To perform a disaster recovery (restore from scratch) of a Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 computer, the relevant section of the Administrator's Guide is page 615 onwards for Backup Exec 10 and page 663 for Backup Exec 11.

This process is relevant for domain controllers, when you are doing an authoritative restore. This does not cover restoring the Backup Exec media server.

The basic process is:

1. Reinstall Windows on the PC. Give it network settings, and the same computer name as at the time of backup. Don't join it to the domain.
2. Deploy the remote agent to the PC from the Backup Exec server. You'll need to use the PC's local admin username and password for install at this point.
3. Using Backup Exec, restore all the PC's hard drives and Shadow Copy Components. Set the Restore over existing files option. Set the Mark this server as the primary arbitrator for replication… option
4. Reboot the PC.
5. As soon as Windows starts booting, press F8.
6. At the menu that appears, select Directory Services Restore Mode.
7. Using Backup Exec, restore the PC's Shadow Copy Components again. You will need to change the logon account to reflect the DSRM account and password.
8. You will be warned that you need to reboot, but don't reboot yet.
9. On the restored domain controller, restore AD by using the following commands:
1. Open a command prompt
2. ntdsutil
3. Authoritative restore
4. Restore Database
5. OK at the warning
6. Click Yes
7. Exit
8. Exit
10. Reboot

Recovery of the Backup Exec media server and non-authoritative restores are in separate articles.