Azure File Restores

Are you a computer technician who has been tasked with performing a restore from an Azure backup?  If so, this article may help you! So descriptions may be named differently from your environment, if this is true then select the option most closely to the steps.

To begin, sign into the Azure portal, https://portal.azure.com with an account that has administrative access sufficient to perform a restore.

Click in the top bar "Search resources, services, and docs" box and type RECOVERY

Click on "Recovery Services vault" from the results list.

Click on the vault option, in our example it would be the "NerdioBackupVault-xxxxxxx"

Once the vault opens, click on "Backup Items" under the protected items section in the second column

Then click on the Azure Virtual Machine link

Click on the "View Details" link to the far right of the screen for the server you need to access.

Select File Recovery from the menu

Click on the "Select" link to choose a recovery point.

Adjust the start date, if needed.

Click on a recovery point in the list and then click OK.

Click on the "Download Executable" button

Wait for the script and password generation to complete.

When prompted, click on the Download button and once completed, open the file.

When the password prompt appears, click the 'copy to clipboard' button and then paste the password in the script window that opens (twice), also allow the UAC when prompted.

Press 'Y' to proceed and then wait, this can take several minutes.

Once PowerShell shows all the mounted drives and prompts you with the Press Q/q key to exit you may proceed.  DO NOT PRESS THE Q KEY AT THIS TIME.

Open File Explorer and find the file/folder you are looking for.   


 

If you encounter any permissions issues, you can try the following.

• Right click on the folder
• Click Properties
• Click the Security Tab
• Click on the Advanced button
• Click on the "Change" link next to Owner
• Type EVERYONE in the box and click OK.
• Click the Add button (if missing, try clicking OK and see if it will continue, you may or may not need to repeat from this step forward again)
• Click on Select a Principal
• Type EVERYONE in the box and click OK
• Click Full Control, then click OK
• Click OK to close the Advanced Security Settings box.
• Allow the Windows Security box to run for about a minute 
• Click the Cancel button and click OK on the Windows Security warning box
• Click the X in the upper right corner of the Advanced Security Settings box to close
• Click the X in the upper right corner of the folder properties box to close
• Attempt to continue browsing needed folder, repeat the above steps for each nested folder that you need access to.  
• This is FASTER than waiting for Explorer to load the directory IF it opens at all, as it might time out or BSOD your computer
  

Download file depending on folder size to your local PC, and then transfer to server.  Or place in the proper location if you are performing these steps on the server.

Once restore is done, click on the "Unmount Disks" button, keep browser window open until folders are unmounted.

Once the unmount is successful, return to the PowerShell window and press the Q key to exit.