I have a situation here that we need to change the physical machine of the Central Administration server, which is the first server installed in the server farm. I already check there is no other way to backup the image of the OS and then restore it to new machine. I tried to install on the new server, SharePoint (with full installation) and join to existing farm, but it seems that all features/solution and DLL in GAC is not copied and configured on this new server. Is there anyway I can re-install the SharePoint Central Administration without need to recreate the whole farm?

yes that's right as you have joined to old config DB from new physical machine all custom features and other customization is lost. So I suggest you to create a new config DB and redeploy all custom features.Regards, Pratik Vyas | SharePoint Consultant |

yes that's right as you have joined to old config DB from new physical machine all custom features and other customization is lost. So I suggest you to create a new config DB and redeploy all custom features.Regards, Pratik Vyas | SharePoint Consultant |

You can simply remove/add SharePoint Central Administration from one server to another one from SharePoint Configuration Wizard. You do not need to recreate the whole farm. Just remove CA from old server and after that add to new one.Oleg

Thank you all for the reply.. I try to minimize the work of reconfiguring the new farm, as some custom solution need more work to deploy it again, plus the SSP, etc. I try the Oleg approach, however, the features, custom assembly DLL etc, is not automatically deployed, and when I try to retract and deploy solution, the error said that there is no GUID DLL, etc.. Is it possible to promote existing WFE as Central Admin to take over the old Central Admin?

You can easy move Central Admin between WFEs. Moreover you can remove Central Admin from Web Farm and SharePoint will work and will be manageable from STSADM.Oleg