and<\/strong> the VM’s on it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\nThe answer is yes, if the agent is on the host machine, but it will only backup the cold VMs (powered off state) successfully, powered on there might be issues or corruption.<\/p>\n
There is no direct way to backup the VMs (outside of an agent, otherwise, and Veeam agent wont support XP, so at best you get an agent backup of Win 7).<\/p>\n
Your best bet is scheduling a shutdown of those VMs to backup the host, then scheduling a power on.<\/p>\n
Optionally, move the VMs to a Hyper-V host (not on a desktop OS as the API is locked here also, so you need a server OS), then back that up, which will get the VMs individually.<\/p>","upvoteCount":6,"datePublished":"2025-03-27T13:07:59.279Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/backup-plan-for-important-vmware-workstation/1190071/3","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rod-IT","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/Rod-IT"}},"suggestedAnswer":[{"@type":"Answer","text":"
We have a laptop workstation that runs vmware workstation to host a couple of critical old VM’s. These VM’s are running Windows 7 & Windows XP with some specialized software for our production equipment.<\/p>\n
My question is: Will a single Veeam windows agent on the host laptop (therefore using only 1 license) be a suitable way to backup this machine and<\/strong> the VM’s on it. Or since it’s the VM’s that are actually more important than the host, should I employ some other strategy even though more more Veeam licenses will be required to backup each VM individually?<\/p>","upvoteCount":6,"datePublished":"2025-03-27T12:58:20.022Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/backup-plan-for-important-vmware-workstation/1190071/1","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"stevehebert","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/stevehebert"}},{"@type":"Answer","text":"Don’t quote me, but I highly doubt it. Veeam typically needs the APIs to backup VMs and, back in the day, the free version of ESXi didn’t have them, so my thinking is that the VMware Workstation won’t either. You might try the agents inside the VMs, but they will only currently support Windows 7 SP1.<\/p>\n
You will probably need to employ a few different ways to back them up.<\/p>","upvoteCount":4,"datePublished":"2025-03-27T13:02:31.276Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/backup-plan-for-important-vmware-workstation/1190071/2","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Denis-Kelley","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/Denis-Kelley"}},{"@type":"Answer","text":"\n\n
<\/div>\n
Steve713:<\/div>\n
\nhost a couple of critical old VM’s<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n
+1 for doing some research to see if you can move this to server equipment and ensure that they are getting backed up, that you can test restore them and they still work after restore.<\/p>\n
I know this may be quite a challenge, but the sell should be this vs. what will happen once they become unrecoverable.<\/p>\n
EDIT: When I had critical Windows XP workstations there was still a version of Acronis that supported the backup and restore. Maybe check and see if that is still the case?<\/p>","upvoteCount":2,"datePublished":"2025-03-27T13:52:29.317Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/backup-plan-for-important-vmware-workstation/1190071/4","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"paprika-1977-12","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/paprika-1977-12"}},{"@type":"Answer","text":"
Thanks. We actually tried Hyper-V some time ago and the problem with that was that the special USB communication cable required (from VM to production machine) would not work through the Hyper-V host.<\/p>","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2025-03-31T17:22:37.181Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/backup-plan-for-important-vmware-workstation/1190071/5","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"stevehebert","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/stevehebert"}}]}}
We have a laptop workstation that runs vmware workstation to host a couple of critical old VM’s. These VM’s are running Windows 7 & Windows XP with some specialized software for our production equipment.
My question is: Will a single Veeam windows agent on the host laptop (therefore using only 1 license) be a suitable way to backup this machine and the VM’s on it. Or since it’s the VM’s that are actually more important than the host, should I employ some other strategy even though more more Veeam licenses will be required to backup each VM individually?
6 Spice ups
Don’t quote me, but I highly doubt it. Veeam typically needs the APIs to backup VMs and, back in the day, the free version of ESXi didn’t have them, so my thinking is that the VMware Workstation won’t either. You might try the agents inside the VMs, but they will only currently support Windows 7 SP1.
You will probably need to employ a few different ways to back them up.
4 Spice ups
Rod-IT
March 27, 2025, 1:07pm
3
The answer is yes, if the agent is on the host machine, but it will only backup the cold VMs (powered off state) successfully, powered on there might be issues or corruption.
There is no direct way to backup the VMs (outside of an agent, otherwise, and Veeam agent wont support XP, so at best you get an agent backup of Win 7).
Your best bet is scheduling a shutdown of those VMs to backup the host, then scheduling a power on.
Optionally, move the VMs to a Hyper-V host (not on a desktop OS as the API is locked here also, so you need a server OS), then back that up, which will get the VMs individually.
6 Spice ups
+1 for doing some research to see if you can move this to server equipment and ensure that they are getting backed up, that you can test restore them and they still work after restore.
I know this may be quite a challenge, but the sell should be this vs. what will happen once they become unrecoverable.
EDIT: When I had critical Windows XP workstations there was still a version of Acronis that supported the backup and restore. Maybe check and see if that is still the case?
2 Spice ups
Thanks. We actually tried Hyper-V some time ago and the problem with that was that the special USB communication cable required (from VM to production machine) would not work through the Hyper-V host.
