Install and configure Windows Server Backup for Hyper-V

In this article, I will show you how to configure WSB to help Hyper-V VSS writer.

Introduce

Windows Server 2008 introduces an included backup solution called Windows Server Backup (WSB). Server Backup uses Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to backup and restore your server. WSB provides backup and restore features of a normal backup program: operating system, partition, folders and files. In addition, WSB also supports backup and restore at the application level if the application provides a 'writer' that is compatible with VSS. In this article, I will show you how to configure WSB to support Hyper-V VSS writer.

Windows Server Backup

Windows Server Backup is a 'feature' in Windows Server 2008, but it is not installed by default. To install WSB so you can configure it to support Hyper-V, follow the steps below:

Configuration for Hyper-V

Windows Server Backup can support extra VSS writers, but it doesn't have the ability to import or register the VSS writer, you have to do it manually. When installing Windows Server Backup, VSS writers will not be registered. To add support for the Hyper-V VSS writer, you must create the Windows Server Backup registry locations and register the GUID for the applications VSS writer. This can be done using REGEDIT or .REG file.

Search for the Hyper-V VSS Writer GUID

Before you can add the VSS writer to Windows Server Backup, you need to know about Writer ID GUID. You can use the VSSADMIN tool to list all the VSS writers currently installed on your computer and see their GUIDs. To use VSSADMIN to find a GUID, follow the steps below:

Create changes using REGEDIT

To make changes using REGEDIT, follow the steps below:

Create changes with the .REG file

Using REGEDIT is also a fairly easy method, as if you need to make this change on multiple servers or want to minimize errors, create a .REG file to import. Creating a .REG file requires a standard ASCI text editor like Notepad. You can create it manually or you can make changes on a machine using REGEDIT then export the registry key and it will create a .REG file for you.

The .REG file should contain the registry changes that you need to create. These changes include both the key and the required value that has been created and changed. In this solution, you need to create three registry keys and one value. The following paragraph shows the required .REG file containing the changed configuration to support Hyper-V VSS writer.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackup]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackupApplication Support]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackupApplication Support {66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}] "Application Identifier" = "Hyper-V VSS Writer"

Copy these lines and paste them into Notepad, then save to a file called WSB-Hyper-V.REG .

Once you have the .REG file, you can copy this file to another Hyper-V server, install Windows Server Backup and then right-click the WSB-Hyper-V.REG file and select Merge (Figure 4).

Another method for creating a .REG file is to export information from a configured server. Create registry entries using the REGEDIT method, when you have created entries, right-click the WindowsServerBackup key and select Export (Figure 5).

Use the WSB-Hyper-V.REG name in the Export Registry File dialog box and click Save (Figure 6).

Notes about Hyper-V Backup

Now that you have configured Windows Server Backup to be able to support Hyper-V, there are a number of things you need to know when creating backups of Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines.

Conclude

Windows Server Backup serves as a solution for backing up and restoring virtual machines and host Hyper-V hosts. Although it is not installed by default, installing this component is easy and does not need to restart the system. By default, Windows Server backup does not support Hyper-V VSS but can be configured to support Hyper-V by registering Hyper-V VSS writers in the registry. Registration can be done manually with the REGEDIT command or can be done automatically by importing a .REG file. Using the .REG file is the recommended solution to configure Hyper-V VSS writer's support to avoid errors and the process is done automatically.