I have a server 2008 R2 that took a power outage and now it's only booting in Recovery mode. What are the best steps to restoring this server to production?

Hi, What’s the detailed symptom when you start the computer? Can you boot into Safe Mode? If you cannot boot into Safe Mode either, I suggest restarting the computer, keeping pressing F8 and choosing the Last Known Good feature. If the issue persists, please try methods below: Method 1: =============== 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type sfc /scannow, and then press ENTER. Method 2: =============== 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press any key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, time, currency, and a keyboard or another input method. Then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type Bootrec /RebuildBcd, and then press ENTER. Method 3: =============== 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type BOOTREC /FIXMBR, and then press ENTER. 8. Type BOOTREC /FIXBOOT, and then press ENTER. 9. Type Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All, and then press ENTER. Note: In this command, Drive is the drive where the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media is located. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Trying to boot into safe mode brings me to the same recovery screen. I have done method 1 amd 3. Now I will try "Last Known Good feature" method 2 now. I didn't use the Last know... since it never worked for me in the past.

Hi, Please try Last Known Good now. If it still does not work, I suggest trying Registry to repair the system: 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type regedit and press Enter. 8. Select the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. 9. Browse into the System key, and then the CurrentControlSet subkey if it’s displayed. 10. Browse into the Services key and look for the likely offending service. Most service keys have a value named Start, with one of the following values: • 0 Boot driver loaded by Ntldr (Boot) • 1 Driver loaded at kernel initialization by Windows Server 2008 R2 (System) • 2 Driver loaded at system startup by Session Manager or Service Controller (Auto Load) • 3 Driver or service loaded manually from Services, Control Panel, and so on (Load onDemand) • 4 Driver or service that is not running or started (Disabled) Services with a Start value of 0 or 1 are used to boot Windows, and you shouldn’t touch them. Services with a Start value of 2 start about the same time as the Login dialog box appears in Windows. If your Windows system boots and then promptly crashes without your help, try setting the Start value of any suspected service(s) to 3 or 4. Be sure to write down the names of the services and their original Start values before you change anything. 11. Exit Regedit. 12. Type exit and press Enter to close the Command Prompt window. 13. Remove the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD and click Restart to restart your system normally. 14. If your system restarts correctly, you’re finished! You might need to repeat this process a few times, disabling a different service or two each time. If you still cannot boot your computer, I am afraid that you have to reinstall the system. Before reinstalling the system, please backup your important files first. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, How are things going? I have not heard back from you in a few days and wanted to check on the status of the issue. Please let me know how things turned out. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Have the same issue. :( Have tried all the above options. but dint workout anything. That error is really annoying as there is no error code to search for.