The Boot from Backup feature allows you to instantly boot any VM version directly from the backup location, thus drastically reducing RTOs (Recovery Time Objectives).

Useful links:

• Requirements for Boot from Backup on VMware
• Requirements for Boot from Backup on Hyper-V

There are two options available when Booting a VM from your Backups:

Verification mode - Instantly boots up your backed up VMs in read only mode for verification purposes. Changes made to the booted VM will be discarded when done.

Recovery mode - If disaster strikes, the VM can be booted up instantly from the backup drive with minimal downtime, while the VM is restored back to the Hypervisor in the background. A simple VM reboot completes the recovery process and preserves any changes done while the VM was booted.

To Boot a VM from your backup, open the Management Console 

1. Go to [Restore] > [Boot From Backup] > [Boot a VM from Backup...]
   
   
2. Next choose whether you would like to boot using [Verification Mode] or [Recovery Mode]:
   
   
   The performance of the booted VM will depend entirely on the I/O throughput of the Backup Location, therefore it is not recommended for use on slower backup locations.
   
   
3. The next step after that is selecting the Restore Source, if you are Booting from a different VM Backup installation, you will need to click on [Add Restore Source]. Then select the source and click [Next]
   
   
4. Select the VM you would like to Boot From Backup and click [Next]
   
   
5. At this point you will be presented with the Backup Version, Name, the Host you'd like to Boot to and the Boot Location (this is where you will be restoring to -- if Recovery Mode is picked)
   
   You also have the option to leave the network card disabled; once you're happy with the settings - click [Boot]
   
   
   
   At this stage, upon clicking Boot, you are presented with a Warning to ensure that you do not restart the VM Backup Services (hence the machine VM Backup is running on too) as well as the Host the VM was Booted to until the Virtual Machine is made Live or Discarded. Click [OK] to proceed.
   
   If the VM Backup services, the machine VM Backup is running on or the Host are restarted before the VM is made Live (by clicking Finalize Recovery and waiting for the process to finish), data loss will occur.
   
   
   
   
6. You can now choose whether you would like to go [View Booted Virtual Machine Backups] or [Boot another Virtual Machine]
   
   
7. We will only be Booting one VM in this guide, so once we're in the screen that shows the Booted VMs, you will see that the VM is in the progress of Booting. Once Booted you will see your VM added to Hyper-V Manager or your vSphere console; the VM is now ready to use.
   
   
8. In the meantime the VM is also restoring in the background (since we picked Recovery Mode). Once it's successfully Restored, you will see that [Finalize VM Recovery] is now available.
   
   
   
   
9. In this state, the VM is still running off of the Backup Location, so to complete the recovery process the VM needs to be shut down and detached from the Backup Location. This will only take a couple of minutes, so once you're ready to do this, click [Finalize VM Recovery] and then as soon as the informational message comes up, click [Yes]
   
   
10. All of the changes carried out while the VM was Booted from the Backup Location will be kept and the VM will be automatically booted from the restored files on your faster production storage.
    
    

Note: Non-OS disks might be offline after booting and might need to be set as online from Disk Management.