Acronis True Image Virtual Machine

This article provides instruction for troubleshooting recovery and conversion to virtual machine failures in Acronis Backup (Acronis Backup & Recovery).

Follow these steps to troubleshoot the recovery and conversion to virtual machine:

Acronis True Image has been tested and is guaranteed to work with just one virtual machine format: Parallels Desktop 14. It is supported by Mac version of Acronis True Image 2019 and later. Backup and recovery of Parallels Desktop 14 virtual machines One of the unique features of Acronis True Image 2019/2020/2021 for Mac is its unrivaled support of Parallels Desktop 14 virtual.

1. Few long-term users of Acronis complained about slow service and occasional software issues that have forced them to look elsewhere even after using Acronis True Image for years. On TrustRadius, a similar review site, the scenario was completely different, with Acronis True Image scoring 9.2 out of 10 from 15 reviews.
2. If you still need to convert the image to a VM you can try the following: Create an empty VM with enough disk space to accommodate the Acronis image Boot it with the Acronis restore software and restore the image inside it. Run Converter, select the Configure Machine wizard and point it to the newly created VM.

1. Get familiar with technology of restore and conversion to virtual machine in the About part.
2. Check for known issues in the Known issues part.
3. Follow to Troubleshooting part to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

About

Acronis Backup (Acronis Backup & Recovery) offers a number of ways of conversion into a virtual machine:

• Regular conversion to virtual machine as a part of backup plan
• Recovery of the backed-up disks or volumes to the 'New virtual machine' destination
• Recovery of the backed-up disks or volumes to a manually created virtual machine by using bootable media

Depending on the agent that performs the conversion, Acronis Backup can create a virtual machine of any of these formats:

Agent for Windows, Agent for Linux:

• VMware Workstation
• Microsoft Virtual PC (includes Windows Virtual PC)
• Citrix XenServer OVA (only during recovery to the 'New virtual machine' destination)
• Kernel-based Virtual Machine
• Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RAW format)

Agent for ESX(i):

• VMware ESX(i)

Agent for Hyper-V:

• Microsoft Hyper-V

Steps of the conversion operation

Regular conversion to a virtual machine:

Set up the backup plan

When creating a backup plan, you can set up regular conversion of a disk or volume backup to a virtual machine. By setting up regular conversion, you obtain a copy of your server or workstation on a virtual machine which can be readily powered on in case the original machine fails.

VM backup is created

Before the regular conversion starts, a backup of the virtual machine is created including the settings of the virtual machine.

Backup is converted to a virtual machine

The way the repeated conversions work depends on where you choose to create the virtual machine.

• If you choose to save the virtual machine as a set of files: each conversion re-creates the virtual machine from scratch.
• If you choose to create the virtual machine on a virtualization server: when converting an incremental or differential backup, the software updates the existing virtual machine instead of re-creating it. Such conversion is normally faster. It saves network traffic and CPU resource of the host that performs the conversion. If updating the virtual machine is not possible, the software re-creates it from scratch.

Virtual machine is created in the folder/on the datastore of the virtualization server

Virtual disks and virtual machine configuration files are placed/updated in the specified destination.

Recovery to the 'New virtual machine':

Set up the recovery task

Data to recover, virtual machine/virtualization sesion and virtual machine settings should be specified.

Backup is converted to a virtual machine

Rather than converting a TIB file to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Acronis Backup performs the conversion by recovery of a disk backup to a fully configured and operational new virtual machine.

Virtual machine is created in the folder/on the datastore of the virtualization server

Virtual disks and virtual machine configuration files are placed/updated in the specified destination.

Recovery to a manually created virtual machine by using bootable media:

Preparation of a bootable media with Acronis Universal Restore functionality

A bootable media with Universal Restore as well as the virtualization platform drivers for Windows guest OS in the backup should be prepared.

Configuration of the volume and recovery task

Dynamic volumes for Windows are created prior to recovery task. Software RAID/LVM structure should be applied within the recovery task.

Recovery of data to the virtual disks

Data is recovered from backup to the disks.

Acronis Universal Restore is applied

Universal Restore replaces HAL on Windows OS or initial RAM disk on Linux OS.

Best practices:

• Use recovery to a manually created virtual machine by using bootable media if the source OS contains dynamical volumes (Windows) or software RAID/LVM (Linux).
• For better performance of conversion directly to a an ESX(i) host, choose an Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) located on that ESX(i).
• If the original machine uses Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) for booting, consider creating a virtual machine that is also UEFI-based. Virtual machines that use Unified Extensible Hardware Interface (UEFI) are currently supported in VMware ESXi 5 only. If the target virtualization platform is ESXi 5, Acronis Backup & Recovery creates a UEFI-based machine. Otherwise, the resulting machine will use the BIOS boot firmware.

See more about conversion to virtual machine in following articles:

Known Issues

Troubleshooting

Follow step-by-step instructions below to troubleshoot the issue. Complete prerequisites step before proceeding to error troubleshooting step.

1. Prerequisites

Following conditions should be met for the correct functioning of the backup conversion or recovery to a virtual machine. Complete all steps before proceeding to error troubleshooting step.

1.1 Correct agent and license should be used

Depending on the conversion way, make sure that the correct agent has been installed and appropriate license is used.

Save a new virtual machine as a set of files

• Acronis Agent for Windows
• Acronis Agent for Linux

Create a new virtual machine on the virtualization server

• Acronis Agent for Hyper-V
• Acronis Agent for ESX(i)

Recovery to a manually created virtual machine

• Acronis Bootable Media with Acronis Universal Restore

1.2 Regular conversion to a virtual machine restrictions

Consider following restriction on regular conversion from the backup plan:

• Conversion of a backup from the following locations is not available: CD, DVD, Blu-Ray Discs, tape devices and Acronis Online Backup Storage.
• Conversion to a Citrix XenServer virtual machine is not available as a part of the backup plan. As an alternative, use recovery to a new or manually created virtual machine.
• Microsoft Virtual PC does not support virtual disks larger than 127 GB. During a conversion to a Virtual PC machine, the size of every disk that exceeds 127 GB will be reduced to this value. If the disk resize is not possible, the conversion will fail. If you need larger virtual disks in order to connect them to a Hyper-V machine, use recovery to a new or manually created virtual machine.

1.3 Logical and dynamic volumes

The resulting machine will have basic volumes, even if Linux logical volume structure is present in the backup. The same applies to dynamic volumes used in Windows systems. If you want to recreate logical or dynamic volumes on the machine, perform the conversion to a manually created virtual machine.

1.4 UEFI-based machine

Virtual machines that use Unified Extensible Hardware Interface (UEFI) are currently supported in VMware ESXi 5 only. If the target virtualization platform is ESXi 5, Acronis Backup creates a UEFI-based machine. Otherwise, the resulting machine will use the BIOS boot firmware.

Acronis Backup & Recovery adjusts the Windows boot mode to the BIOS boot firmware and ensures that Windows remains bootable.

For Linux operating systems, changing the boot mode from UEFI to BIOS is not supported. When converting a UEFI-based machine running Linux, make sure that it uses GRUB version 1 and that the target virtualization platform is ESXi 5. For more details, see 'Support for UEFI-based machines'.

1.5 Disk interface and custom loader reactivation

When converting to a new virtual machine:

• During conversion, the disk interfaces may be changed as a result of migration to a different platform or just manually. The software sets the system-disk interface to be the same as the default interface for the new platform. The default interface is SCSI for VMware and IDE for other supported platforms. If the system disk interface changes, the name of the boot device also changes, while the boot loader still uses the old name.
• Conversion of logical volumes to basic ones may also prevent the system from booting up.

When recovering to a manually created virtual machine, you may want its disks to have a different interface than those of the original machine.

• You may want to change all disk interfaces from IDE to SCSI when migrating a machine to ESX(i), because SCSI is a default disk interface for ESX(i) and it provides better performance.
• You need to change the system disk interface from SCSI to IDE when migrating a machine to Hyper-V, because Hyper-V does not support booting from SCSI disks.

For these reasons, if the machine uses a custom boot loader, you might need to configure the loader to point to the new devices and reactivate it. Configuring GRUB is normally not needed because Acronis Backup does this automatically. Should the need arise, use the procedure described in 'How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration'.

If all steps above have been executed and issue still persists, go to error troubleshooting step.

2. Error troubleshooting

Troubleshoot the conversion to virtual machine errors. Complete all steps before proceeding to collect information step.

2.1 Validate pre-conversion operations

Error during conversion may point to the issue in the source data, e.g. in the backup file that is used for conversion.

Make sure that:

• The backup is available from the agent in the vault.
• The backup is valid. If the backup corruption is suspected, validated it. See 'Validating archives and backups'. To troubleshoot issues with corrupt backups refer to Troubleshooting Issues with Corrupt Backups.
• The backup is compatible with the version of the agent that is used for conversion. Remember that forward compatibility is not supported for any Acronis backup archives even withing the same product, e.g. a backup created with the build version 37975 may not be compatible for recovery/conversion by the build version 32308. Only backward compatibility is supported, e.g. every newer version can restore backups created with earlier version. Also see Backup archive compatibility across different product versions.

If regular conversion fails, confirm that the backup file is created correctly prior to start the conversion. Check the recovery to 'New virtual machine' with the same destination to allocate the issue.

If you suspect source data corruption but the archive validation is successful, perform recovery to other type of virtual machine or to other destination or recover a part of the data to allocate the issue.

Proceed to the next step if issue persists.

2.2 Troubleshoot conversion process

Depending on the conversion process check for possible issues:

2.2.1 Saving a virtual machine as a set of files

Make sure that the destination folder for the virtual machine files is available:

• Necessary user rights should be provided in order to create files. Check that the specified agent service user can create files in that folder.
• File system of the destination folder should have no errors.
• There should be sufficient free space for the virtual disk files and the configuration files.

2.2.2 Creating a virtual machine on a virtualization server

The agent should be able to create or modify virtual machines on the specified virtualization server:

• The machine with agent should have access to the host and the datastore folder.
• Agent service user should have sufficient permissions to create or modify (in case of incremental/differential conversion) virtual machines on the host. See privileges for the VMware ESX(i) Server and privileges for the Agent for Hyper-V.

2.2.3 Recovering from bootable media

Make sure that the bootable media detects the virtual ware correctly.

• If the bootable media crashes on any stage of the recovery process, try recreating the media with the latest available build. To download the latest media see .
• The Acronis bootable media should already have all necessary drivers for the supported virtualization platforms. Proceed as described in the articled, if Acronis Bootable Media Does Not Detect HDD, RAID or NIC.
• Try using a WinPE media if you suspect issues with the Acronis Linux environment.

See also:

If the issue persists, proceed to the next step.

2.3 Troubleshoot post-conversion issues

If the conversion to the virtual machine has completed successfully, but the operating system is not booting or post-boot problems appear:

• Make sure that the prerequisites are fulfilled and when required, boot loader is reactivated.
• Operating system of the virtual machine should be supported.
• Make sure that correct drivers have been specified for the Universal Restore. Proceed to .

Proceed to next step if issue persists.

2.4 Check for known issues

Go to known issues part and check for known solutions

If a known solution has been applied, but the issue still persists, go to prerequisites step to troubleshoot the new issue.

If all steps above have been executed and issue still persists, go to collect information step.

3. Collect information

Acronis True Image Virtual Machine Free

Collect following information and contact Acronis Customer Central.

3.1 AcronisInfo

Collect System Report from the Agent or media that performed the conversion.

If recovery is performed via the bootable media, collect the system report right after the recovery process.

If the virtual machine can boot to OS but there is an issue with the functionality of the OS, collect AcronisInfo from within it:

• From within the Windows OS: AcronisInfo Utility

3.2 Information about environment

Provide the conversion environment details:

• The virtual machine OS.
• Where the source machine resided initially (hypervisor version and configuration, hardware details for physical machine).
• What the destination for the new virtual machine is (hypervisor version and configuration).

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Acronis True Image has been tested and is guaranteed to work with just one virtual machine format: Parallels Desktop 14. It is supported by Mac version of Acronis True Image 2019 and later.

Backup and recovery of Parallels Desktop 14 virtual machines

One of the unique features of Acronis True Image 2019/2020/2021 for Mac is its unrivaled support of Parallels Desktop 14 virtual machines backup, as part of disk backup on a Mac host:

1. If you have an 'Entire Mac' backup or a disk backup that includes files of Parallels Desktop 14 virtual machines, you already have a correct backup of your virtual machines. No additional configuration or adjustment is needed.
2. No need to shut down or suspend Parallels Desktop 14 virtual machines. Deep integration with Parallels Desktop produces perfect backups of virtual machines, with system, all applications and data all in consistent state.
3. In order to restore virtual machine, restore its files as usual file/folder recovery operation in Acronis True Image.
4. If the entire Mac is restored, or the entire disk, the files that form the virtual machines are also restored and are ready for use.
5. No need to run any scripts or commands to fix bootability after restoration or as pre/post commands.

Acronis True Image Software

Please note that backup of Parallels Desktop 14 virtual machines is included only with Mac version of Acronis True Image software.

Other virtual machine formats

Acronis True Image may work with other virtual machines formats, but it is not guaranteed and not supported.

Acronis True Image 2020 Restore To Virtual Machine

Features 'Universal Restore' and 'Convert to VHD' in Acronis True Image are no exception: Universal Restore in Acronis True Image is supposed to be used with physical machines, and Convert to VHD only produces a file in virtual disk format. Acronis Customer Central does not provide technical assistance with mounting and further usage of the created vhd(x) file.

Acronis True Image Create Virtual Machine

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