Using Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) with the Agent for VMware

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
Backup Exec's Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) lets you restore individual drives, files, and folders from backup sets without having to restore the entire virtual machine. It also lets you restore individual items from the following VSS-aware applications that reside on virtual machines:

Table: Types of data that Backup Exec backs up for VSS-aware applications on virtual machines

Application Types of data that Backup Exec backs up
Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes, individual messages, calendar items, tasks, journal entries, and public folder data (disk-backups only)
Microsoft SQL Databases
Microsoft Active Directory Individual user accounts, printer objects, sites, and organizational units
Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint data
GRT works only for the virtual machines that use a Windows operating system. GRT does not work for system recovery.
GRT must be enabled in the VMware backup job. When you create a backup job, Backup Exec automatically locates VSS-aware applications on virtual machines. During the backup job, Backup Exec backs up the data from the VSS-aware applications by using GRT. By default, Backup Exec enables GRT using the same credentials that were used to connect to the virtual machine. You can disable GRT for any of the VSS-aware application types.
Note: Backup Exec supports the granular recovery of individual Exchange and SQL items only in non-clustered and non-distributed configurations.
During the backup job, Backup Exec collects metadata from the applications. If Backup Exec is unable to collect the metadata, then you cannot restore individual items for the applications. However, the backup job may otherwise complete successfully.
Requirements for using GRT to back up Microsoft application data on virtual machines
The following items are required to back up data for Microsoft Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, and Active Directory on virtual machines:
  • The virtual machine must be turned on.
  • You must enter the appropriate credentials for the virtual machine. Ensure that the credentials for the virtual machine allow access to the VSS-aware applications.
  • The Backup Exec server must be able to connect to the virtual machine using the network name or IP address.
  • VMware Tools should be installed on the virtual machine.
  • The Backup Exec Agent for Windows must be installed on the virtual machine. Be sure that the VMware Tools are installed before you install the Agent for Windows.
    Note: If you installed the VMware Tools after you installed the Agent for Windows, you should copy the file freeze.bat fromBackup Exec RAWS Install Path\VSS ProvidertoVMware Tools install path\backupscripts.d, for example\\\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\backupscripts.d. If the backupscripts.d directory does not exist, you must create it manually. Alternatively, instead of moving the freeze.bat file, you can repair the Agent for Windows, which automatically places all missing files in the appropriate location.
  • The Backup Exec Agent for Applications and Databases must be installed on the Backup Exec server.
  • The correct number of licenses must be entered for the applications that you want to protect on the virtual machines.
  • The operating system on the virtual machine must support VSS.
  • The options for application-level GRT must be selected in backup jobs. These options are not selected by default.
Unsupported configurations for GRT
Before you create a GRT-enabled backup job for VMware resources, review the following information to understand what configurations are not supported for GRT.

Table: Unsupported configurations for GRT

Unsupported items Details
Virtual machines that have a combination of independent and non-independent disks Backup Exec does not support GRT of independent disks.
Virtual machines that have a virtual RDM disk If you try to restore a backup of a virtual machine that has a virtual RDM disk, the vmdk that corresponds to the virtual RDM disk cannot be created or restored. The restore job fails with the error "Unable to open a disk of the virtual machine". Only non-virtual RDM disks can be restored.
Virtual machines that have RAID 5 volumes Backup Exec does not support file/folder-GRT of RAID 5 volumes. Application-level GRT is also not supported for virtual machines if one of the volumes on the virtual machine is a RAID 5 volume.
Virtual machines that have NTFS with unnamed mount points Backup Exec does not support file/folder-GRT of NTFS with unnamed mount points. The restore job fails with the error "Unable to attach to a resource. Ensure that the selected resource exists and is online, and then try again."
Backup Exec does not support Application GRT for VMware when the application is on an unnamed mount point.
Virtual machines that have utility partitions File/folder-level GRT restore fails with the error "Unable to attach to a resource. Ensure that the selected resource exists and is online, and then try again." Backup Exec does not support backups of virtual machines that have utility partitions. Note that this is not the same as unnamed partitions.
Restores of full and incremental backup sets from different storage devices Backup Exec does not support restores from mixed media if GRT was enabled in the backup job. For example, if the full backup is on tape and the incremental backup is on a disk storage device, the restore job will fail. Restores from mixed media types are supported if GRT is not enabled.
Virtual machines that have dynamic disks (with GPT partition style) Backup Exec does not support granular recovery of files, folders, and applications on virtual machines that have dynamic disks (with GPT partition style).
Virtual machines that have ReFS and Deduplicated volumes Backup Exec does not support file/folder GRT for ReFS and Deduplicated volumes or application-level GRT for virtual machines if the Backup Exec server is not running Windows 2012 or later.
More Information
Backing up VMware virtual machines