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Veeam can't be exported on Linux if it was made on Windows.. Or can it? (migrating vib and vbk's on Linux)

·257 words·2 mins·
Author
Tuco Imad

Export Journey: From VIB/VBK Backups to Windows 10 via Veeam File-Level Restore
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It started with a simple goal: recover specific pieces of data from a backup I did and bring them cleanly into Linux (Debian).

Soon after fiddling with Wine, I realized that I needed a VM, so I made a Win10 virtual machine.

Passing Through Drives and Files
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The first step was making the backup data accessible inside the VM. This was done by passing through drive partition itself and the drive itself via SATA passthrough.

I also added a qcow2 volume, which I formatted within Windows 10 system to NTFS.

Using Veeam File-Level Restore
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Instead of initiating a full restore, the Veeam File-Level Restore (FLR) application was launched.

From within FLR:

  • The incremenatl backup chain apeared nicely working ootb
  • The VIB/VBK structure was interpreted automatically
  • Individual files and directories became browsable like a live filesystem on C:\VeeamFLR

This made it possible to navigate deep into historical backups and select only the relevant data sets needed for recovery.

Restoring to a Virtual NTFS Disk (the qcow2 one above)
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The selected files from Veeam FLR were then restored directly onto this NTFS volume. This made it easy to transfer or reattach to other systems later.

Outcome
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The final result was a success.

  • No full system restore required
  • No overwriting existing environment

The QCOW2 NTFS volume served only temporaily, from which I used rsync to pull data further where I needed it and that’s it!

I will add more data and photos soon.