Upgrading Veeam Backup & Replication in Silent Mode

You can upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication in the unattended mode with a special XML answer file by using the command line interface. The answer file contains all the necessary upgrade settings in the proper order and their thorough description.

Before You Begin

Before starting the upgrade of Veeam Backup & Replication in the unattended mode with the answer file, consider the following:

• The user account that you use to run the silent installation must be in the local Administrators group on the machine where the silent installation will run. The silent installation cannot be run under the LocalSystem and NetworkService accounts.

• If the user account that you use to run the unattended upgrade is logged on the machine using the network logon method, the unattended upgrade will fail. To avoid this, use an additional /SkipNetworkLogonErrors command line key. For example, it is required when the unattended upgrade is started via a remote PowerShell session.
• When configuring the answer file, remove or comment out unused [Optional] parameters. Otherwise, the upgrade session will fail.

Upgrading Veeam Backup & Replication

To upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication in the silent mode with the answer file, take the following steps:

1. Copy the VbrAnswerFile_upgrade.xml file to your local drive.

You can find the template answer file on the Veeam Backup & Replication installation disk in the \Setup\Silent\AnswerFiles\VBR folder. This folder contains the following templates of answer files used for installing, uninstalling, and upgrading Veeam Backup & Replication:

• VbrAnswerFile_install.xml — for installing Veeam Backup & Replication;
• VbrAnswerFile_uninstall.xml — for uninstalling Veeam Backup & Replication;
• VbrAnswerFile_upgrade.xml — for upgrading Veeam Backup & Replication.

2. Configure upgrade parameters according to your needs. For details, see Configuration Parameters.

Check that the answer file has the correct bundle (Vbr) and mode (upgrade) specified in line 2:

3. After you make all the necessary changes in your answer file, start the upgrade by running the Veeam.Silent.Install.exe file located on the Veeam Backup & Replication installation disk in the \Setup\Silent folder. Use the following command line keys in your installation command:

where:

• /AnswerFile — required key for specifying the path to your custom answer file, for example: E:\MyAnswerFileVBRUpgrade.xml.
• /SkipNetworkLogonErrors — optional key that allows skipping additional pre-upgrade validations that do not work under the network logon, which will block the silent upgrade from running.
• /LogFolder — optional key for specifying the path where the setup should save log files if it is different from the default path. The default path is: C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Setup\Temp.

Configuration Parameters

The configuration file contains the following parameters:

Note that you must specify "1" in ACCEPT_EULA, ACCEPT_LICENSING_POLICY, ACCEPT_THIRDPARTY_LICENSES and ACCEPT_REQUIRED_SOFTWARE parameters to proceed with the upgrade.

Upgrade Result Codes

The upgrade result is written into the upgrade log file located at your selected log folder. It may show one of the following result codes:

Upgrade Error Codes

The upgrade error codes accompanied by their detailed description are displayed in the command line dialog. They can also be found in the UnattendedInstallationResult_%DATE%_%TIME%.xml file in the log folder (by default, C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Setup\Temp). You can use such an XML file for retrieving upgrade results from the scripts or utilities that are used to run the upgrade. The error message may show one of the following error codes: