Hyper-V Server restore

BackupAssist File Protection, File Archiving and System Protection use the Volume Shadow Copy service (VSS) to back up your Hyper-V Server while it is running. BackupAssist can use these backups to restore host files, restore files into a guest using Hyper-V Advanced add-on and recover the Hyper-v guest. A System Protection bare-metal backup can be used to recover the full Hyper-V Server.

System Protection backups can use Data containers as backup destinations. BackupAssist automatically mounts Data containers when restores are performed. However, there may be times when you want to do this manually. For example, if you want to check what is inside a Data container or have it available for another task.

To manually mount a Data container:

  1. Open Disk Management.

    2. For Windows Server 2008 R2, SBS 2011 and Windows 7

    1. Click the Start button.
    2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Search Programs and Files text box.
    3. Click OK.

    For Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 and later

    1. Open Run from the Apps screen.
    2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Search Programs and Files text box.
    3. Click OK.

    The Disk Management console will open.

    Disk Management Console

  2. Select Action from the Disk Management menu.
  3. Select the menu option Attach VHD.
  4. Enter the path of the Data container that you want to mount and click OK.

    5. You will now have a drive named BA_VHD_Container in your list of available drives.

  5. Right click BA_VHD_Container, select Change Drive Letter and Paths, and select Add.
  6. Select a drive letter for the Data container, using the drop down box, and select OK.

    7. Mount Data Container

You can now browse the Data container using Windows Explorer.

To learn more see, Data Container guide

Hyper-V Server Restore

Problems can arise if you try to restore a Hyper-V host to an existing server. This is because Hyper-V is integrated into Windows Server and will often have operating system dependencies. Specific Hyper-V host and guest installation options can also create compatibility problems for full Hyper-V host restores.

For these reasons, restores of Hyper-V hosts should be performed by:

  • A recovery of the full Hyper-V Server rather than just restoring the Hyper-V Server application. Only a System Protection bare-metal backup can be used for a recovery. To learn more, see System Recovery
  • Reinstalling the Hyper-V Server feature and then recovering the guests back to the Hyper-V host.

Other Hyper-V restores

Hyper-V host file restores

Individual host files and folders can be restored back to the Hyper-V host by following the Local and Network Files restore process. System Protection, File Protection and File Archiving backups can be used. To learn more, see Restore Local and Network files

Hyper-V Granular Restore

You can restore individual guest files back into a Hyper-V guest using the Hyper-V Advanced add-on. System Protection, File Protection and File Archiving backups can be used. To learn more, see Hyper-V Granular Restore

Hyper-V guest recovery

Restoring a full guest is a recovery process. To recover a Hyper-V guest to a host, see Full VM Recovery You can also perform a Rapid VM Recovery (Legacy) of a guest using the Hyper-V Advanced add-on