Cannot manually extract home dir from Virtualmin backups without error

Virtualmin
1
SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS type and version Ubuntu Linux 22.04.5
Usermin version 2.102
Virtualmin version 7.20.2 Pro
Theme version 21.20.7
Apache version 2.4.52
Package updates 119 package updates are available

The background

I like to do a backup and then extract the files from the Virtual server backup. I have been doing this using cpanel for years.

It is an easy work flow to follow.

The issue

  • I can unzip the main backup package with no errors in this case jew.com.tar.gz using WinRAR
  • this exposes the config files and the homedir file jew.com_dir.tar.gz
  • When I now extract the contents from homedir file using WinRAR I get the following errors indicating corruption with the archive
    image
    image1073×669 53.6 KB

If I extract the homedir file jew.com_dir.tar.gz with 7z I get the following errors and the files and folders are all in folders with different numbers rather than all under public_html (this is obviously caused by 7zip not liking the Gzip format and thus extracting as a straight TAR)

image
image990×555 22.9 KB

Additional

If I make a manual backup of the public_html folder via file manager I do not have this issue.

2

Hello,

It seems that the issues you described aren’t related to Virtualmin backup file. Most probably it happens because limited symlink support in Windows—if I remember correctly, it’s disabled by default, and non-administrator users cannot create symlinks unless developer mode is enabled.

Also, I think you could try using the native tar command in PowerShell instead.

3

The files in the first image are not symlinks. They are real files.

The archive is missing lots of files, see the comparison of the folder home/jewcom/public_html/wp-content/

winrar

image
image898×299 29.7 KB

File manager

image
image986×585 66.2 KB

4

I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong, but I’m pretty confident it’s not a Virtualmin backup issue.

Try using the tar command in PowerShell…

5

extraction with powershell

I used the the powershell command and the extraction seem to go ok and the folder I mentioned before seems to have the right amount of stuff in it.

files
files1163×847 64 KB

Additional

When I open the virtual server archive which is a tar.gz with winrar everything looks fine and it extracts as expected

When I do the same with the home directory file I get the errors on extraction and alwos when I preview the ile I get the following

image
image709×531 28.2 KB

Question

Is there some compatibility switch that needs adding when the archive is created? A small change in the command that is used?

What is the difference in compression commands between thwe virtual server archive and the homedir archive, there must be a difference.

6

Todo : stop using windows applications to play with files that are produced via a linux OS it could be said there are issues with, perhaps, windows applications, that are not 100% compatible with a linux based archive, cut your losses ditch windows as your daily driver and use a linux desktop and associated utilities:) - joke