Unable to restore files and folders

[bhwong]

I have been using Veeam Agent for Windows Storage Server to backup user shared folders (not volume). When I attempt to restore them on another Windows Storage Server with all permission preserved, Windows prompt: "access is denied" 3 times, and the restoration stopped with just 1 empty folder restored.

[ejenner]

Sounds like the user account configured on your backup might not have permission to write to the volume you're attempting to restore to?

[Dima P.]

Hi bhwong.

It sounds like you are resting to a shared folder, right? Please check if you can access this shared folder from the the agent host via regular windows browser (same account should be used when your are prompted for credentials). Cheers!

[bhwong]

I'm using the local administrator account to restore the backup. So the permission to write to the destination should not be an issue.

However, this account may not have the permission to access to the source. In this case, can I copy the backup into the local storage first?

btw, will there be any issue to restore files and folders the administrator has no access to in the backup?

[ejenner]

Not guaranteed. The local administrator does not always have permission to everything. "access is denied" is not a mysterious message.... that's exactly what it means.

[Dima P.]

However, this account may not have the permission to access to the source.

In order to restore from a file share you need to provide the account that has access to this file share.

In this case, can I copy the backup into the local storage first?

Yes that works. You can copy backup file to a local storage and then perform recovery.

will there be any issue to restore files and folders the administrator has no access to in the backup?

It depends. If the backup repository has already been configured then yes, admin can start restore process (as repository settings including access credentials are kept in the backup job).

[bhwong]

I have used the domain administrator account to restore the files and folders and halfway during the restoration, Veeam Agents show: Failed to transfer C:\VeeamFLR\.... Access to the path is denied.

After clicking yes for more than 10 times, the restoration simply ended.

[Dima P.]

bhwong,

Can you double check that folder you are restoring to has local admin read/write permissions and these permissions are propagated to all the sub folders? Thanks!

[bhwong]

Due to security reason, administrators are not allow to have access to some shared department folders they are not under. In this case, the restoration will fail? But how come the backup don't fail? And since no one has full access to all the folders in the backup, does this mean there is no way to complete a full restoration? That I must get every department user to restore their own folder?

btw, I using Veeam on Server A to backup some shared folders in server A to server B. We intend to retire Server A and migrate all the shared folder in Server A to Server B. In this case, I should use Veeam on Server B instead of Veeam on Server A to perform the restoration right?

Can you double check that folder you are restoring to has local admin read/write permissions and these permissions are propagated to all the sub folders?

I'm restoring all the folders to a new drive instead of under a folder. The admin has full access on Server B, but no access permission on some of the folders in the backup

[Dima P.]

In this case, the restoration will fail?

Restore will fail only in case the used account does not have administrative access to the target location (local folder / shared folder).

We intend to retire Server A and migrate all the shared folder in Server A to Server B. In this case, I should use Veeam on Server B instead of Veeam on Server A to perform the restoration right?

Sound right.

The admin has full access on Server B, but no access permission on some of the folders in the backup

This might be the root cause (as account require read/write access to target folder) - basically your account does not have permissions to create (restore) a file in the folder. If setting up permissions it the problem - 'copy to' the needed files to another custom folder and then let other users copy the desired files/folders to the locations they need manually.

[bhwong]

Can someone confirm that we cannot restore those files and folders in the backup that we have no access permission to, despite having full access right to the source backup file and full access to the destination folder/drive?

Does this mean the only way to overcome this is to disable preserving NTFS permission when restoring? Is there a way to restore the NTFS permission after the restoration is completed then?

Alternative is to use Robocopy from Server A to Server B right? Will Robocopy face the same issue of not having access to the source folders? It won't be able to copy opened files too right?

I assume Volume level backup and restore do not have such a restriction? Is it possible to restore them using volume level methology instead?

[Dima P.]

we cannot restore those files and folders in the backup that we have no access permission to, despite having full access right to the source backup file and full access to the destination folder/drive?

No, that should work - once backup is taken you (as local admin of the machine where agent is installed) can perform all possible types of recovery. If you can confirm that account used for restore operation has full access to the destination folder, kindly open a support case.

Does this mean the only way to overcome this is to disable preserving NTFS permission when restoring? Is there a way to restore the NTFS permission after the restoration is completed then?

On the target folder you are restoring to. Access to target folder is not related to the backup content at all (or permissions on the files/folders inside the backup file).

Alternative is to use Robocopy from Server A to Server B right? Will Robocopy face the same issue of not having access to the source folders? It won't be able to copy opened files too right?

Likely yes, if you are using the same account with limited permissions.

I assume Volume level backup and restore do not have such a restriction?

Volume level restore works on a block level, it overwrites the entire volume and all the content, so no permissions are not required - only agent installed on the machine.

[bhwong]

I have clean up my 9TB volume and reduce the data to 1TB in order to try the volume backup and restore to a new server with 3TB volume. Unfortunately, this failed as well as Veeam insists on selecting identical volume to restore to.

I can only conclude that it never works for me when attempting to restore to another physical server:

1. When using file level restoration, it failed because I have no full access permission to some of the departmental shared folders, despite restoring as administrator.

2. When using volume level restoration, it failed because the new volume is not of the same size as the backed up volume? Despite it has more than enough capacity (3TB) for the 1TB data (from a 9TB volume with only 1 TB of data)

Any workaround with all these restrictions?

[Dima P.]

bhwong,

Please open a support case and let our team investigate the application debug logs. Second issue looks unexpected, so debug log analysis is required to identify the root case. Please share the case ID in this thread for the reference. Thank you!

[bhwong]

Should I raise the support case from the source or the destination server? On the destination server, veeam agent shows:

Cannot find original disk layout. Do you want to partition this disk manually?

I raised it from the source server first: Case # 03358433

[Dima P.]

That should be enough. Just ask our support team to review the restore issue and share the logs. Cheers!