How do i restore a windows backup VHD?
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Wednesday, August 29, 2012 6:46 PM
I made a backup of a virtual machine running on Hyper-V. It's Windows Server 2008. The backup is a VHD. How do I do a full system restore on this?
I've tried booting to a windows installation disc and doing a restore from a share, but that's resulting in an error message: "The selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment"
Any ideas?
Makolyte, Software Developer + System/Network Admin
All Replies
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Thursday, August 30, 2012 2:18 AMModerator
Hi,
Did you export the VM’s or have any snapshots?
If you stored the VHD files in a location not on the system disk and then you can simply create a new virtual machine configurations and point to the existing VHD's.
Best regards,
Jeff Ren
- Edited by Jeff RenModerator Thursday, August 30, 2012 2:18 AM
- Edited by Jeff RenModerator Thursday, August 30, 2012 2:19 AM
- Edited by Jeff RenModerator Thursday, August 30, 2012 3:17 AM
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Thursday, August 30, 2012 2:08 PMThe VHD file is from a Windows Backup, it's not a virtual machine's VHD.
Makolyte, Software Developer + System/Network Admin
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Friday, August 31, 2012 6:03 AMModerator
Hi,
Base on my research, I’m afraid that you cannot restore system from the VHD files created by Windows Server Backup, It doesn't have a boot loader.
Please look over here for further troubleshooting.
Can I use the VHD file created by Windows Backup with Hyper-V
Create Hyper-V VM from .vhd file created by wbadmin.exe (Windows Backup) - Boot Failure
If you have any additional questions, please let me know.
Best regards,
- Edited by Jeff RenModerator Friday, August 31, 2012 6:03 AM
- Proposed As Answer by Santosh BhandarkarMicrosoft Community Contributor, Moderator Friday, August 31, 2012 6:34 AM
- Unproposed As Answer by Makolyte Friday, August 31, 2012 12:09 PM
- Marked As Answer by Jeff RenModerator Sunday, September 02, 2012 2:05 PM
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Friday, August 31, 2012 12:12 PM
Ok so i have the backup, now how do i restore it?
I've tried restoring from Windows Recovery on bootup, but it says it's not able to restore. Am I possibly trying to restore using the wrong OS disc or something?
Makolyte, Software Developer + System/Network Admin
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Saturday, September 01, 2012 11:51 AM
Hi Makolyte,
Like what Jeff has said, you can't restore directly from a VHD.
What you can do is:
1. Create a Virtual machine (VM) using Hyper-V.
2. Connect the VHD to the VM
3. Boot the VM.
If you are trying to restore the data from a VM to a physical disk, please read this link. However, do it at your own risk. Make sure you have a backup of the VHD file before you attempt this.
Jabez Gan [MVP] - http://www.msblog.org Contributing Author for: (Sybex) MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-643
- Marked As Answer by Jeff RenModerator Sunday, September 02, 2012 2:05 PM
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Saturday, September 01, 2012 2:36 PM
Do you mean attach the VHD to the VM during creation? I tried that, but said the VHD was corrupt / unable to read.
[Edit] What about attaching the VHD to disk management and doing a CHKDSK or the VHD repair tool?
-The problem is in the host i see no "Attach VHD" option in Disk Management, and haven't figured out how to do that.
-Secondly, if i can actually attach it, i can probably pull off the data i need (exchange database) and do an Exchange 2007 rebuild on an isolated server/network.
Makolyte, Software Developer + System/Network Admin
- Edited by Makolyte Saturday, September 01, 2012 2:40 PM clarify
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Saturday, September 01, 2012 3:37 PM
Hi,
Sorry for the confusion. It is not possible to boot the VHD directly as it does not have a boot loader.
You can attach the VHD to disk management to recover the data - that's the farthest you can go.
To access the Attach VHD option, single click on Disk Management (inside Computer Management), and once it has loaded up the other disks, right click on Disk Management and you should have the option to Attach VHD.
Jabez Gan [MVP] - http://www.msblog.org Contributing Author for: (Sybex) MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-643
- Marked As Answer by Jeff RenModerator Sunday, September 02, 2012 2:05 PM
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Saturday, September 01, 2012 3:41 PM
No problem, i forgot to include that detail in my original post :)
In Disk Management, under Actions, i'm not seeing an option to "Attach VHD". I see this on other servers, and even my own computer (Win7). Is there some setting that will allow me to enable this option?
Note: i just thought, if i can't do it from the local server, i could simply share the VHD, and attach it to a server that has the "Attach VHD" option. That would be VERY slow, so hopefully i can do it from the local server somehow.
Makolyte, Software Developer + System/Network Admin
- Edited by Makolyte Saturday, September 01, 2012 3:41 PM
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Saturday, September 01, 2012 3:46 PM
On checking, you are on Windows Server 2008 and not Windows Server 2008 R2.
The Attach VHD is only avail in 2008 R2.
For Windows Server 2008, you can use Virtual PC 2007. Or, install 7Zip and use that to open the VHD. For me, I prefer to use 7Zip.
Jabez Gan [MVP] - http://www.msblog.org Contributing Author for: (Sybex) MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-643
- Proposed As Answer by Jabez GanMVP Saturday, September 01, 2012 11:56 PM
- Marked As Answer by Jeff RenModerator Sunday, September 02, 2012 2:06 PM
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Saturday, September 01, 2012 3:49 PMThanks, i will try that. Thanks again for all your help.
Makolyte, Software Developer + System/Network Admin
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:12 AM
Hi,
As You use System restore and get nothing ,i suggest you to try to use any third party application to restore data of VHD.The main reason of this is not possible to boot the VHD directly as it does not have a boot loader.
You can get more Information from here http://www.virtualdiskrecovery.com/
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