Backup and Restore VMware ESXi Virtual Machine to a New Host

How to backup VMware ESXi virtual machine without Vcenter to be restored in case of a server failure to a new host or just save the files for back up.
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[@babekpasha]

Thanks man !!! i have been searching for hours and finally found your video and it helped me a lot,thanks again.

[@jessicadellario5354]

This was a big help to upgrade my VMs to the latest version and get them over to the new server. Thank you!!

[@MawuviCan]

I loved this tutorial. You are a natural teacher. Thanks.

[@ralienpp]

Thanks Miguel, this is just what I wanted. Your explanation was very clear.

[@SonnetGomes]

Thank you so much for posting this. I am planning to upgrade to SSD on my home Esxi lab environment. This tutorial will greatly help me save time to restore my machines.

[@luisgutierrez5351]

Wow Miguel, this is an awesome video. I'm in the same situation with a server with 3 VMs that say "unknown vm". I know the steps are diffrent than restoring or coping the VMs to a new HOST. BUT if the steps don't work, I will be using your steps to retore the VMs to a new HOST since I have another working system withthe same type of VMs. Thanks a million for your videos...I'm subcribing to your channel!

[@JaimeMeza]

Thank you for your tutorial, nice pronunciation easy to understand.

[@antuen]

Great video! thank you very much Miguel, question; do you have to have Vsan in order to back up your VM?

[@9619940456]

Nice video and cleared explanation, thanks !!

[@vkr864]

Great video easily understood, was looking for this since a week.

[@saudabdulaziz465]

thanks a lot, that was helpful....I didn't need to restore VMs after upgrading the host.

[@hectorramos8934]

Thank you so much! It was clear and simple.

[@securityfirst1352]

This might be useful for me in future, thanks!

[@lkr2691]

Excellent tutorial!! Thank you!!

[@peterpekny_goo]

Nice video, more so easy and clean info,.. Many thanks

[@Tech-geeky]

Tip: If you have thin-provision disk, it wlll convert to -flat when you download. To overcome this, export to OVF and the Deploy afterwards.
Its still a backup, it just wont otherwise waste space. As some people prefer thin provisioning for various reasons.

[@d3mist0clesgee12]

great stuff bro, still good in 2021

[@antoniomendoza667]

Nice video, very clear. I will use it

[@alexandreslisboa]

Very good. Thanks. Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

[@dresden112]

Thanks Man, this really helped me!

[@1sikteg]

Hey Miguel thanks for the video. I have a host machine with esxi 5.1 and two server vms inside. i need to move them to esxi 6.0 host, can this process that you are demonstrating, work?

[@dvbhot7067]

Hi
Thank's for your tutorial.
I have a question. How can I configure the redundant server on the ESXI 6? I have hp G7 DL580 and ML30 G9? How can I create a backup server in an emergency situation? for e.g. after the main server (G7), Ml30 G9 starts automatically. thank you

[@Martiiin2008]

Thanks, nice tutorial.

[@jaytee7997]

Thank you Miguel. I was trying to download the VMDKs from a browser through the web client and it kept timing out. Copying them from my datastore to my NAS is much more reliable and faster.

[@PodcastBites37]

Good morning and thanks for the tutorial
I just want to know if we can just backup the vmdk and vmx files of a vm??!!

[@RC-vr7fl]

Great tutorial. Thanks.

[@Sagar-sw1fo]

Hi,
Not coming OS(Windows XP) on VM after restored from backup. Pls. suggest for the same.

[@fernandobrito6870]

Thx Miguel for your help!

[@jeu7863]

Very nice & simple. Can you backup powered on VM?

[@jedimaster036]

Is it completely necessary to shut down the VMs before downloading? I don't see any solid literature stating that its necessary but at the same time I don't want to risk error. I have 3 very large virtual servers. One of which I recently backed up while the VM was powered down and it took nearly 10 hours to download. Unfortunately, the other VMs I cannot keep down for that long because they are production servers. Any suggestions? Great video by the way. Very helpful.

[@peperot666]

Miguel, thanks, are there any problem if I do this process with VM running? the download files works ? Thanks

[@yamiletgarces6844]

Miguel thanks to you. Very good!

[@szymonhrapkowicz9632]

excellent explenation. i'll try it.

[@bambooman1956]

how about vm are running? i mean your tutorial can backup when we turn off machine how about we want to back up but machine still on?

[@Nupino]

Thank you very much krub.

[@user-xu1xh6rc5y]

Thank you. But what about the unregistered vm?

[@danimoosakhan]

Is it possible to export the VMs from the Hyper-V and import it to ESXI 6.x?

[@IDMyt]

Thanks for your tutorial

[@rafaelcalderon5756]

Excelente vídeo muy claro y sencillo

[@bd.cloud.garage]

Hi Miguel, I saw this tutorial and I would like to know may I do this from ESXi 6.0 to ESXi 7?

[@kingsleyamadi6433]

Thanks for the video..its a great help for many...Please can you also show me how to increase the physical Ram to the vms

[@rahula3353]

How do i take backup while VMs in running condition?
Thanks

[@nabhrohit]

Thanks sir very nicely explain

[@Liv4IT]

Nice quick ans easy thanks 😊

[@shivprasadgurjar487]

Realy Nice Video, Thanks

[@Sagar-sw1fo]

Hi,
I am backup virtual machine from ESXi host server through Vsphere but after restored from backup OS is not booting from VM. Pls. suggest.

[@srisasi29]

Thanks for the video . Can we download and save the same VM imge backup to cloud, is that possible or any tools required

[@kiran2136]

HI SIR ,
VERY NICE INFORMATION
THANKS FOR VIDEO

[@ajaysrivathsa7560]

Thanks for the tutorial, I want to know is it possible to increase hard disk size of the VM (which has snapshots) after restoring into new host.

[@thewolf428]

I recently ran into the same problem. And the answer is no from a snapshot. Had to clone the host and then increase the disk size. Hope this helps.

[@aymanjundi7540]

It works, BUT this is a bad idea, it takes a very long time because you are downloading the data from the server to the local machine that you are using, then you send them again over the network to the network storage device, so in theory, it takes at least twice the time to accomplish, in practice, due to bottlenecks and manu other reasons, it might take alot longer than that.
but because it works indeed, i have to say: Thank you Miguel

[@jaydeepambekar5069]

Nice info.. thanks!

[@Madawg65]

quick and easy thanks

[@rajinikanth2706]

Thanks migul, But while restoring the files and turning the power on for the vm it is showing the error as the system cannot find the file specified.please just me how to troubleshoot

[@nabilnashed2018]

hello
thanks for video but when i do this steps show to me message say failed to power on

[@juliocecilia1513]

Thank you for you video.

[@musajallow5710]

thanks am from Gambia west africa and i have this problem before but thanks i can upload vm again to my new vm host

[@matteocandeloro5090]

hi, is possible to apply this guide for vm with snapshots?

[@shananjaffer]

Hi
i have facing one issue in esxi my vmdk virtual disk type convert into file kindly advise how to retrieve

[@MrBond269]

this is awesome....thanks

[@zorainyasir]

excellent video, Thank you

[@KcYukon]

Thanks I appreciate this video...

[@MrMohsinleo]

After VM is moved to another host, its serial number will be change or remain same?

[@octaviomondoy2612]

Thanks Man!!! You help me

[@vivekakula23]

Can I take the backup with only Vmdk file?
Please help

[@charliewang4992]

That's a great video. But when I use the VCSA to do this, after register the VM, I can not power on. It said, 'can not find xxxxxx.vmdk.' How to solve it..

[@almedogjurgji]

can we do this using the web version of the esxi host, i mean through a browser?
And second, is the download method u used the same as the export one to fully backup a vm? If not, what’s the difference?
Thank you

[@techmonowar]

Really Helpful

[@rabishankarbhagat2558]

Just one query. We have a ESXi VM which has multiple VMDK file, so do I need to copy all of them in order to restore it somewhere else ? or if any one VMDK file, how to find which VMDK file to copy ?

[@bunty20101]

How to take vm backup on daily basis in diffident storage which is just for bkup

[@TheTimeProphet]

I have a question. I have 4 drives in my Hp Gen8 server. Datastore1 is where all my VMs are stored, and I can see them there. However one of my vms shares all 4 drives. If I go into drive 2, I can see see a couple of vmdks from the VM in datastore. Do I need to back them up too? PS. Why on Earth does it take so long?

[@gv743764]

what possible use is a backup that demands downtime to make in a production enviroment?

[@zemerick1]

Migration to a new host

[@aaravbasak8746]

this is offline , how do i take the backup while the mahcines are on???
Thanks!

[@garay673]

Perfect, thanks

[@ronwatkins5775]

Is there a way to automate this for scheduled backups?

[@ravindrabawkar7198]

Hi.. I want take my whole backup with OS from VM ware esxi browser... Please suggest

[@vkr864]

Thanks a ton Sir

[@ShivamSingh-oo8jn]

Thanks mam you are grate

[@PodcastBites37]

Thank you very much

[@amantebustamante864]

I have VMs on ESX 5.5. Can you backup the VMs just like what you did here and then move the VMs to a Host that has ESX 6.5 ? Great tutorial btw.

[@KcYukon]

@Reichel De Jesus Yes how did this go? Any word?

[@syeduzair4369]

Dear I want to know if I dont have administrative account privilages then what to do so.I received an error " user defined breakpoints.should I close all VMs first then take a backup?

[@anisnasir3439]

Is this method can be applied on esxi with local storage?

[@miriangoutch9722]

Very nice...

[@starjw68]

My VM was broken, can I reinstall and use the same license numbers?

[@MrMpraneeth]

Is it possible to take backup of VM machine, with out turning off?

[@mohdmasih3325]

thanks miguel.

[@amirragab555]

i have a vm server that i haven't updated in 3 years and i am afraid that once i run windows updates on it, it will crash or any unexpected consequence... what is the best practice? take a snapshot or clone the machine ?

[@arianfazlija4590]

Do both

[@omkarbarkuntwar1293]

Hi Dear
Can we take the back up of .vmdk file, if yes please make a video on it.

[@furqankhan6127]

Can this backup be used as a disaster recovery solution?

[@birajlenka]

Hello Miguel, I have a request from a user. He wants to take a full backup of a production machine and restore it in a dev machine. Could you please suggest me how can i proceed on this ?

[@nabilnashed2018]

thanks alot

[@krishnashrestha4782]

Thanks

[@yordanoshaile1722]

thanks more........

[@neilsonbarretodeandrade169]

muito bom,

[@Stickell]

this is the easiest way. magnificently

[@Curious_Crow178]

while backing up i get file operation failed(downloading the machine)
it is powered off

[@danimoosakhan]

It's better if u have a VM running on NAS and the NAS is mapped to both host. That why u don't have to waste time on downloading and uploading VM folder.

[@manuelette]

Hi Miguel, I made all the steps you made in this tutorial but I had an error during the power up of the VM, Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/52d7dc16-fe0d8b90-470a-b499ba5cf7e6/CCSI-Nagios4/CCSI-Nagios4-000001.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
The system cannot find the file specified
VMware ESX cannot find the virtual disk "/vmfs/volumes/52d7dc16-fe0d8b90-470a-b499ba5cf7e6/CCSI-Nagios4/CCSI-Nagios4-000001.vmdk". Verify the path is valid and try again how can I fix this and start the vortual machine? Thanks in advance

[@alanhernandez4165]

Me too, Did you find how to solve it?

[@emmanuelsiqueira]

Is it mandatory that the virtual machine must be turned off to download?

[@RocketLR]

Yes.. From what i understand, It is possible to start a snapshot. Then download everything except for the snapshot. Afterwards just Delete the snapshot. I havent tried it myself but maybe look it up. Or someone here can explain it more in detail.

[@runrobert]

Te la mamaste Miguel compadre que buena explicación!!! Me salvaste de multiples dolores de cabez!!! Yeah! bro!

[@NeerajLalu]

Hi Thanks , your vides are really good to the point and very precise , this is not possible now with webcleint can you do an updated video , really like your videos how can you do this with exsi6.5 using vsphere web client to access host ( No vspehre server).