VMware full VM restores do not boot after a Windows update is not installed or incremental backups take a long time

You might experience either of the following conditions:

• Between the time that the most recent Windows update is downloaded and the time that the update is installed, VMs are restored from a full or incremental backup that was configured to be file-system-consistent and application-consistent, but the VMs do not boot successfully.
• Incremental VM backups that are configured to be file-system-consistent and application-consistent take more time to complete.

Symptoms

You might see either of the following symptoms:

• VMware VM restores might not boot successfully.
• When backups that meet these conditions run, the following logs appear in the UpdateIndex.log file on the MediaAgent:
  • 10512 23ac  09/08 18:17:25 596741 UPDATEINDEX '\502daf17-ba52-2c9f-c3f6-fb5b774c0e27\scsi0-1-HS-snap-lsd-winvm05_1.vmdk\00000TLP' is a new file not present in earlier backups, doing nothing to this file since UI_PSEUDO_FILE is set
  • 10512 23ac  09/08 18:17:25 596741 UPDATEINDEX '\502daf17-ba52-2c9f-c3f6-fb5b774c0e27\scsi0-1-HS-snap-lsd-winvm05_1.vmdk\00000TLQ' is a new file not present in earlier backups, doing nothing to this file since UI_PSEUDO_FILE is set

Causes

During streaming and backup copy jobs, VMware VMs exclude blocks that were not used by volumes from its disks. In application-consistent snapshots (because deleted blocks are skipped in backups of VMs with the uninstalled Windows update), this exclusion can cause inconsistencies when VM images boot during restores from such backups.

Resolution

To resolve these issues, install the following Commvault updates:

• 11.20 hotfix form 4376 and its related form in more recent feature releases: Protects the deleted blocks on VMware VMs with application-consistent, incremental backups by disabling the unused sector detection on NTFS volumes. Because of this, backup operations might take more time than usual to complete.
  • Install the hotfix for your current feature release:
    • SP20-HotFix-4098
    • SP21-HotFix-3078
    • SP22-HotFix-3223
    • SP23-HotFix-3117
    • SP24-HotFix-3118
• 11.20 hotfix form 4625 and its related form in more recent feature releases: Reduces unwanted logging in the UpdateIndex to complete VMware VM backup jobs within the expected time, depending on the actual/changed data that you want to protect.
  • Install the hotfix for your current feature release:
    • SP20-HotFix-4384
    • SP21-HotFix-3412
    • SP22-HotFix-3675
    • SP23-HotFix-3735
    • SP24-HotFix-3847

For Windows VMs that are protected by VM-centric VMware virtualization clients. After the updates are installed, run a full backup.