Hi, I'm a little new here. I'm a student going for my MCSE and CCNA cert's and I have a small lab setup in my office. So, for a little background I'll tell you my setup.Compaq DL380G1 with a full install of windows server 2003 standard (from dreamspark).One PC running XP-Pro and a laptop running Vista Home Prem.A couple of linksys routers and cable internet.My question is:I want to be able to do various configurations on my server (dns, dhcp, AD, etc..), but I want to return to my clean unaltered install at any time if something goes badly or if I don't retrace my steps fully and undo all the changes.Is this possible?-And-If so, how do I do this?Thanks for all your help in advance.Josh

Hi, To return our system to a original state, we should have a backup of that original state. Then, we can simply restore our system to the original state. However, alternatively, we can use Virtual PC or Virtual Server product, which allows us to more simply to restore the previous state through using 'undo' disk. Undo Disks is a feature that saves changes to a virtual machines data and configuration in a separate undo disk file in case you want to reverse the changes. The feature provides you with a way to decide whether to permanently modify a virtual machine and its disks each time you end a virtual machine session. When you enable Undo Disks, it applies to all virtual hard disks installed on the virtual machine. When you run a virtual machine that is using Undo Disks, any changes to a virtual hard disk are temporarily stored in an undo disk (.vud) file, rather than in the original virtual hard disk file. Each time you end a session by shutting down or turning off the virtual machine, you decide what to do with the changes by selecting one of the following options: Keep Undo Disks. This option saves the changes in the undo disk file and leaves the original virtual hard disk intact. It provides you with a way to leave the original virtual hard disk intact while also keeping all changes when you end a session. Commit Undo Disks. This option updates the original virtual hard disk with all changes that were stored in the undo disk file. Discard Undo Disks. This option deletes the undo disk file and leaves the original hard disk file unchanged. Virtual Server creates a new, empty undo disk file the next time you turn on the virtual machine. Additionally, using Virtual Server or Virtual PC, you can use a physical PC to virtualize lots of PCs. Its very good and useful tool for us to do test and simulate different environment for our study. For your convenience, I list some useful information about Virtual Server and Virtual PC as below. Virtual Server Download http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/downloads/default.mspx Virtual PC Center http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx Hope this helps. Best wishes --------------Morgan Che

I understand the benefits of virtualization, however, I only have a single copy of this OS and I can't obtain another one. I have already modified and toyed with some of the settings (installing roles and playing with AD). BeforeI did this, I made a backup of the OS before I made ANY changes. When I tried to restore to the backup, the roles remained in the Manage Your Server startup screen; however, all of the snapins were gone and the windows components were unchecke in add and remove programs. AD options are still listed in the Administrative tools portion of the start menu. I did an authoritative "?restore?" I believe. I don't want to re-install the OS because I would have to setup all of the HP configuration (Arrays, diag, notifier, etc). Thats a big deal to me since I'm new and I spent a lot of time on it. Any other suggestions that you have would be great. Thanks, Josh