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I needed a new Sharepoint Foundation 2010 server (on server 2008 R2 X64), so I cloned it to save time. It screwed up my production server. The clone worked, and I renamed the server, but it added extra App Pools and screwed up the Central admin link on my production server, and appears to have added new SQL databases on our separate SQL server (also 2008 R2 x64.)

The production sharepoint server still works and is accessible by users. However, the problem is that the services don't exist on our Sharepoint server anymore. When I go into Central Admin -> Application Management -> Manage service Apps, I can see them all in there and "Started"... but the Status are all greyed out. When I go to "manage services on server" and select ALL services for the Sharepoint's IP, there are NO services at all! These used to be there before the clone, and I had to go in there before to restart the Timer service, as our email alerts stopped working. So our email alerts aren't working (and don't know what else), but this time there is no service managed by the server for me to restart! I shut down and am not using the clone as it was a miserable failure, but am thinking it may have taken over these services.

I don't know how to get those services back on the production server. I tried to redo the configuration wizard, but it acted as if I wasn't part of the farm anymore, and I don't have the original sharepoint setup admin password.

It's been like this for a while now, and the only recurring errors I see in event log are

"The SharePoint 2010 Timer service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 3564 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 30000 milliseconds: Restart the service."

"The SharePoint 2010 Timer service terminated with service-specific error %%-2147467259."

Any guidance on how to fix would be GREATLY appreciated!

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Honestly, at this point it would be faster and more stable to create a new Production server from the ground up (NOT a clone!!!) and then copy your actual content databases there. Otherwise, you will likely be battling the quirks introduced by this process for years to come.

Some tips for creating your new server: use a SQL Alias for the database connection, and never change the machine name of a server that is running SharePoint.

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  • Autospinstaller may help you to quickly deploy instances of sharepoint on demand
    – Steve B
    Dec 18 '12 at 16:44
  • Just so I'm clear, you mean I can't make my current production server add those services back, and it would be easier to install a new server? I'm only interested in getting my older server working again, not a new one.
    – Iain
    Dec 18 '12 at 19:15
  • It is most likely possible to piece your production server together again but doing so will take days if not weeks and you will most certainly miss a few things that will take time to fix as they are discovered down the road. Building a new server from scratch can be done in less than a day, especially for Foundation.
    – Dave Wise
    Dec 18 '12 at 19:36
  • Also, your options with the current server may be limited anyway without access to the Setup account
    – Dave Wise
    Dec 18 '12 at 19:38
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Cloning Prod was a bad idea, at this point you have couple of strategies: 1. Restore from backup, but the thing is that your config DB got screwed and MS doesn't officially support restoring from backup. Although they agreed with me on couple of occasions that this is best course of action to get system back to life.

  1. Rebuild the farm and reattach the content DBs. That is probably the safest way. Use autoSPInstaller makes your admin life a breeze.
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