to access your files
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Once logged in to the Windows customer rescue system, you need to import (mount) the Windows server's disks before you can access the file system.
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/// details | Unfold this section
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> [!warning]
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> The following exemplary instructions and screenshots will illustrate the mounting process based on a server with two mirrored disks (RAID1). The details displayed by the Disk Management tool depend on your server's disk configuration.
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> For additional information, consult the [official Microsoft documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/overview-of-disk-management).
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>
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> If you require professional assistance with server administration, consider the details in the [Go further](#gofurther) section of this guide.
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| Right-click on the `Start Menu`{.action} button and open `Disk Management`{.action}. |
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|{.thumbnail width="700"} |
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|---|
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|`Disk 0` contains the rescue system (volume `C:`). The disks of your Windows server will be displayed as `Offline`. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| Right-click on each disk and select `Online`{.action} from the context menu. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| The server disks are now [recognized by the rescue system as `Foreign`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/troubleshoot-disk-management#a-dynamic-disks-status-is-foreign), a status indicating in this case that the attached disks belong to a different operating system. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| Right-click on a disk and select `Import Foreign Disks...`{.action} from the context menu. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| If applicable, select the disks to import. Click `OK`{.action}. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| Click `OK`{.action}. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| In this example, the two disks of the server are mirrored, therefore the status `Resynching` will be displayed. This is the normal process; the resynchronisation will continue once the server is rebooted into its installed OS. |
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|{.thumbnail} |
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|---|
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| To access your files, right-click on the Windows partition of your `Disk 1` and select `Open`{.action} from the context menu. |
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///
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### Recommended utilities
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> [!primary]
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>
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> Below is a list of recommended software for certain use cases.
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> This software is not installed by default on the *rescue* image and are easily available on the internet.
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> Additional software is not preinstalled on the rescue mode system. Below is a list of recommended tools, available from the respective website of their developers.
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| Software | Description |
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| --- | --- |
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| CrystalDiskInfo | Disk Diagnostics Tool |
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| 7Zip | Archive Management Tool |
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| FileZilla | Open source FTP client |
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| CrystalDiskInfo | Disk diagnostics tool |
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| 7-Zip | Archive management tool |
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| FileZilla | FTP client |
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### Exiting rescue mode
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In the [OVHcloud Control Panel](/links/manager), [change the boot mode](#netboot) back to `Boot from the hard disk`{.action} and confirm.
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