"the process cannot access the file" Message when restoring a PC

[Keeran]

I am new to Veeam and in the learning phase. A file backup could be restored without any problems but when I tried to copy Backup-file of a pc to another pc (I backuped an entire pc and tried to copy that to another pc), I got at some point many messages regarding that "the process cannot access the file because it is used by another process." and everytime I should click on "OK" in order to not cancel the restoring Process. Is there any clever way to fix it?

[ejenner]

Sounds like you might be trying to restore over a live system if you're getting warnings about 'file in use'

As I understand it, from conducting my own bare metal restores... Veeam does not want you to do that and usually prevents it. It sounds like you might have found a way of working around the controls which usually prevent it.

So are you restoring a C: drive backup onto a C: drive on a running system somehow?

Truthfully, if this is what's happening the quality of the recovered system tends to be very poor if there is a mixture of new and old files on the C: drive. That is files which were in use at the time of the restoration which couldn't be overwritten during the restore and some new files which were successfully written.

I suppose a good question would be 'what are you trying to do'

[Keeran]

You are right. I was finding out, whether it is possible to make a backup of a pc(all the volumes) and copy that onto another running pc, so that i can have a second pc with the same datas.
I do that just in case, if the first pc is defect and i have to copy the back up files onto another one, in order to have a new pc with the same datas. Isn't is possible to do that?

[ejenner]

Yes, you can do that... but the way to do it is to move the disks around.

If you can put the disk for the second PC into a USB dock connected to the backup you can restore the OS to that disk. When you want to use it for a recovery you can put the disk into the PC where you want to use it. You can't restore very well to a running system.... mostly that is prevented. It should be a last resort if everything else has failed and even then, if the OS was successfully booted it shouldn't be considered a viable machine until it has been reloaded with a new OS.

[Keeran]

OK thx for the answer

[Dima P.]

Keeran,

when I tried to copy Backup-file of a pc to another pc (I backuped an entire pc and tried to copy that to another pc), I got at some point many messages regarding that "the process cannot access the file because it is used by another process."

If you were talking about copying the backup files manually - that's possible. I'd recommend to make sure that backup job or restore operations are not running one the first place, then copy the entire folder with all the backup files (you will need vbk / vbm / vib for successful recovery altogether). Cheers!