Restoring VM Guest OS Files (Microsoft Windows)

You can restore VM guest OS files from a storage snapshot. Veeam Backup & Replication supports file-level restore for the following Microsoft Windows file systems:

  • FAT
  • NTFS
  • ReFS

When you perform guest OS file restore, you select an ESXi host in the virtual environment. Veeam Backup & Replication creates a clone of the storage snapshot on which the VM disks are hosted, and mounts the clone to the selected ESXi host as a new datastore.

Veeam Backup & Replication accesses the configuration file of the VM (VMX) on the mounted clone and uses this configuration file to register a temporary VM on the ESXi host. Disks of the restored VM are mounted to this temporary VM. After disks are mounted, you can copy VM guest OS files and folders to their original location, local machine drive or save them in a network shared folder.

Before you start file-level restore, check prerequisites. Then use the File Level Restore wizard to restore VM guest OS files and folders.

  1. Launch the File Level Restore wizard
  2. Select a VM
  3. Select a restore point
  4. Select an ESXi host for snapshot mounting
  5. Specify a restore reason
  6. Save restored files