Have you heard about the Veeam backup agent? Do you know how to use the Veeam backup agent for windows backup?
If not, this article is for you. Backups are always important for any organization, especially to keep safe from ransomware attacks daily. Here’s how to take backup easily with Veeam Agent for Windows.
Are you fed up with the Windows backup tool and the available third-party tools? Try Veeam backup agent as a competitor that allows you to “clone” your operating system to a backup while still using it.
So, let’s look at how you can configure Veeam Agent to back up Windows in the background, providing your operating system with the equivalent of an undo function.
How to Download & Install Veeam Backup Agent?
Visit the official site of Veeam to download Veeam Agent. You are asked to register on the site before downloading it. However, you need a specific protected computer in the inventory to install Veeam Agent.
Veeam Agents for computers that will be added to a protection group for pre-installed Veeam agents require a different installation method.
You will need administrative rights to install this software after the download is finished. To use the Veeam Agent Windows:
- Unzip it.
- Accept all terms,
- Then click Install.
The simple installation will be completed automatically. Leave the removable backup target alone. Click “Finish” in the subsequent window.
Veeam Agent assumes you have a secondary storage device for backups. If a backup for a failing storage device was stored on the same failing device, it would be impossible to restore it.
Connect an external hard drive or a large USB flash drive to your computer. Then, keep reading to learn how to configure Veeam Agent to automatically back up your operating system.
Create Recovery Media with Veeam Backup Agent for Windows
After setting up, time to create recovery media with the Veeam agent. Choose your external storage device from the window to save Veeam backup Agent. If you’d rather use a network share, look at the other options.
You can also include the decryption key in encrypted backups for seamless restoration.
If the storage device you chose already has data on it, Veeam Agent will ask you to format it for use as Recovery Media. Veeam Agent will display a summary of the procedure after you respond positively to that prompt.
To continue, click Create. Depending on the size and speed of the selected media, the process takes one to two minutes.
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Use Storage and Settings in Veeam Agent for Windows
Most of the settings that require adjustment can be found while creating a backup process. However, Veeam Agent provides some additional options that affect how it operates.
- Select the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner of the Veeam Agent window.
- Then, select “Settings.”
- If you want to temporarily disable Veeam Agent, check the box next to “Disable scheduled backups.” Until you disable this option, Veeam Agent will stop taking new backups.
- Make sure “Throttle backup activity is active when the system is busy” is turned on. This option reduces the priority of Veeam Agent’s process to avoid slowing down your PC when performing a backup.
- If you do not want Veeam Agent notifications, uncheck “Enable control panel notifications.”
Configure Veeam Backup Agent for Windows
The free edition of Veeam Backup Agent differs from the non-free edition in some ways. The most significant limitation is that it only supports one OS backup job.
Begin by giving your backup a name and a description. When prompted to install a license file, select No and then “Add new job.” The wizard will launch.
The default backup mode for Veeam Agent is the Entire computer. That means the backup will contain everything, including non-essential data.
Most users should only use Veeam Agent to back up the operating system and rely on other solutions to back up personal files. As a result, switch the backup mode from Entire computer backup (recommended) to Volume level backup.
Put a checkmark before the Operating system, and Veeam Agent will guess which partitions to backup to protect your Windows installation. We recommend that you also enable the Show system and hidden volumes and see if it missed anything.
Leave the backup destination set to Local storage to save it to a secondary storage device directly connected to your PC.
Veeam Agent also supports network backups. We’ll skip over those in this article because we’re only concerned with the primary operating system of a single personal computer.
After you’ve chosen your backup location, you can specify how many days of backups you want to keep.
To further customize your backup, click the Advanced button. Most people should be fine with the defaults on the Backup tab. However, on the Maintenance tab, enable Perform backup file health check and Defragment and compact full backup file.
We believe the options are self-explanatory and will not dwell on them further.
To add some extra settings, go to the Storage tab and enable backup encryption. You can change the compression level and optimization strategy for your backup. You can save space by using a more “network-friendly” compression level and storage optimization strategy.
These generate smaller files but require more resources during backup and recovery.
Now we must configure the Schedule. I will only perform one backup. So, I uncheck the option for daily use.
Click Apply, review the summary, and select “Run the job when I click Finish.” Now, click Finish.
If you don’t want to wait for your backup job to start automatically, click “Backup Now.” Veeam Agent will display the backup’s status.
If you ever want to change the backup settings, go to the menu button in Veeam Agent. Your backup job is now listed. Choose Edit job from the sub-menu that appears after you select it.
You’re done. It’s pointless to keep backups if you can’t recover them, so let’s look at how to do that as well.
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Recover the Backup through Veeam Agent for Windows
You must use the recovery media you created to recover a backup with Veeam Agent. Connect it to your computer and boot from it. Check the manual for your computer or motherboard to see how to change the boot device.
The recovery media for Veeam Agent takes some time to load. Choose Bare Metal Recovery when the interface appears.
If your backup is on a local drive, leave the Backup Location as Local storage. If Veeam Agent is unable to locate it automatically, use the Browse button to locate and select it manually.
Choose a Restore Point to which you want to restore your computer.
Change the Restore Mode to System Volumes Only. Choose Manual to restore (advanced) instead if you want Veeam to restore your backup to the correct partitions.
If you opt for a manual restore, you must first check Disk Mapping, also known as “what Veeam Agent will restore where.” If you are certain you want to proceed, click Yes.
Finally, review the process summary and click Restore to restore your Windows installation to the last backed-up state you chose.
The recovery process is quick, and you’ll be back up and running in no time. When the procedure is finished, Veeam Agent will prompt you to restart your computer.
Final Thoughts
Veeam Agent is a more user-friendly and better solution for daily use in our opinion. Even if Veeam Agent works flawlessly, it wouldn’t hurt to perform an occasional full backup with Disk Dump.
You never know when a hardware malfunction or update will decide to ruin your day, so be ready. We hope this article will be helpful for you. Please share it with others, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Users of agent-based backup products must set up a small piece of software on each machine they want to protect. Additionally, Veeam Backup Agent creates a volume inside the backup file at the desired location.
First, boot into Windows Recovery Environment. Then, open the advanced recovery option and choose a system image. It will begin the system image recovery. After that, click on additional restore options. Finally, it restored all your backups.
Veeam Agent reads data from the VSS snapshot that was created, compresses it, and copies it to the target location.
Back up remote laptops centrally from a single console to maintain control, compliance, and security regardless of where employees are. Businesses use Microsoft 365 to share, access, and store data.
A backup server is a server that allows for the backup of data, files, applications, and/or databases. It possesses both hardware and software capabilities, allowing you to manage and recover backups.
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