Exporting Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Backups as Virtual Hard Disk Files

Challenge

Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can be used to export the backed up drives of a physical workstation by converting the backup files to a virtual hard drive file with the help of Veeam Backup and Replication. Though it is possible, improper implementation may result in driver-­related BSOD on the new VM and other issues.

The purpose of this article is to minimize the likelihood of issues related to the export.

Cause

There are a number of possible issues that manifest themselves when using Veeam Endpoint Backup this way, such as copied IDs, incompatible drivers etc. 

Solution

The approach described below cannot be regarded as a fully operational physical-to-virtual conversion. Rather, it is a description of the recommended way of exporting the backed up drives of a physical machine so they can be used in a virtual environment.

Scenario 1: you need to use the backed up drives of a physical workstation in one virtual machine. The original machine will be decommissioned afterwards, no clones of the machine will be created.

If you need to export the backed up drives of one specific workstation without deploying it to multiple VMs, you can follow this scenario:

1. Create recovery media image (ISO) as described here.
2. Create a backup of your system with Veeam Endpoint Backup.
3. Boot the virtual machine with the recovery image you created in step 1 as described here.

• Make sure that the option to "Inject these drivers into operating system while performing bare metal recovery" is checked.
• Use the backup you created in step 2 to restore your original workstation.

Be advised, that the first job after the successful export will create another full backup, but the original backup chain will resume.

Scenario 2: you need to use the backed up drives to deploy multiple machines.

If you need to deploy an image to more than one machine with Endpoint pre-­installed and pre-­configured, use this article. 

More Information

Important MS Windows licensing notice.

The MS Windows activation is usually linked to the motherboard and CPU. Once the hardware is changed, re-activation may be required.

In case you are using OEM MS Windows license, keep in mind, that the OEM license is only valid for a single piece of hardware and will not work on a different workstation.