Restore single file from a Windows VM
- Thread starter finnzi
- Start date
I don't believe this is possible on a VM, only a CT
Which is a shame as I am in middle of moving VMs from Hyper-V with Synology ABB VM backup to proxmox.
I just found I had a critical file go missing - it was trivial use ABB Explorer to find the files and download them from the VM backup
I guess i will use proxmox VM backup for whole VM backup (though one can of course mount the image, there is no easy explorer view)
And use synology agent inside the windows VM to do file level backup / restore.
And i agree, figuring out how to use the proxmox-backup-client is an unintuitive PITA - took me 30 minutes plus searches to figure out how to get it to list snapshots (and no the docs do not make it obvious at all)
Which is a shame as I am in middle of moving VMs from Hyper-V with Synology ABB VM backup to proxmox.
I just found I had a critical file go missing - it was trivial use ABB Explorer to find the files and download them from the VM backup
I guess i will use proxmox VM backup for whole VM backup (though one can of course mount the image, there is no easy explorer view)
And use synology agent inside the windows VM to do file level backup / restore.
And i agree, figuring out how to use the proxmox-backup-client is an unintuitive PITA - took me 30 minutes plus searches to figure out how to get it to list snapshots (and no the docs do not make it obvious at all)
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Hi,
to restore single files simply go to your Proxmox VE interface, select a backup and click on "File Restore". There are some limitations though:
In that case you have to map a backup snapshot and attach it to a windows VM (read-only) and extract things manually.
to restore single files simply go to your Proxmox VE interface, select a backup and click on "File Restore". There are some limitations though:
(https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/h...guest-files-from-proxmox-backup-server.74750/)
In that case you have to map a backup snapshot and attach it to a windows VM (read-only) and extract things manually.
yes I understand that and thought that would be ok, but in a panic about deleting things in a sysvol when replication has apparently been broken for 808 days (how the heck were my two DCs performing ok) that sort of thing is incredibly high friction vs using a browsing tool like this:
I am not hating on PBS - i think it's great for VM backup and for VM restore, it gets a bit of a pass being much newer software and OSS - but it also has paid variants, in that case i am less forgiving, I would have said before yesterday that mounting the image file myself would be ok - but now having experienced an emergency my perspective has changed.
Also there is no reason why PBS can't have a feature to map the image file and let me browse it... (lol other than work, resources vs higher priorities).
For now i am keeping pbs for vm backup for disaster recovery BUT getting my guest ABB agents running inside the VMs so i have quick file level restores (i.e. not DR but just plain old backup)
I will revisit when PBS do a windows gues agent (its on their aspirational roadmap, but i won't hold my breath - windows agents that support domain controllers etc are not the simplest things...)
Its possible. You can restore a single file of a VM (the filesystem must be supported by PBS) from the PVE webUI. The PBS webUI only allows this for LXCs and non-image host backups.
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I am not sure i understand what falls into this category of are VMs and have non-image backups? (and thus would allow me to browse in the UI)
VMs use always image backups of virtual disks, but you can still browse the files on the filesystems on those block devices and restore single files. See for example here the /etc folder from the backup of my Debian VM running Nextcloud (block level backup of a ext4 formated partition on a zvol):
With non-image backups I meant host backups. Host backups done with the proxmox backup client can backup block devices as images as well as files+folders as archives.
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Ahh you mean linux VMs!!! (note the OP asked about windows VM's and i was answering that)
That said, I am so happy to be stupid on this one (i have 3 debian docker VMs i need to bring over from hyper-V) i hadn't yet tested debian VMs - it was on my list to do. I have only started or completed the things in blue on my list https://gist.github.com/scyto/76e94832927a89d977ea989da157e9dc
Serves me right for being a windows guy and starting with only windows VMs and linux CTs (yes i know there are no windows CTS).
Thanks, you made me quite happy - doesn't change my conclusion on backup for my windows domain controllers
(now if there is a way to get proxmox to do this for image files with NTFS in them then i am all ears...)
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