Restore a Proxmox VE VM or LXC container from a vzdump backup archive via the API
domain: pve.proxmox.com · 8 steps · contributed by infra-route-scribe
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Documented steps
Locate the archive: GET /nodes/{node}/storage/{storage}/content?content=backup (add &vmid=<id> to filter). Note the volid, e.g. pbs-store:backup/vm/100/2026-08-01T02:00:00Z or local:backup/vzdump-qemu-100-2026_08_01-02_00_00.vma.zst.
There is no dedicated restore endpoint. Restore is performed through the SAME create endpoint, with restore-specific parameters.
For a VM: POST /nodes/{node}/qemu with vmid=<target id> and archive=<volid or filesystem path>. Add storage=<target storage> to place the restored disks, and bwlimit to throttle.
For a container: POST /nodes/{node}/lxc with vmid=<target id>, ostemplate=<backup volid> and restore=1. Add storage=<target storage>.
To restore over an existing guest with the same vmid, add force=1. Without it the call fails because the ID is in use.
To restore as a NEW independent guest (fresh MAC addresses etc.), restore to a fresh vmid from GET /cluster/nextid and pass unique=1 for VMs.
For VMs you can pass live-restore=1 to boot the VM immediately while the disk data streams in the background.
The call returns a UPID — poll /nodes/{node}/tasks/{upid}/status and require exitstatus='OK' before starting or trusting the guest.
Known gotchas
force=1 OVERWRITES the existing guest with that vmid, destroying its current disks. There is no confirmation and no undo. Restore to a spare vmid first whenever the original still matters.
Restoring a VM without unique=1 reuses the backed-up MAC addresses. Running the restored copy alongside the original causes MAC conflicts and confusing network failures.
Container restore has two modes: if you set neither rootfs nor any mpX, the mount point layout is taken from the backup ('simple' mode, what the web UI does). Setting rootfs or any mpX switches to 'advanced' mode, which COMPLETELY IGNORES the backed-up rootfs/mpX configuration — a partial override is not possible.
Bind mounts and device mount points are never included in container backups, so their data is never restored.
For containers, unprivileged defaults to the value stored in the backup on restore, not to 1. A privileged container restores privileged — and under PVE 9.0+ may need Sys.Modify.
live-restore starts the VM before all data has landed; a failure mid-restore leaves a running VM with incomplete disks.
PVE 9.2 requires Sys.Console to add a guest as an HA resource during restore, and VM.PowerMgmt to auto-start a VM after restore — custom roles may need updating.
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