This is an archive version of the document. To get the most up-to-date information, see the current version.

Using Veeam Backup Validator

Veeam Backup Validator is located on the backup server in the installation folder of Veeam Backup & Replication — by default, %ProgramFiles%\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe. If the default path was changed, you can find the actual path in the following registry value: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication] CorePath.

To run the utility, open the command prompt on the backup server and change the current folder to the folder where Veeam Backup Validator is located.

Important

Mind the following:

To run Veeam Backup Validator, you must use an account with administrative rights on the local machine.
You cannot use Veeam Backup Validator to verify integrity of NAS backups.
You cannot use Veeam Backup Validator to verify integrity of backups created in Veeam Cloud Connect repositories. For more information on Veeam Cloud Connect repositories, see the Cloud Repository section in the Veeam Cloud Connect Guide.
The cloud provider can verify integrity of tenant backups only by using the /file parameter and only if the backup is not encrypted. They cannot verify encrypted backups and they cannot verify backups by using other parameters.
[For backups stored in scale-out backup repositories] Veeam Backup Validator can validate only backups stored in the performance tier which consists of backup repositories. Make sure that incremental and full backup files are located on the same extent.

Syntax

Veeam Backup Validator provides parameter sets that allow you to:

Display Veeam Backup Validator help information.

Veeam.Backup.Validator /?

Validate integrity of the content of all VMs or selected VMs in the specified backup.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe /backup:backupname|backupid [/vmname:vmname] [/point:pointid] [/date:pointdate] [/time:pointtime] [/silence] [/skip] [/report:reportpath [/format:xml|html]]

Validate integrity of the VM content in the specified backup file.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe /file:backupfile{1..*} [/username:username /password:password] [/vmname:vmname]

[/silence] [/skip] [/report:reportpath [/format:xml|html]]

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required/Optional	Parameter Type	Notes
/backup: backupname\| backupID	Specifies a name or an ID* of a backup or backup copy job that you want to validate.	Required	String	For a backup copy job in the immediate mode, you must specify the name of its child job — task that copies backup job added as a source to the backup copy job. For example, if the "My Copy" backup copy job copies "Daily Backup" backup job, then you must set the parameter value to "My Copy\Daily Backup". If you want to validate the whole backup copy job, you must run the utility for each child job.
/file:backupfile{1..*}	Specifies a backup file (VBM, VBK, VIB, VRB) to be validated.	Required	String	Mind the following: To validate an incremental backup file, you must specify the whole backup chain starting from the VBK file up to the required incremental file. Each backup file must be specified using a separate /file parameter. If the file is located on a network share, make sure you specify a full path, for example: \\172.16.16.198\TestShare\Empty VM encryptedD2017-09-22T172639.vbk Mapped network drives are not supported. For example, you cannot specify z: \\172.16.16.198\TestShare.
/username: username /password: password	To access files on network shares. Specifies account credentials that the utility uses to access network shares.	Required for network share	String	If you want to validate files located on different shares, make sure this account has access rights to all these shares.
/vmname:vmname	Specifies a name of the VM in the backup file to be validated.	Optional	String	If not specified, Veeam Backup Validator will check all VMs in the backup file.
/point:pointID	Specifies an ID* of the restore point to be validated.	Optional	String	If not specified, Veeam Backup Validator will verify the latest restore point, that is, all backup files the restore point consists of.
/date:pointdate	Specifies the date when the validated restore point was created.	Optional	Date	Make sure to specify the date in the same format as used on the Veeam Backup server. For example: For the mm/dd/yyyy format, specify 08.30.2012. For the dd/mm/yyyy format, specify 30.08.2012.
/time:pointtime	Specifies the approximate time when the validated restore point was created.	Optional	Time	—
/silence	Defines whether to run validation in the silence mode.	Optional	Boolean	—
/skip	Defines whether to skip from processing VMs listed in the vmname parameter.	Optional	Boolean	In the vmname parameter, list all VMs that you want to skip.
/report: reportpath [/format:xml\| html]	Specifies a full path of a file where you want to store a report on validation results. The utility will generate a report on validation results and store it at the specified path.	Optional	String	Mind the following: You must specify the full file path, for example, "C:\temp\validator-report.html". Supported report formats are HTML and XML.

* You can get IDs of backup jobs and restore points from the Veeam Backup & Replication database using scripts or Management Studio.

Example 1

This command validates the winsrv29 VM in the incremental backup file and writes the results in the report.html file.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe /file:"C:\Backup\Backup Job Single Storage\Backup Job Single StorageD2022-10-03T132735_1E50.vbk" /file:"C:\Backup\Backup Job Single Storage\Backup Job Single StorageD2022-10-28T122338_3EE4.vib" /vmname:winsrv29 /report:"C:\report.html"

Example 2

This command validates the exch01 VM in the Exchange Backup Job file.

Veeam.Backup.Validator /backup:"Exchange Backup Job" /vmname:exch01

Example 3

This command validates all VMs in the Exchange Backup Job file created on December 18, 2018 around 12:00 AM.

Veeam.Backup.Validator /backup:"Exchange Backup Job"/date:12.18.2018 /time:12:00