Recovering a computer from a virtual disk file

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
Using the recovery environment, you can recover your computer from within a virtual disk file (.vmdk or .vhd). If you have a virtual disk for the hard drives that you want to recover, you can fully recover your computer. Or, you can recover another hard drive back to the state it was in when the original virtual disk was created.
Note: You cannot recover a UEFI-based computer from a virtual disk file.
See Defining a virtual conversion job.
See Running a one-time conversion of a physical recovery point to a virtual disk.
Note: If you restore a virtual disk to a computer that uses different hardware, the Restore Anyware feature is automatically enabled for you.
To recover a computer from a virtual disk file
  1. Boot the computer by using the Veritas System Recovery Disk.
See Booting a computer by using the Veritas System Recovery Disk.
  1. On the Home panel of Veritas System Recovery Disk, click Recover My Computer.
  2. On the Welcome panel of the wizard, click Next.
  3. On the Select a Recovery Point to Restore panel, in the View recovery points bylist, selectFilename.
If disks with no layout structures are detected, you are prompted to initialize the disk layout. A list of disks without layout structures is displayed. The list shows the default disk layout type, either GPT, or MBR. If required, you can change the layout type for the disks, and then click OK to initialize layouts on them.
  1. On the Select a Recovery Point to Restore panel, click Browse to locate, select, and open a virtual disk file (.vmdk or .vhd).
If necessary, click Map a network drive. Specify a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the virtual disk file you want.
If the recovery point is located in a hidden drive, you must specify the location of the hidden drive in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.vmdk or DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.vhd
For example, if the hidden drive location is on Disk 2 and Partition 3, you must enter 2-3\file.vmdk. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number.
  1. Click Next.
  2. In the Target Drive panel, select the target drive where you want to restore the virtual disk.
  3. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Click Delete Drive.
Delete a selected drive in the list to make space available to restore your virtual disk.
When you click Delete Drive, the drive is only marked for deletion. The actual deletion of the drive takes place after you clickFinish in the wizard.
  • Click Undo Delete.
If you delete a drive and then change your mind, click Undo Delete to return the drive to the list.
  1. Click Next.Use Restore Anyware to recover to different hardware is already selected for you if you recover an operating system drive (the drive on which Windows is installed; usually the C drive).
This option is not selected if the virtual disk already contains the necessary drivers for the target computer. Or, if you restore a virtual disk that contains a data drive.
  1. If necessary, enter the product license key.
A license key is required to use Restore Anyware when you recover a system from a virtual disk file.
If you choose, you can add a license key directly to a custom Veritas System Recovery Disk by using the Create Custom Recovery Disk wizard. When you restore a virtual disk and Restore Anyware is enabled in Veritas System Recovery Disk, you are not prompted to enter the license key. It is already a part of the custom Veritas System Recovery Disk.
See Customizing an existing Veritas System Recovery Disk.
  1. Click Next.
  2. In the Recovery Options panel, select the options that you want to perform during the recovery process.
    Verify recovery point before recovery Verifies whether a recovery point is valid or corrupt before it is restored. If the recovery point is invalid, the recovery is discontinued.
    This option can significantly increase the time that is required for the recovery to complete.
    Check for file system errors after recovery Checks the restored drive for errors after the recovery point is restored.
    Resize drive after recover (unallocated space only) Specifies the new drive size in megabytes.
    Primary partition Because hard disks are limited to four primary partitions, this option is appropriate if the drive has four or fewer partitions.
    Logical partition This option is appropriate if you need more than four partitions. You can have up to three primary partitions, plus any number of logical partitions, up to the maximum size of your hard disk.
    Set drive active (for booting OS) Makes the restored drive the active partition (for example, the drive from which the computer starts).
    You should select this option if you restore the drive on which your operating system is installed.
    Restore original disk signature Restores the original, physical disk signature of the hard drive.
    Disk signatures are part of all Windows operating systems that Veritas System Recovery supports. Disk signatures are required to use the hard drive.
    Select this option if either of the following situations are true:
    - Your computer's drive letters are atypical (for example, assigned letters other than C, D, E, and so forth).
    - You are restore a recovery point to a new, empty hard disk.
    Restore master boot record Restores the master boot record. The master boot record is contained in the first sector of a physical hard disk. The master boot record consists of a master boot program and a partition table that describes the disk partitions. The master boot program analyzes the partition table of the first hard disk to see which primary partition is active. It then starts the boot program from the boot sector of the active partition.
    This option is recommended only for advanced users and is available only if you restore a whole drive in the recovery environment.
    Select this option if any of the following situations are true:
    - You restore a recovery point to a new, empty hard disk.
    - You restore a recovery point to the original drive, but the drive's partitions were modified since the recovery point was created.
    - You suspect that a virus or some other problem has corrupted your drive's master boot record.
The options that are available depend on the target drive that you selected earlier.
  1. Click Next to review the recovery options that you selected.
  2. Select Reboot when finished if you want the computer to restart automatically after the recovery process finishes.
  3. Click Finish.
  4. Click Yes to begin the recovery process.
See Recovering a computer.
See Recovering a computer with different hardware.
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