The invention discloses a method for realizing virtual private multicast service (VPMS) protection, comprising the following steps of determining main equipment and standby equipment and establishing a pseudo wire between the main equipment and the standby equipment; receiving data messages from a data message sending end by the main equipment, copying and forwarding the data messages to a data message receiving end; after a link of the main equipment and the data message sending end has a fault, receiving the data messages from the data message sending end by the standby equipment and forwarding the data messages to the main equipment; and then, copying and forwarding the data messages from the standby equipment to the data message receiving end by the main equipment. The invention also discloses a system for realizing VPMS protection, comprising the data message sending end, the main equipment, the standby equipment and the data message receiving end. The invention can save the time for establishing a P2MP pseudo wire between the standby equipment and the data message receiving end, improve the stability and the safety of the VPMS and reduce the fault wait time, thereby improving the user experience.