Enabling the environment for file restore operations

When the file restore feature is enabled by an administrator, file owners can restore files with minimal assistance.

1. To start the configuration wizard, select a host or cluster from the navigation pane and click Configure.
2. Follow the instructions on each page of the wizard. For instructions, see Configuring Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V with the wizard.
   1. When you reach the Cluster and Host Configuration page, check the Enable File Restore check box.
   2. If you are enabling file restore for the first time, you are prompted to enter the file restore administrator credentials. The administrator account must be a Windows domain user account with local administrative authority over all VMs.
3. Optional: If you plan to run file restore operations on Linux® guest VMs, click Copy in the file restore results table in the Results page to copy the file restore URL and Linux mount proxy options to the clipboard. You can paste the mount proxy options to the dsm.sys file when you configure the Linux mount proxy.

   You can also obtain this file restore information at any time after the configuration by clicking Properties in the Actions pane.

   For more information about configuring the Linux mount proxy, see Configuring the Linux mount proxy for file restore operations.

4. Complete the configuration in the wizard.
5. Verify that you can access the file restore interface by selecting a VM from the Results pane and clicking File Restore in the Actions pane.
6. Construct the custom URL for each file owner based on the following template for the file restore URL:

   https://<dphvhost>:9081/FileRestoreUI/login?vmName=<guestvm_name>&vmHost=<guestvm_host>&vmPlatform=<guestvm_platform>

   where:

   dphvhost

   The Hyper-V host where you installed and configured Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V.

   guestvm_name

   The name of the guest VM that contains data for the file owner.

   guestvm_host

   The name of the VM host that is hosting the guest VM. The value for the guestvm_host can be the computer name, IP address, or DNS name.

   guestvm_platform

   The operating system of the guest VM. Specify one of the following values: LINUX or WINDOWS.

   For example, if Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V is installed on a Hyper-V host called Cluster1, and the file owner's data is on a Windows guest VM called MyVM-Win2k26 on VM host HostB, the file restore URL is as follows:

   https://Cluster1:9081/FileRestoreUI/login?vmName=MyVM-Win2k16&vmHost=HostB&vmPlatform=WINDOWS

   Fast path: You can also obtain the file restore URL by selecting a host, a VM, and clicking File Restore in the Actions pane. You can copy the URL address that is displayed in the web browser.

   Tip: If you are using a non-default port number, replace port 9081 with the port that you configured. To show what port numbers that are being used, see Configuring non-default port numbers for Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V operations.
7. Distribute the file restore URL depending on the following scenarios:
   • For the help desk model, the Hyper-V or file restore administrator sends a custom URL to each file owner.
   • For the self-service model, the Hyper-V or file restore administrator sends instructions to file owners so they can construct their own file restore URLs. You can use the information about the URL from Step 6 in your instructions to file owners.
   Tip: VMs can fail over to different hosts in a cluster at any time. In this situation, you must send a new URL with the updated guest VM to the file owner, or the file owner must contact you to determine which host is hosting the VM.