Restore Configuration Data

If you have created a backup, you can later restore ESXi configuration data.

When you restore configuration data, the number of the build running on the host must be the same as the number of the build that was running when you created the backup file. To override this requirement, include the -f (force) option.

When you run the vicfg-cfgbackup vCLI command, you can specify one of the options listed in Connection Options for vCLI Host Management Commands in place of <conn_options>.

Procedure

Power off all virtual machines that are running on the host that you want to restore.
Log in to a host on which vCLI is installed.
Run vicfg-cfgbackup with the -l flag to load the host configuration from the specified backup file.
- If you run the following command, you are prompted for confirmation.
```
vicfg-cfgbackup <conn_options> -l /tmp/ESXi_181842_backup.tgz
```
- If you run the following command, you are not prompted for confirmation.
```
vicfg-cfgbackup <conn_options> -l /tmp/ESXi_181842_backup.tgz -q
```
(Optional) To restore the host to factory settings, run vicfg-cfgbackup with the -r option.
```
vicfg-cfgbackup <conn_options> -r
```