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Restoring Guest Files and Folders (Microsoft Hyper-V)

Updated

You can restore individual files and folders from a virtual machine backup to the source VM, to a physical client, or to a VM with the Virtual Server Agent installed. Restoring guest files and folders is useful in the following situations:

  • A file or folder on the virtual machine has errors, and you are unable to open the file or the folder.

  • You want to restore a file or a folder to a specific point in time.

Restriction

You can restore files from NTFS file systems with the following limitations:

  • The formatted cluster size (allocation unit) must be 1024 or greater.

  • You cannot restore any archived files and folders.

Before You Begin

Before restoring the files and folders, you must meet the following requirements:

  • You must have completed at least one successful backup of the virtual machine. For instructions, see Backing Up Virtual Machines.

  • To restore files and folders to a client without an agent, see Agentless Restores. You can use agentless file recovery when the total restore size is less than 10 GB and you are restoring fewer than 10,000 files.

  • To restore virtual machine files and folders when the total restore size is larger than 10 GB or has more than 10,000 files, use a restore-only file system agent installed in the destination client or virtual machine.

  • The MediaAgent that you use for live browse operations of an ReFS volume must support the version of the ReFS volume on the guest VM. For example, to live browse and restore files from an ReFS volume from a backup of a Windows Server 2016 VM, you must use a MediaAgent running on Windows Server 2016 or later. To browse and restore files from an ReFS volume from a backup of a Windows Server 2019 VM, use a MediaAgent running on Windows Server 2019 or later.

  • If deduplication is enabled on a Windows guest VM, force a live browse operation to recover files from a backup of the VM. Restore the files to a MediaAgent that has the same operating system as the guest VM and that has the deduplication role enabled.

    For more information, see Forcing a Live Browse Operation.

  • To restore files and folders to a Windows client:

    • The client must have one of the following components installed:

      • Virtual Server Agent

      • Windows File System Agent (full or restore only)

    • The version of the File System Agent on the destination VM must be the same as the version of the Virtual Server Agent.

    • To restore from a backup set level, make sure that all the subclients in the backup set are configured for regular backups. If there are subclients configured for IntelliSnap backups, run the browse and restore operation from the regular subclient level.

  • To provide UNIX file system support for ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, JFS, HFS, HFS Plus, and Btrfs file systems:

Procedure

  1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > Hyper-V > backup_set.

  2. Start the restore from a subclient or backup set:

    • From the subclient, right-click the subclient and then select Browse and Restore.

    • From the backup set, right-click the backup set, point to All Tasks, and click Browse and Restore.

  3. In the Browse and Restore Options dialog box, click Guest Files and Folders and then click View Content.

  4. From the browse results, expand the left pane, select the files or folders to restore, and then click Recover All Selected.

    To select a specific file version, right-click the file, select View All Versions, and then select the version.

    The Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog box is displayed.

  5. Determine the Restore Destination.

    To restore the file or folder to a client computer, in the Destination client drop-down list box, select the client computer to which you want to restore the file or folder.

    To restore the file or folder to a proxy virtualization client, check the Restore to Virtual Machine option, and select the Virtualization Client and Virtual Machine accordingly.

  6. In the Specify destination path box, enter the location where you want to restore the files and folders or click Browse to select the location on the destination client.

  7. To restore with a different user account for the destination Hyper-V server:

    1. Select Impersonate User.

    2. In the User Name and Password boxes, enter the credentials for the user account that has administrative privileges on the Hyper-V server.

    3. In the Confirm Password box, re-confirm the password for the user account.

  8. To further customize the restore operation, click Advanced.

  9. Click OK to start the restore job.

Use Cases

Restoring Guest Files and Folders from Backups Made Using UNIX MediaAgents

For backups that use a UNIX MediaAgent, you must enable restore jobs to use an alternative MediaAgent and drive pool to access the required media.

The index for the UNIX MediaAgent is copied to the Windows MediaAgent selected for the browse and restore. This enables all volumes, files, and folders to be displayed when browsing a virtual machine.

To run file-level restores from backups that use any Unix (AIX, HP-UX, or Solaris) MediaAgent, set the following options:

  • From the Control Panel > Storage > Media Management option, go to the Configuration - Resource Manager tab and set the value for Allow restore jobs to use alternative MediaAgent and Drive Pool to access required media parameter to 1.

  • On the Restore Advanced Options - Data Path tab, in the Use MediaAgent list, select a Windows MediaAgent.

Restoring Files and Folders to a UNC Path or NFS-Mounted File System

Restoring data to a UNC path (Windows) or an NFS-mounted file system (UNIX) is similar to a cross-computer restore, with the following exceptions:

  • The restored data passes through the client computer to the mapped share or file system.

  • The computer that hosts the share or mounted file system need not be another client within the CommCell.

  • All data restored to the shared directory inherits the security attributes (or permissions) of the parent directory.

On the Restore Options - General tab:

  • In the Destination client list, select a Hyper-V server.

    The destination client must reside in the same CommCell as the source client whose data was backed up.

  • In the Specify destination path box, enter the UNC path or the location of the NFS mounted file system.

    For example, enter \\servername\sharename. Do not specify a drive letter associated with a mapped drive. The restored data inherits the rights (or permissions) of the parent folder.

  • Select the Impersonate User checkbox.

  • In the User Name and Password boxes, enter the credentials for the user account having all permissions for the UNC path to which the data will be restored. This user must have permissions to create files in the destination folder. Without these permissions, the recovery operation will not complete successfully.

  • In the Confirm Password box, re-confirm the password for the user account.

Restoring Files and Folders to a VM without an Agent (Agentless Restores)

For agentless restores,

  • Select the Restore to Virtual Machine checkbox.

    The Destination Client label changes to Proxy Client.

  • In the Virtualization Client box, select the virtualization client name.

    To restore to a virtual machine on a standalone Hyper-V server, which is not a virtualization client, select Select Different Server and provide the Hyper-V host name with the logon credentials.

  • In the Proxy Client box, select an appropriate proxy client.

  • In the Virtual Machine box, click browse_icon and browse to select the target virtual machine.

  • In the Specify Destination Path box, type the complete path to the destination folder on the selected virtual machine.