572 - Restoring items with a Windows Image Backup (using Wbadmin/WSB)

Independent items/components can be restored from a Windows Image Backup (WIB) using Windows Server Backup (WSB). This because a WIB includes data from all critical volumes on the machine - the same as a WSB Bare Metal Backup would.

To restore files, folders, or applications and supporting data: 

1. Ensure that Windows Server Backup is installed on the recovery server in order to access the data contained in the WIB. In the Add Features Wizard, ensure that Windows PowerShell, Windows Server Backup and Command-line Tools are checked, and complete the process.
   
2. With an ESE Agent installed and connected to the appropriate Account containing the relevant backup, select the WIB data to restore in the Agent. This will appear in the root of a volume as "WindowsImageBackup".
   
3. Preferrably, restore the data to its original location or else to another volume's root location (e.g. if it was originally on Z:\WindowsImageBackup, restoring to E:\ is fine).
   

   Note: If restoring to a location different to what was used during backup, the original Dump destination will be name of the folder on the new drive. For example: Dump destination volume "Z:" restored to volume "E:" will result in "E:\Z_\WindowsImageBackup". After restoring, the WIB folder needs to be moved to the root of the restore location. For example: "E:\WindowsImageBackup"

4. Continue by following either of the two procedures below:

   a) Restore items using the Windows Server Backup application (recommended)

   b) Restore items using the wbadmin command

a) To restore individual items from a WIB using the Windows Server Backup application:

1. To restore files and folders, see the Microsoft article, Recover Files and Folders.
2. To restore applications and data, see the Microsoft article, Recover Applications and Data.

b) To restore individual items from a WIB using "wbadmin":

1. When the restore of the WindowsImageBackup folder is complete, open a Command Prompt window with adminstrative privileges.
2. Determine the correct version name of the backup to be restored by listing the versions contained in the backup. Open a Command Prompt window and run the following command:
   

   wbadmin get versions -backupTarget:E:

   Where "backupTarget" is the drive letter containing the WindowsImageBackup folder.

   

3. Using the version identifier you'll be able to list the types of items that can be restored from the backup. Types differ between a full volume, application and file.
   Run the following command:

   wbadmin get items -version:03/16/2010-17:30 -backupTarget:E:

   Where "backupTarget" is the drive letter containing the WindowsImageBackup folder and "versions" is for the version identifier.

   Example: In the information returned by the command, the type is indicated as "Application" (App) and the name of the actual item indicated as "Registry":

   
   Note: "Full Volume" restores can also be achieved using the Bare Metal Recovery recovery methods - see article 571 more information.

4. In subsequent commands, the itemType switch will be assigned the item type, and the items switch will be assigned the name of the item.

   Example: wbadmin start recovery -version:03/31/2013-09:00 -itemType:App -items:Registry -recoverytarget:d:\

5. Once the appropriate type and item have been determined, the recovery command can be run. Consult the Microsoft article "start recovery" to use the correct command syntax for your item type:
   https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc742070.aspx