Hi, you’ve got the correct backup type, and guest processing isn’t even necessary for the feature to work the problem you have is your mount server not being able to read the contents of the drive. Likely if your mount server is an older version of windows than the backed up server.

If you edit your backup repository that contains your backup and go to the mount server section, what is the OS of the server mounting the backup? And what is the OS of the server you’re backing up?

Examples that come to mind are ReFS partitions, as Microsoft have made a new version of ReFS with each release so if your mount server is windows server 2016 and your VM is 2019 then it can’t read the backup data when doing a file level recovery. Have also seen issues when deduplication is enabled on drives but the deduplication feature isn’t installed on the mount server.

Never fear if you have got the ReFS issue, you can add other servers as a mount server if this is your problem, if you’re doing a file level recovery then your production server would still be online and could even be used as a mount server.

@MikeLeone these steps Browsing Machine Backups for Guest OS Files from our HelpCenter documentation may help you.

If by “mount server”, you mean my Veeam Backup server, you are absolutely correct. The Veeam server is Win 2016, and the VM is Win 2019.

So how would I go about that? Do I create a new Win 2019 (well, Win 2022, as I have Win 2022 VMs to be backed up). 

Thanks!

Either create a new VM or server with 2022, or, just add a suitable server to Veeam as a managed server, and then reconfigure your backup repository to use it as a mount server. As you’ve got 2022 servers definitely use one of those to avoid this issue with them any server that can handle the extra work would be sufficient such as a file & print server. A dedicated server/VM is nice but unless you’ve got datacenter licensing it’ll cost more to build a new VM

OK, I’m off the next few days, but Tuesday I’ll roll out a new Win 2022 VM. How do I “add a suitable server to Veeam as a managed server, and then reconfigure your backup repository to use it as a mount server”? Where is that? My Backup repository is a Data Domain 6400 NAS device.

Thanks! I can see why you’re a Veeam legend! :-)

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/dsa_repository_mount_server.html?ver=120
 

On the screen where you select your mount server you can add a new server (which adds it as a managed server) and then you can choose it from the dropdown. If you’ve got internal firewalls between servers then be sure to check out the port requirements to ensure you understand what needs to be opened! And just in general it’s a good idea so you understand how the traffic will flow during a recovery

Hope that helps! Let us know if any further questions!

Hello @MikeLeone 

check Mount server requirements as below:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/mount_server.html?ver=120
 

usually the mount server is the Repo server, if you didn’t added a repo server , then it will be the Veeam server 

Good news! I created a new Win 2022 VM; added it as a managed server; chose it as the mount server for my repository, and was able to successfully restore files from a Win 2019 VM image. So now I am good to go.

Thanks for all the help!

Happy to help and glad you’ve got it all sorted

I use my repo but you can restore files from older versions of Windows with no issue. Even the Mount server shouldn’t have to be 2022 but newer is better.

Also make sure you have the right permissions set for the restores. The Veeam operator doesn’t always have the right permissions to restore a file/folder to a specific location  

Make sure you have the right account set up under guest OS credentials and run the test. I use Enterprise Manager and enable Indexing to make the backups searchable as well. 

I could be wrong but if my memory serves me correctly if your backed up server leveraged windows deduplication then you would want to enable feature that on the mount server too I believe.

Just added that since I remember having a fun time before discovering this a while back.

You are correct. 

When I started here I had 1 server I couldn’t restore from that someone was “TESTING” that feature on. If your Mount Server has it enabled you can restore to it.  Totally forgot about that “feature”