VMs that have been backed up with VM Backup can be restored back to the original Host (Hypervisor), and also to a new or different host altogether — same Hypervisor (cross restores between Hyper-V/VMware is not supported). For example in a situation where your original host has crashed, or is no longer functional, you can easily start up a new Host and restore your VMs to that - ideal in disaster recovery scenarios for example.

A VM can be restored both from the local backup location, or even directly from the offsite copy location by following the steps below:

1. Firstly, if it is not already installed, then install VM Backup and connect the Host which you wish to restore your VM(s) to. You may download the installer here if you need it.
   
   

2. Click the [Restore] option from the left hand side menu. You will see the restore options in the drop-down menu.
   
   

3. In this case we want to perform a full VM restore, so we'll pick [Restore VM as a Clone]
   
   

4. By default, this screen will populate all of the currently configured backup locations (if any), however in this case, to restore VMs from a backup that was not taken from this particular host, simply click the [Add Restore Source] button shown below:
   
   
   
   

5. You will then be prompted with a wizard for selecting the restore source, be it a Local Drive, Network Path, Offsite Backup Server or Cloud Storage Account. Follow the on-screen instructions and click [Finish] to complete.
   
   

6. Once done, the new Restore Source will show up in the list of locations, so simply tick the box next to the Restore Source you added and click [Next]
   
   

7. You will then be shown a list of VM backups detected in the selected Restore Source. Choose the VM(s) you wish to restore and click [Next]

    

8. Choose the version of the VM you want to restore, give it a name, choose which Host you want to restore it to, then select a path where you wish to restore the VM(s) to, enter the encryption key (if encrypted) and finally click [Restore]
   
   

   

   
   Note: By default the cloned VM will have its Network Card (NIC) disabled to avoid IP conflicts. Should you want the new VM to have its NIC enabled immediately then you can disable this tick box.

The restore operation will begin in the background and progress can be monitored from the Dashboard under Active & Upcoming Operations. Once the restore operation completes, you will see the completed restore in the Dashboard under Restore History, and your restored VM(s) will show up on your selected Host.