Can't restore backups from Qubes VM Manager

[cprise]

Having lots of problems with this one...

First, it doesn't recognize an external drive if its already plugged-in at boot time. I have to unplug and re-plug the drive to get it recognized by Manager.

Second, if I mistype the volume passphrase, as soon as I re-select the drive in the dropdown list, I get a "Whoops", something about local variables.

Third, if I successfully (or sometimes unsuccessfully, like after a "Whoops") unlock the drive, I can't select the drive again if I go back to the restore window.

Finally, if I simply unlock the drive it populates the Directory field with the folder of my backup, but clicking Next results in this:

Whoops. A critical error has occured. This is most likely a bug in Qubes Manager.

IOError: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/media/backup2013-12-15-12:29:54'
at line 213
of file /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/qubesmanager/restore.py.

----
line: backup_stdin = open(backup_source,'rb')
func: restore_vm_dirs
line no.: 818
file: /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/qubes/backup.py
----
line: appvm=appvm)
func: backup_restore_header
line no.: 962
file: /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/qubes/backup.py
----
line: appvm=self.target_appvm)
func: __fill_vms_list__
line no.: 137
file: /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/qubesmanager/restore.py
----
line: self.__fill_vms_list__()
func: current_page_changed
line no.: 213
file: /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/qubesmanager/restore.py

Also, this backup was made from R2b2. I'm trying to get my appvms back after upgrading to b3, but I'm unclear what I should do about template vms -- Should I restore them, too? Or should I re-create my template customizations using the new system?

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

Thanks for the report, indeed restore of old backup format from Qubes Manager
was tested very roughly...

> Also, this backup was made from R2b2. I'm trying to get my appvms back
> after upgrading to b3, but I'm unclear what I should do about template vms
> -- Should I restore them, too? Or should I re-create my template
> customizations using the new system?

Better recreate basing on R2B3 template. Otherwise you'll need to update
qubes-core package in your R2B2 template, until which time template will be
almost unusable (for example no networking, so upgrading will somehow
complicated...).

--
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

And for now you can restore the system using qvm-backup-restore cmdline tool.

[cprise]

You might be surprised to hear that I upgraded the old template per your
suggestion. I had the new non-custom fedora-18-x64 template download the
rpms (about 4 were needed) and I transferred those to the highly
customized template vm. Seems to work great.

[cprise]

BTW, there is a grammar issue with 'qvm-backup-restore -h'. In the help
text, the phrase "might be repeated" should be "may be repeated".
'Might' and 'may' are not interchangeable in this context where
available options are being described. Saying 'might' makes a native
English speaker (or me, at least) wonder if I looked up the wrong option
or wrong command... it implies something could happen that is not chosen
by the reader (i.e. it sounds like the system is making a choice here).