Description of the "Restore in Progress" Registry Key in Active Directory (814167)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

SUMMARY

This article describes the registry values for the Restore in Progress registry key that is created when you restore Active Directory on a Windows 2000 Server-based computer.

Note The log file, drive letter, and registry data entries in this article are for example purposes only and may differ on your computer.

MORE INFORMATION

The following registry key indicates that a restore operation is in progress and is awaiting information:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Restore in Progress

The following parameters are used by this registry subkey:
  • The following registry value displays the path where the backup program has stored the Edb*.log files from the backup media.

    Note Typically, this is the same path as used in the Database log files path registry value in the Parameters subkey:

    Value name: BackupLogPath
    Value data: \\ServerName\C$\WINNT\NTDS\
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value indicates the location where the checkpoint file (Edb.chk) is stored:

    Value name: CheckpointFilePath
    Value data: \\ServerName\C$\WINNT\NTDS
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value displays the roll forward log file path. Rolling forward is the process where uncommitted transactions from the transaction log files are committed to the database. Active Directory performs circular logging so you cannot roll forward with incremental backups that are made up of only log files. Typically, the backup program sets this path to the same as that specified in the BackupLogPath value:

    Value name: LogPath
    Value data: \\ServerName\C$\WINNT\NTDS
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value indicates if the actual database restore operation has occurred:

    Value name: NTDS Database recovered
    Value data: 00 (hexadecimal)
    Value type: REG_BINARY

  • The following registry value specifies the lowest-numbered log file from the Edb*.log transaction log files that were previously backed up:

    Value name: LowLog Number
    Value data: 00000002
    Value type: REG_DWORD

  • The following registry value specifies the highest-numbered log file from the Edb*.log transaction log files that were previously backed up:

    Value name: HighLog Number
    Value data: 00000003
    Value type: REG_DWORD

  • The following two registry values make up the restore map. The restore map has two parts, a number of entries specified by the NTDS_RstMap Size registry value, and the actual map specified by the NTDS_RstMap registry value. In Active Directory, the size always has a value of 1 because there is only one Active Directory database. On a Microsoft Exchange computer, the value may be more because there may be more than one database file:

    Value name: NTDS_RstMap Size
    Value data: 1
    Value type: REG_DWORD

    Each entry in the restore map is made up of two multi-string entries that go together. Consider the following entry:

    \\ServerName\C$\WINNT\NTDS\ntds.dit\0 \\ServerName\C$\WINNT\NTDS\ntds.dit\0

    Note A multi-string is a set of null-terminated strings terminated with another NUL character at the end (it is double-NUL terminated). This map is a mapping of the database location at the time of the backup to the database location as it is being restored to the hard disk. A particular entry in the restore map for Active Directory always has the same values as that taken during backup. The database is never moved to a new location during a restore operation because the Windows registry is also being restored. To restate this, the database must be restored to its original location.

    Value name: NTDS_RstMap
    Value data: (hexadecimal)5c,00,5c,00,4c,00,49,00,4e,00,44,00,41,00,32,00,5c,00,43,\ 00,24,00,5c,00,57,00,49,00,4e,00,4e,00,54,00,5c,00,4e,00,54,00,44,00,53,00,\ 5c,00,6e,00,74,00,64,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,69,00,74,00,00,00,5c,00,5c,00,4c,\ 00,49,00,4e,00,44,00,41,00,32,00,5c,00,43,00,24,00,5c,00,57,00,49,00,4e,00,\ 4e,00,54,00,5c,00,4e,00,54,00,44,00,53,00,5c,00,6e,00,74,00,64,00,73,00,2e,\ 00,64,00,69,00,74,00,00,00,00,00
    Value type: REG_MULTI_SZ

Active Directory stores other configuration information in the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters

The following registry values are used in this registry key:
  • The following registry value displays the path that is passed to the Jet database engine. This is where the Jet database stores the Edb.chk file:

    Value name: DSA Working Directory
    Value data: C:\Winnt\NTDS
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value indicates the location of the Active Directory database file. This file is not sufficient to perform a recovery or restore of Active Directory. You also require the checkpoint file and the transaction log files so the database engine can maintain a consistent database during a recovery or restore operation:

    Value name: DSA Database file
    Value data: C:\WINNT\NTDS\ntds.dit
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value indicates the location of the transaction log files:

    Value name: Database log files path
    Value data: C:\WINNT\NTDS
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value determines if the database engine performs logging. Microsoft recommends that you do not turn off logging or change this value. You can use the logging function to troubleshoot issues that you may experience during a recovery or restore operation:

    Value name: Database logging/recovery
    Value data: ON(default)
    Value type: REG_SZ

  • The following registry value stores a GUID for each non-removable volume in the computer. During initialization, the GUIDs are recorded as the drives are mapped and all paths are determined. When this process is complete, the Jet database starts:

    Value name: DS Drive Mappings
    Value data: (hexadecimal)63,00,3a,00,5c,00,3d,00,5c,00,5c,00,3f,00,5c,00,56,\ 00,6f,00,6c,00,75,00,6d,00,65,00,7b,00,33,00,62,00,37,00,66,00,39,00,31,00,\ 61,00,32,00,2d,00,61,00,61,00,64,00,64,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,36,00,2d,\ 00,38,00,64,00,66,00,38,00,2d,00,38,00,30,00,36,00,64,00,36,00,31,00,37,00,\ 32,00,36,00,39,00,36,00,66,00,7d,00,5c,00,00,00,00,00
    Value type: REG_MULTI_SZ

  • The following registry value is entered in the registry by the restore process. It is the new database GUID to be used as the new invocation ID during the Active Directory restore operation:

    Value name: New Database GUID
    Value data: 1d3f79ac-7e06-4eff-b1a3-907146bdef8a
    Value type: REG_SZ

For more information about related topics, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

216993 Useful shelf life of a system-state backup of Active Directory

200941 XADM: How the Restore in Progress registry key works

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:5/24/2005
Keywords:kbinfo KB814167
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