Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 and later, around spring 2014, introduced a HyperV backup mechanism where Hyper-V creates a hidden internal checkpoint when a Hyper-V backup is initiated. Shortly after the server backup software goes into its prep phase, this checkpoint is deleted and merged automatically while the backup proceeds. See below: If the host […]
Checkpoints (see this article for a definition) can be useful for short-term testing when you need a quick way to revert a Hyper-V virtual machine to its prior state, for example, before updating Windows or installing software. To create and delete checkpoints (aka. snapshots in older versions of Windows Server and Hyper-V), you can issue […]
A strange error in Hyper-V may show up during normal operation or when a Hyper-V backup is initiated: could not create backup checkpoint for virtual machine When trying to create a snapshot aka checkpoint for the VM you get the same error. If there is enough disk space to complete the operation, check the […]
As you may consider backing up to the cloud using alternatives to Carbonite, Backblaze, SOS Backup, Mozy, Vaultlogix, CrashPlan, Rackspace, and Softlayer, you may want to look into options that are specifically made for server-grade scenarios. Hence, you may also want to add BackupChain to your trial list because there are some great advantages BackupChain has […]
Unfortunately Hyper-V Manager doesn’t provide an automatic, scheduled creation of snapshots aka checkpoints. However, it’s a great thing to add to your VMs and it can be done with just one command and the Windows Task Scheduler: You could either use a fixed name for the snapshot / checkpoint or generate one automatically. The PowerShell script […]
Backups may fail with one or more of the following error IDs: 19050, 32022, 32032, 32056, 32315, 32546 and 33680 and example messages are shown below: Hyper-V-VMMS 19050 ” failed to perform the operation. The virtual machine is not in a valid state to perform the operation. ‘<VM Name>’ failed to perform the operation. The […]
A peculiar kind of error occurs whenever a merge operation is taking place and at the same time a VM backup is started: VM <GUID> cannot be backed up, error -2147212301 (VSS WRITER ERROR RETRYABLE), The virtual machine ‘<VM Name>’ cannot be backed up because either the file groups reported during OnIdentify has changed, […]
