Standalone backup agent for Microsoft Windows servers and workstations (formerly Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE)
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nde1303
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Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by nde1303 »

Hi,

We are using Veeam Agent for Windows and Veeam Endpoint Backup to backup our PCs. Several times, we have used the restoration when we have changed the hard drive, or when we have changed the PC with exactly the same model, and it works fine.

But I am wondering if it is possible to do more. Is it possible to use a backup of a Windows 7 PC and use it as a restoration on a different model, with Windows 10 pre-loaded ?

Thank you.
Dima P.
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Dima P. »

Hello Nicolas,

I am not sure I understand the question, can you please elaborate? In general, whenever you perform Bare Metal Recovery the operating system is restored from the backup.
Technogod
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Technogod »

I use Acronis Universal Restore when restoring Windows 7. I read on the forums Veeam backs up the drivers and restores them with the operating system. You should be able to restore your Windows 7 operating system to new hardware. My concern is if the new hardware doesn't have the same storage controller it will probably BSOD. I think you can add drivers to the Veeam Recovery Disk. You would need to add the driver for the storage controller on your new hardware. If your old hardware is running Legacy mode instead of UEFI you would also need to change that on your new hardware.
nde1303
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by nde1303 »

Thank you for your answer.

Here is the thing. I have 10 PC to change next month (DELL Latitude E5240 / E5540). They are running Windows 7. They will be replaced by 3 different models (DELL Latitude 5580 / 7480) running Windows 10.

I am considering using Veeam Agent Windows backups to restore the PC and updgade to Windows 10 after. I am wondering if it is a good idea or if it's better to transfer the files and install the applications manually.
Technogod
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Technogod »

Backup the new computers with Veeam before trying the restore. If the restore is unsuccessful. Revert the computers back to Windows 10 transfer files and install applications.
stuartmacgreen
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by stuartmacgreen »

This query comes under the category of restoring a Veeam Agent for Windows backup to disimilar hardware.

And the possibilities are clear - this should be easy to achieve.

The main consideration is drivers for the new hardware within the restored Windows 7 image on the new hardware.
These drivers being storage controller drivers first, network, and maybe USB controllers. Then graphics drivers, chipset, etc.

You can even inject directories of drivers into a offline Windows 7/8/10 image or in your case the newly restored Windows 7 that is now on the storage of the new hardware.
This makes post-restore Device Management a breeze.
You would do the following after the restore has completed, and before the RE asks for a reboot. Then revert back in the Tools to a command prompt...

From within the Recovery Environment command prompt and you can see the disk where Windows 7 was restored to. You can do this...

Code: Select all

dism /image:E:\ /add-driver /driver:X:\drivers\ /recurse
E = the volume where Windows 7 OS is restored to. Used Diskpart and List Volume to realise this.
X = the volume and subfolder where i have my storage and network drivers/chipset/video etc (eg. *.inf) for the new hardware
/recurse = fairly obvious... dig into all subfolders and inject any and all drivers it finds.

Play around with Veeam Recovery and you can get the understanding of what you can achieve with little effort post-recovery.

I have done this on server hardware. This included going from completely different storage controllers, network controllers. chipset, graphics. Real successful.

The other consideration however, might be the change of the hardware might be from a Legacy boot to a UEFI.

Good luck. VAW is great.
nde1303
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by nde1303 »

Thank you very much. This is very usefull !
Jeff M
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Jeff M »

I am trying to restore a Veeam Agent for Windows backup to a VM. Is this really possible? From what I have read so far I only need to create a blank VM and add the disk from the data store I restored/exported the disk to. However upon first boot I get a BSD and then a screen asking for a recovery image for startup repair.

Jeff
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Mike Resseler
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Mike Resseler »

Jeff,

To restore a Veeam Agent for Windows Backup to a VM you have 2 methods:

1. Create a blank VM, boot from the recovery media and do a Bare Metal Restore. This is still my preference and is imho the nicest and cleanest way
2. Restore the backup as VM disks. This will work most of the time, but when you do this backup on a machine with RAID controllers and drivers, and you try to boot it as a VM in that exact state, you can imagine that you get a BSD and you need to do repairs (cleans) before being able to boot.

But it could be also something else so ideally, to figure out what has happened and what causes the BSD, you can create a support call so our engineers can investigate the logs further and see where it goes wrong

Brgds,
Mike
Jeff M
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Jeff M »

Thank You so much. You have enlighten me to a better way. I am going to try method 1 now. I am unsuccessful at getting the restore as VM Disks to boot as you said probably due to raid and drivers and such. I am curious do you just create the recovery media as an ISO and I guess upload to a VMware datastore? Then boot from the ISO? Then I am assuming you do the Bare Metal just as you would a physical from a Veeam repo. That makes more sense. VMware pulls the OS drivers from the recovery media?

Thanks Again,
Jeff
Jeff M
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Mike Resseler
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Mike Resseler »

Correct.

Now what will happen is that the recovery media (created on the original server) will have the original drivers from the server on board to load them in the recovery environment. But since you are booting from a VM, it won't need those. The only issue you might have is that some of the RAID and whatever software will be remaining after the BMR. You will need to clean those up and probably need a reboot (or two) additionally before getting a clean server again

Hope it helps
Mike
Jeff M
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Jeff M » 1 person likes this post

One word, AWESOME!! I used the recovery boot disk method and it worked great. There was an issue auto-detecting partitions which required me to size manually but it was so easy and worked perfect after that. Fast too, took maybe 30 min to recover a dual drive R710 running Server 2008 R2.

Thanks Mike,

Jeff
Jeff M
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Mike Resseler
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Re: Restoration possibilities with Veeam Agent for Windows

Post by Mike Resseler »

Glad to help and even more happy with the success! ;-)
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