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Preparing for Recovery Using Veeam Recovery Media

Veeam Recovery Media can be used to restore the entire machine or individual volumes if the OS is not working or missing.

For recovery to be possible, before you start, you must have a system image created with the necessary drivers (Linux) or a bootable disk (Windows).

Preparing for Recovery on Linux

  1. Download the image.
  2. Optional: add drivers to Veeam Recovery Media.

1. Download the image

Limitations when using Veeam Agent and Veeam Recovery Media are described in the System Requirements and Before You Begin Veeam documentation guides.

Learn more about the contents of the default image in the Drivers in Veeam Recovery Media Veeam documentation guide.

  1. Download a ready-to-use standard image:

    • from the Veeam website (unavailable in Russia, a free Veeam account is required) — to download, click Get Link → Additional Downloads;
    • from the Selectel storage.

  2. Burn the image. Do not use image burning software — it may affect the content and make recovery impossible:

    sudo dd bs=4M if=<path_if> of=<path_of> status=progress oflag=sync

    Specify:

    • <path_if> — path to the image veeam-recovery-amd64-5.0.0.iso;
    • <path_of> — path where the image will be written.

2. Optional: adding drivers to Veeam Recovery Media

You may need to include additional controller and network device drivers in the image that are specific to a particular machine.

  1. On the machine with the backup agent installed, launch the Veeam interface:

    sudo veeam

  2. Press m → Patch recovery media.

  3. If the machine is connected to the internet, select Download and patch ISO.

  4. If the machine is not connected to the internet, select Patch local ISO and specify the path to the downloaded image.

  5. If the machine being restored uses UEFI, select the corresponding checkbox.

  6. Select the location where the ready Veeam Recovery Media image will be saved.

  7. Click OK. The image creation process will take a few minutes.

Preparing for Recovery on Windows

During recovery, the pre-configured Veeam Recovery Media boot disk is connected to the computer, and the system boots from it. Preparatory steps may vary depending on the computer type.

Veeam Recovery Media tools are available to restore virtual machine operation:

  • Bare Metal Recovery — restoring data from a Veeam Agent for Windows backup;
  • Windows Recovery Environment — restoring a system image created using built-in Microsoft Windows tools;
  • Tools — system management and diagnostics tools (command prompt, password reset, loading drivers, memory diagnostics, and startup repair).

Prepare a bootable disk

  1. Create a bootable disk using the Create Recovery Media application that was installed with the backup agent — to do this, use the file
    C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.Endpoint.RecoveryMedia.exe.

    You can include network adapter and storage controller drivers from the current computer in the boot image or add extra ones. Learn more about creating a boot disk in the Creating Veeam Recovery Media section of the Veeam documentation.

  2. Save the bootable disk on external media that will be accessible in case of recovery.