P2V Using Veeam Agent

P2V Using Veeam Agent

By Assad Ali

Overview

P2V can sometimes be a tricky and time consuming game of trial and error but this method has been an effective method to virtualize you servers.

In this example we will run through to virtualize a Windows 2008 R2 box to Hyper-V 2016

Taking a full image backup

Download and install Veeam Agent free if you are not using Veeam backup already from https://www.veeam.com/windows-backup-free-download.html?ad=in-text-link.

Do note the Free Edition is intended for personal use only. Its recommended that the paid version be used for any commercial use.

Proceed to take an incremental or full backup. This can be done from the Veeam Agent Tray Icon. Right click and select Backup->Backup now.

If you haven't already configured a backup then go to Configure backup in the same menu and go through the steps to configure a full backup. In this example we will be only backing up the C: drive.

For the backup location in this example we will be using a portable drive and then passing it back to a VM as we don't want the network enabled on the VM while the live physical is running. You could also use a file share or even an iSCSI target which would be faster given the speed constraints of USB as an older server may not have USB 3.0. I insist to disable the NIC as soon as the restore is completed before the reboot to avoid any issues.

Browsing Image files

Veeam backups typically consist of one .vbk file for the Full Backup and any .vib for the Incremental.

You will see a chain of incremental after the full .vbk. 

Creating a Bootable ISO

On the machine where the backup was performed, use Veeam to create a bootable ISO. This should be just in the Start Menu under Veeam->Tools

Mounting the ISO and USB portable drive to a new VM

Follow the steps in Hyper-V to create a Generation 1 VM as we don't want UEFI boot. In this example we will have about 4Gb assigned to the VM Make sure the Virtual disk is the same size or larger than the original volume.

Chose the ISO file as the boot source

Click finish. Don't start the VM just yet

Plug the portable USB drive used earlier on the physical into the host. Start up Disk Management on the host. If the host has no GUI then you should be able to get to it via Computer Management on a another server on the same OS level.

Find the USB drive and then right click and select Offline.

Go back to the VM, right click and select Settings..

Select IDE Controller 0 from the left hand pane.

Select Hard drive and click Add. 

YOu should now see the Physical Hard disk listed and available to the VM. This only works with drives that come up as non-removable so a flash drive won't work in this case.

Restoring the VM

Proceed to boot up with with the Veeam Recovery media and choose the backup to restore

It should automatically map the correct partitions. Let the restore complete.

Restart the machine after ejecting the recovery media from the VM

VM Not Booting

In many cases after P2V, the VM may not boot due to a different MBR.

Many times boorec from the recovery console won't work and sometimes make it worse.

A quick way to fix this is to use Hiren's Boot CD and use a boot repair tool. The ISO  from https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/. EasyBCD and Bootice are both good tools to use.

When restoring an AD using Veeam, its possible that it will go into a reboot loop into Safe Mode/Directory Services Restore Mode.

Login first and then open the admin command prompt and use:

bcdedit /deletevalue safeboot

You then should be able to get it to boot.