NVP-vProxy restore fails with "VDDK Error: 13: You do not have access rights to this file"

Summary: The restore session fails to complete with "Failed to initialize Block Writer" and "You do not have access rights to this file."

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Symptoms

The NetWorker VMware Protection (NVP) solution is configured with the vProxy Appliance. The NetWorker Management Console (NMC) is being used to perform a Virtual Machine (VM) restore. The restore session log shows: 
...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO:   [123] Setting up session for 'Hard disk 1' with backing file '[DATASTORE_NAME] VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmdk'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO:   [123] Data Mover: Moving data for 1 virtual disks, 1 at a time ...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO:   [123] Data Mover: Hard disk 1: Preparing for data movement.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [123] Data Mover: Hard disk 1: VDDK: Failed to open source VMDK '[DATASTORE_NAME] VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmdk': VDDK Error: 13: You do not have access rights to this file.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [123] Data Mover: Hard disk 1: Failed to initialize Block Writer.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS WARN:   [123] Data Mover: Hard disk 1: Warnings attempting to close target data file 'DEVICE_NAME/DEVICE_NAME/32/32/30ca2c29-00000006-95077d15-5f077d15-216c0e00-123c561e/vm-40545-disk-key-3000-flat.vmdk'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS WARN:   [123] Data Mover: Hard disk 1: Warning occured while releasing reader resources: Warnings attempting to close target data file 'DEVICE_NAME/DEVICE_NAME/32/32/30ca2c29-00000006-95077d15-5f077d15-216c0e00-123c561e/vm-40545-disk-key-3000-flat.vmdk'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO:   [123] Data Mover: Hard disk 1: Cleaned up after data movement.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [123] Unable to move data for 'Hard disk 1'.
...

The /opt/emc/vproxy/runtime/logs/vrecoverd/vrecoverd-vddk.log shows:  
...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS NOTICE: VDDK INFO VixDiskLib: Unable to locate appropriate transport mode to open disk. Error 13 (You do not have access rights to this file) (Mounting 42370ba2-b24c-0f51-8990-872f1e8c8b15 using transport hotadd failed : SupportHotAddTransport: Cannot use hotadd transport to mount Virtual Machines with disks that are not SCSI, SATA or NVME (adapter type: ide).) at 5613.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS NOTICE: VDDK INFO VixDiskLib: VixDiskLib_OpenEx: Cannot open disk [DATASTORE_NAME] VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmdk. Error 13 (You do not have access rights to this file) (Mounting 42370ba2-b24c-0f51-8990-872f1e8c8b15 using transport hotadd failed : SupportHotAddTransport: Cannot use hotadd transport to mount Virtual Machines with disks that are not SCSI, SATA or NVME (adapter type: ide).) at 5769.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS NOTICE: VDDK INFO VixDiskLib: VixDiskLib_Open: Cannot open disk [DATASTORE_NAME] VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmdk. Error 13 (You do not have access rights to this file) at 5813.
...

Cause

The virtual machine configuration contains a virtual IDE disk. The VMware Hot Add Transport does not support IDE disks, so the VMware Network Block Device (NBD) Transport must be used for the restore. The recovery is configured against a vProxy that is configured with the Hot Add Transport sessions and no NBD Transport sessions.

Resolution

The backup\restore of IDE disks are supported with the NDB Transport mode. Edit the configuration of a vProxy appliance to perform the restore with an NBD session.  
  1. Open the NetWorker Management Console (NMC).
  2. Select the "Devices" tab.
  3. In the left tree view, select "VMware Proxies."
  4. In the right pane, open the properties of a vProxy in the target restore cluster.
  5. In the NSR VMware Proxy Properties Windows, select the "Configuration" tab.
  6. Increase the number "Maximum NBD sessions" to match the "Maximum Hot Add sessions."
  7. Perform the VM recovery with the vProxy configured with NBD sessions.
  8. Once the restore is complete, change the "Maximum NBD sessions" to zero to use only the Hot Add transport sessions for backups.
Article Properties
Article Number: 000196669
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 12 Nov 2025
Version:  3
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