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Hi,

Does anyone know how to add a spf or spi file (ShadowProtect backups) directly as a hard disk in a virtual box machine? Normally to add it you have to run VirtualBoot from ShadowProtect which creates a xsp file and this xsp file can be added in Virtual Box, but Virtual Boot can't be called from a script or command line, only from a wizard and requires that the user manually do settings. I need to automatically set a Virtual Machine from my application using as storage a spf file.

Thanks!

You need to visit the ShadowProtect people to get ShadowProtect specific technical advice.

In a VM you restore and/or access a shadow protect (or any other) backup in exactly the same way you restore from and/or access it from a physical PC. As to how that's done... well that's precisely the question you need to ask on a ShadowProtect tech support site.

I should mention however: while any disk image can be used as a backup, the reverse is not always true.

Indeed. Windows backup creates an image in .vhd format, but it is not bootable. Many people have tried!

catalingc wrote:Hi,

Does anyone know how to add a spf or spi file (ShadowProtect backups) directly as a hard disk in a virtual box machine? Normally to add it you have to run VirtualBoot from ShadowProtect which creates a xsp file and this xsp file can be added in Virtual Box, but Virtual Boot can't be called from a script or command line, only from a wizard and requires that the user manually do settings. I need to automatically set a Virtual Machine from my application using as storage a spf file.

Thanks!

ShadowProtect (a backup imaging and disaster recovery tool) has a feature called VirtualBoot which can directly connect ShadowProtect backup image files (.spf (full image) and .spi (incremental) image files) to a VirtualBox VM as hard disks on the VM (no restore operation needed!). VirtualBoot follows this basic process:

1) User selects ShadowProtect backup image(s) (.spf and .spi files) to use as disks for a new VM - note that these can be backups of any source machine type (it can be a backup of a physical machine or a VM of any VM type (HyperV/VMware/etc))
2) VirtualBoot quickly (often in 30 seconds or so) makes necessary changes necessary for the OS within the selected backup image to boot within the VirtualBox guest VM
3) VirtualBoot creates a small .XSP file which contains a list of the image files (.spf and .spi(s)) to use. Each .XSP file corresponds to only one HD within the VM.
4) VirtualBoot injects a plugin (VBoxHDDXSP.dll and sbimageapi.dll) into the VirtualBox install directory. This plugin makes it possible for VirtualBox to treat a .XSP file as if it is a hard disk.
5) VirtualBoot calls vboxmanage.exe to create the new VM, and to attach the .XSP as a HD to the new VM.
6) When the new VM is booted, VirtualBox tells the plugin to open the .XSP and then sends disk I/O operations (for the guest VM) to the plugin. The plugin VBoxHDDXSP.dll turns around and opens up and handles I/O calls using data form the backup images using sbimageapi.dll.

Currently VirtualBoot.exe cannot be scripted from the command line. However I will be adding this functionality in the next release. VirtualBoot.exe is currently the only tool you can use to generate .XSP files. VirtualBoot.exe does support a mode where you can generate the .XSP file(s), but don't automatically create a new VM. In this case, you would need to create the VM yourself, and then assign the .XSP file(s) as a disk(s) on the VM. Detailed instructions on all of this are found in the ShadowProtect install directory in the text file: DeveloperNotes_VirtualBoot.txt