Cluster, Hyper-V Replica, Storage Migration, and other features makes for a higher availability for Hyper-V virtual machines, but it is impossible to provide 100 percent assurance in any system.

When we lose a host computer, for example, not only is a single system offline, but also all the virtual machines that are running in there. It does not matter if it is only an application, a virtual machine, or the entire Hyper-V host that needs to be restored. In simple words, you have to be prepared to bring your systems online as soon as possible in case of a failure.

One of the benefits of Windows Server Backup is that it is easy to use and it is present in the OS already. With a couple of clicks, your hosts and its VMs are up and running.

How to do it

In the following steps, you will see steps how to restore a backup containing virtual machines and the host components using Windows Server Backup:

  1. If the computer on which you restore the data does not have Windows Server Backup installed, proceed with the following steps. In case it is already installed, go to step 7.
  2. To install the Windows Server Backup feature, open Server Manager from the taskbar.
  3. In the Server Manager Dashboard, click on Manage and select Add Roles and Features.
  4. In the Before you begin page, click on Next four times.
  5. In Select features, select Windows Server Backup:
  6. Click on Next and then click on Install. Wait for the installation to be completed.
  7. To open WSB, in the start menu, type wbadmin.msc.
  8. In the Windows Server Backup console, in the pane on the right-hand side, click on Restore.
  9. In the Recovery Wizard window, under Getting Started, select This server if the backup is stored locally, or select A backup stored on another location if the backup is in a storage or network folder. Then click on Next.
  10. In the Specify Location Type window, you can select from the options Local drives or Remote shared folder. Select the option where your backup files are situated and click on Next.
  11. In the Select Backup Location window, click on the drop-down list to select the backup location where the files are placed, and then click on Next.
  12. In the Select Server window, select the server which you want to restore and click on Next.
  13. In Select Backup Date, select the month, day, and time for restoring. If you want to check the content of the backup, click on the hyperlink in front of Recoverable items. Click on Next when done.
  14. In the Select Recovery Type page, select what you want to recover. You can choose from the following options
    • Files and folders
    • Hyper-V
    • Volumes, Applications
    • System State To recover virtual machine and the host components, select Hyper-V, and click on Next:
  15. On the Select Items to Recover page, select the virtual machine that you want to restore. If you need to recover the Hyper-V settings, check the Host Component option and click on Next.
  16. In the Specify Recovery Options, you can select from the following options
    • Recover to original location
    • Recover to alternate location
    • Copy to folder Select the options that suits your environment and click on Next.
  17. In the Confirmation window, verify the recovery items that will be restored and click on Recover. Wait until the restore is complete and click on Close to close the Recovery Wizard.
  18. To check the recovered items, in the Windows Server Backup console, under Messages, double click on the recovery event.
  19. To check the recovered files, click on View list of all recovered files in the Application recovery window.
  20. To check whether the restoration was successful, open the Hyper-V Manager and check whether the restored virtual machines are listed.

Cheers,

Marcos Nogueira azurecentric.com Twitter: @mdnoga