How to backup/restore Windows 2012 R2 with Veritas System Recovery (VSR).

Problem

This article has been written for Windows 2012 R2 Server. However, the steps listed can also be used for other supported operating systems (i.e. Windows 7/8/8.1/10/2008/2008 R2/2012/2016/2019).

Solution

Backing up:

When selecting the system partition for backup, you will be prompted to include all ‘related drives’ (Figure 1). It is critical that these related drives are included otherwise a full system restore will not be possible.

Figure 1:

Preparing disks for restore:

If you are restoring to disk(s) that have existing partitions on them, it is best practice to clean the disk before starting the restore. If the disk(s) you are restoring to are new/blank, cleaning is not required.

Use DiskPart (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415) to perform the clean using the following steps:

IMPORTANT! These steps will delete the entire contents of the disk. Ensure that you are cleaning the correct disk before running this command.

• Boot from the Recovery Disk (SRD)
• From the main SRD menu, select Analyze
• Select Open Command Shell Window
• Type DISKPART and press enter
• Type LIST DISK and press enter (the disks that have been detected by the recovery environment (WindowsPE) will now be listed)
• Select the disk that you want to restore to by typing SELECT DISK # (i.e. SELECT DISK 0)
• Clean the disk by typing CLEAN and pressing enter
• Type EXIT and press enter to leave DISKPART

The disk is now ready for System Recovery to restore to.

Restoring:

Note: Before a restore can be performed, an SRD must be created.

• From the main SRD menu, select Recover My Computer
• Click Next
• From the View recovery points by menu, select System (Figure 2)

Figure 2:

• If the recovery point(s) are stored on a network location, click Map a network drive and map the drive before moving on to the next step

• Click Browse and browse to the location where the recovery points are stored
• Select the system index file (filename.sv2i) and click Open (Figure 3)

Figure 3:

• Click Next
• If you are prompted to initialize the disk, select the check-box and click OK (Figure 4)

Figure 4:

• Once the disk has been initialized, you will be presented with the Drives to Recover screen (Figure 5)

Figure 5:

If you want to restore all partitions that were backed up, you do not need to deselect any of the partitions (drives) that are listed on this screen. In most cases, no changes are needed here.

Note: For UEFI machines, it is not necessary to set any partition as active. This step will be done automatically by the restore process.

Note: If restoring using the system index file (as mentioned above), it is generally not required to make any changes to settings for 'set active' etc - System Recovery will do this automatically for you.

Note: For UEFI machines, it is not necessary to set "Restore Mater Boot Record". UEFI machines have no Mater Boot Record.

Verify is optional and this can be disabled if required (if restoring from recovery points that are stored on a network location, the verify operation is likely to be slow). Use Restore Anyware should be enabled if restoring to different hardware.

In some cases, the restore process may prompt for additional drivers. Provide a compatible (for the version of Windows being restored) driver file for the hardware that you are restoring to. If these prompts are ignored or cancelled, this may result in the operating system failing to boot following the restore.

• Click on Close when the restore is complete.
• Click on Exit to restart the machine. The restored operating system should now boot into Windows. If the restore was to different hardware, Windows will run through the Plug and Play process to complete the restore.

Applies To

All supported versions of Windows.