Requirements and Limitations

Before you restore VM guest OS files, mind the following requirements and limitations.

Requirements

Consider the following general requirements:

• You can restore files from the file systems listed in the Platform Support section.
• The account that you use to start the Veeam Backup & Replication console and to connect to the backup server must have permissions and privileges described in Veeam Backup & Replication Console Permissions.
• You can restore VM guest OS files from a backup or replica that has at least one successfully created restore point.
• [For restore to the original location] The mount server must have access to the VM guest OS (if file-level restore is performed over the network) or vCenter Server and ESXi host where the target VM runs (if file-level restore is performed over VIX API/vSphere Web Services).
• [For restore to the original location] VMware Tools must be installed on the target VM.

Requirements for ReFS

If you plan to restore files from a VM running Microsoft Windows ReFS, consider the following requirements for the Veeam Backup & Replication components involved in the restore process:

• The machine on which a mount point is created (for example, the mount server) must run Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later.
• [ReFS 3.x] If you plan to restore files from a VM running Microsoft Windows ReFS 3.x, the machine on which mount point is created must run Microsoft Windows Server 2016 or later and the ReFS version must be supported on it.
• The machine on which a mount point is created must run Microsoft Windows Server of the same version or newer than the guest OS of a VM from which you plan to restore files.

To learn in which scenarios on which machines mount points are created, see Mount Points and Restore Scenarios.

Requirements for Data Deduplication

If you plan to restore files from a VM running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later and data deduplication is enabled for some VM volumes, consider the following for the Veeam Backup & Replication components involved in the restore process:

• The machine on which a mount point is created (for example, the mount server) must run Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later.
• The machine on which a mount point is created must run Microsoft Windows Server of the same version or newer than the guest OS of a VM from which you plan to restore files.
• Data deduplication must be enabled on the machine on which a mount point is created.

To learn in which scenarios on which machines mount points can be created, see Mount Points and Restore Scenarios.

Requirements for Storage Snapshots

Requirements for guest OS file restore from storage snapshots are listed in FAT, NTFS or ReFS Restore from Storage Snapshots section.

Limitations

Consider the following limitations:

• You cannot restore pipes and other file system objects. File-level restore supports recovery of files and folders only.
• You can restore files from basic disks and dynamic disks (including simple, mirrored and striped volumes).

• Processing of reparse points is supported only for NTFS. Note that reparse points with reparse tag values other than IO_REPARSE_TAG_MOUNT_POINT, IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK and IO_REPARSE_TAG_DEDUP may be processed and restored incorrectly.
• You cannot restore files from a backup created in the reverse incremental mode if the backup job is being performed. If the backup is created in the incremental backup mode and the backup job is being performed, you can restore files from any available restore point.
• You cannot restore VM guest OS files to the original location if you have excluded the system disk from the VM backup used for restore and the volume GUID of the system disk was changed after the VM backup creation.
• You cannot restore VM guest OS files from a running replica or if the replication job with the necessary VM is being performed.
• You cannot restore VM guest OS files encrypted with Windows EFS.