Restore a backup as a virtual machine

What it's for

You can bring a backed-up machine back as a virtual machine: a VM onto the same or a different hypervisor, or a physical machine onto a VM (P2V). Use it to get a client running again after hardware fails, to move a server off old hardware, or to test a recovery without touching production.

Note: Partners can white-label the backup app and the Web Portal, so window titles and product names may show your own brand instead of the names used here.

Before you start

Know what kind of backup you have. Whole-VM restores work from Disk Image, Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware vSphere and Proxmox Protected Items. File backups can't be turned into a VM.
Pick the restore device. The restore runs on a device signed in to the client's user account. For a direct restore into Hyper-V, that device must be the Hyper-V host itself. For VMware and Proxmox, the device connects to the host or cluster over the network, and you'll need credentials for it.
Check free space on the target host or datastore. Restored virtual disks are written at their full size (thick-provisioned).
Boot mode: if the original machine booted with UEFI (it has an EFI System Partition), the VM must boot in EFI mode (Generation 2 in Hyper-V). Otherwise use legacy BIOS mode (Generation 1).
For a bootable P2V restore, the Disk Image backup should include the whole disk: the partition table area, any System Reserved or EFI partition, and the OS partition. See Disk Image - Walkthrough.
Magnus Box 25.2 or later offers direct restores into Hyper-V and VMware. Direct restores into Proxmox need Magnus Box 25.8 or later.

Choose the method

You have	Target	Method
Hyper-V backup	Hyper-V	Restore directly into Hyper-V (VM settings such as CPU cores and memory are kept), or restore the VM files and import them
Hyper-V backup	VMware or Proxmox	Restore directly into the other hypervisor, or restore the disks converted to VMDK for VMware
VMware backup	VMware	Restore the VMX and VMDK files, copy them to the datastore and import the VM in vSphere
VMware backup	Hyper-V or Proxmox	Restore directly into the other hypervisor
Proxmox backup	Proxmox, Hyper-V or VMware	Restore directly into the chosen hypervisor. See Proxmox VE
Disk Image (physical or VM)	Hyper-V or VMware	Restore directly into a new VM (P2V)
Disk Image	VMware Workstation, Fusion or Player, QEMU, VirtualBox	Restore as VMDK files and attach them to a new VM (VirtualBox steps below)
Disk Image	Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure	Restore the disk files and upload them. See Disk Image - Restore To Amazon AWS and Disk Image - Restoring To Azure

Steps: restore directly into a hypervisor

In the Magnus Box Web Portal, go to Management Console > Users > [user] > Devices. Find the device that will run the restore (for Hyper-V, the Hyper-V host) and check it's Online.
Click Actions... on its row, and on the Device tab click Restore.... You can also run the same wizard from Restore in the Magnus Box Application on that device.
Pick the Storage Vault, then expand the device and the Disk Image or VM Protected Item and choose the snapshot. Click Next >.
Choose the restore method for your target hypervisor (Hyper-V, VMware or Proxmox) and click Next >.
For a VM backup, tick the virtual machines to restore.
For VMware or Proxmox, enter the connection details and credentials for the host, vCenter or cluster, then choose where the VM goes (for Proxmox, the node and storage). For Hyper-V, follow the prompts to create the VM on the host.
Start the restore. The disks are converted on the fly, and a new VM is created on the target.
Before you start the VM, check its virtual network adapter. If the original machine is still running, keep the VM off the production network so the two don't clash.

Steps: restore as VMDK files and attach them

Run the restore wizard as above, but choose to restore the disk image as files, and pick an output folder with enough free space for the full disk size.
The restore produces a small descriptor file named disk.vmdk plus one data file per partition. Keep them together in the same folder.
Attach disk.vmdk to a new VM in your hypervisor and start it.

For VMware ESXi or vSphere, use the restore method that produces VMware-compatible disks, because ESXi doesn't accept the multi-file VMDK format directly. When you set up the VM, attach the disk to a SATA controller.

For Hyper-V from a Disk Image, restore directly into Hyper-V or choose the VHDX output, because Hyper-V can't use VMDK files.

VirtualBox

Restore the Disk Image as VMDK files to the machine running VirtualBox. The files are as big as the original disk. If Hyper-V is also running on that machine, use VirtualBox 6 or later.
In VirtualBox, click New and create a VM with the RAM and CPU you want. Set it to EFI if the original machine booted with UEFI.
Open the VM's Settings > Storage, select the SATA Controller, add a hard disk and choose the restored disk.vmdk file (about 1 KB).
Start the VM.

Tip: if VirtualBox doesn't find a bootable disk, check that you attached disk.vmdk, the small descriptor file, and not one of the larger per-partition data files. Keep all the restored files in the same folder.

Verify it worked

The restore job shows Success in Job Logs.
The VM boots to the sign-in screen, and the client's key applications and data are there.

Troubleshooting

The VM won't boot: check the boot mode (EFI versus legacy) and that the backup included the boot and EFI partitions. On a VMware VM, attach the disk to the SATA controller.
Windows asks to be activated, or older Windows versions won't boot on new hardware: hardware changes can do this. Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and later usually handle it. For older versions, run sysprep in the image.
The backup app asks to register the device again: see Change of hardware causes registration dialog to appear.
Not enough space: restored disks use their full size. Free up space or restore to a bigger datastore.

Still stuck? Email support@magnusbox.com with the username, the Protected Item, the snapshot date and the target hypervisor.