Hyper-V export with Export-VM to network (NAS) fails

Question

Hyper-V export with Export-VM to network (NAS) fails

Jari Sevon 5

Hi,

I am trying to export Hyper-V virtual machine from Windows Server to network disk (NAS). And if change only the path to another network disk (NAS) it works as expected. I am running powershell with interactive user account (Administrator) on server and I have checked all user rights on both NAS devices disks. They are accessible and with all rights. Error description is not very helpfull.

Export-VM -Name "Hakopirtti-HA" -Path "\\192.168.1.20\levy\HA-Backups\-HA-VM"
Export-VM : Export failed for virtual machine 'Hakopirtti-HA'.
At C:\Hyper-V_Backup\VMCopy.ps1:41 char:1
+ Export-VM -Name "Hakopirtti-HA" -Path "\\192.168.1.20\levy\HA-Backups ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Export-VM], VirtualizationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : OperationFailed,Microsoft.HyperV.PowerShell.Commands.ExportVM

# This works as expected
# Export-VM -Name "Hakopirtti-HA" -Path "\\192.168.1.15\Volume_1\ExportedVM2"

Any ideas?Jari

Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-04T17:58:41.5+00:00

I noticed that if I create folder structure for export before executing Export-VM it works as expected it works. So this must have something to to way powershell is trying to create folders on NAS. I also have to point out that NAS that works have CIFS 1.0 and the one which is not working have CIFS 3.0. Still....mystery to me....
Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-04T18:07:29.5233333+00:00

To be more specific. It can create the path folder and under that machine name folder, but child folders "Virtual Hard Disks", "Virtual Machines" and "Snapshots" are failing.

2 answers

Your answer

Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-04T17:58:41.5+00:00

I noticed that if I create folder structure for export before executing Export-VM it works as expected it works. So this must have something to to way powershell is trying to create folders on NAS. I also have to point out that NAS that works have CIFS 1.0 and the one which is not working have CIFS 3.0. Still....mystery to me....
Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-04T18:07:29.5233333+00:00

To be more specific. It can create the path folder and under that machine name folder, but child folders "Virtual Hard Disks", "Virtual Machines" and "Snapshots" are failing.

Answer 1

cosine 5

As an alternative solution, I created a powershell script that does it in steps since exporting directly to the NAS is not working. I export it locally to my Hyper-V Host, then copy it to the NAS, then remove it from my hyper-v host. I've had good luck using robocopy command as well to copy/sync. Not ideal, but it worked for me.

Export-VM -Name "my-vm" -Path "C:\temp\"
Copy-Item -Path "C:\temp\my-vm" -Destination "\\NAS\my-vm\" -Recurse
Remove-Item -Path "C:\temp\my-vm" -Recurse

Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-04-02T23:23:24.64+00:00

I have thought solution like this, but not done it yet. I'am exporting to my old NAS which is working ok. Actually they are both old. :-) This must have something to do with CIFS implementation of NAS. Since they are just linux software based devices. Maybe I will go this way, thanks for sharing.
Алексей Шевелёв 0 Reputation points

2025-07-06T02:53:13.9133333+00:00

For what Copy-Item and Remove? Why not Move-Item?

Answer 2

Anonymous

Hi Jari,

Thanks for your post. Please understand that Hyper-V virtual machine configurations have a specific version number. You can only import a virtual machine if the Hyper-V host supports that configuration version. Typically, this means that you can import a virtual machine to a Hyper-V host running a newer version of Hyper-V, but you cannot import a virtual machine created on a newer version of Hyper-V to an older version of Hyper-V. See Supported virtual machine configuration versions for more information.

Export and import virtual machines | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-06T17:07:00.18+00:00

Did you read my question? Only thing changed between working and not working command was -Path parameter. So what this has to do with VM versions?
Anonymous

2024-03-15T09:59:36.5233333+00:00

Sorry for misunderstanding. It is suggested that we take a loot at the Hyper-V logs and see if there is any evidence. Windows Event Viewer, navigate to Windows Logs > Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows>Hyper-V-xxxxx. Also, we have encountered the permission issue with CIFS and Hyper-V. When connecting the CIFS share from Hyper-V, it might request the cifs/2016GUI service and it was failing with error “KDC_ERR_BADOPTION”. On the domain controller in the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, solution is adding the Service Principle Name (SPN) cifs/2016GUI in the delegation properties of CORE2016. Hyper-V authentication in Windows Server 2016 for managing remote Hyper-V servers through RSAT | Microsoft Learn

Just for your reference and hope it is helpful.
Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-19T18:06:18.2033333+00:00

Did you read the question at all? Only difference between working and not working version is different target of -Path parameter. ????
Jari Sevon 5 Reputation points

2024-03-19T18:07:39.2633333+00:00

Sorry, you had an another answer. I investigate it.
Vít Čondák 5 Reputation points

2024-03-27T12:07:33.0633333+00:00

@Jari Sevon Have you found a solution for this issue?

I am struggling with a very similar problem with a QNAP NAS.

Because you mentioned that it worked with one NAS and it didn't work with another NAS I don't think the problem should be tackled from the server side. I would focus on the settings of the NASes. Unfortunately, I don't have the second NAS that would work.

What models of NAS do you use?
Vít Čondák 5 Reputation points

2024-03-27T14:27:18.72+00:00

By the way, I noticed that the new folder is created and owned by the Administrator or Administrators group, but I found an article saying that the export itself is performed by the server's local account SYSTEM.

It should be enough to add RW rights to the NAS share for the whole server (i.e. domain\SERVER$). I set that through both NAS web interface and Windows properties but it still does not work for me.
Vít Čondák 5 Reputation points

2024-03-27T14:36:30.5+00:00

It seems it is necessary to add RW rights on the NAS share for the whole server (i.e. domain\SERVER$) because the export is performed by the server's SYSTEM but it does not work for me either.
cosine 5 Reputation points

2024-04-02T16:11:15.57+00:00

Have you been able to make any progress? I'm unfortunately in the same situation. The suggestions by Vit have helped me resolve some problems but still no luck.

Looking at the Event Viewer I get this error at the time of the export failure. Although I can figure out what is canceling the operation. Maybe this is just a symptom of a deeper problem? I'm really not sure.

Log name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS/Admin Event ID: 18280 Virtual machine 'TEST-VM' was not exported because the operation was canceled.

I can manually export the VM locally to the Hyper-V Host and then move it to the network share but I really would like to automate this..
Vít Čondák 5 Reputation points

2024-04-10T11:44:23.9866667+00:00

Fortunately, I finally made it work.

It seems the problem is related to an incompatibility in SMB protocol.

https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9938

I set NAS's SMB protocol to 2.0 and now the export works even directly to NAS.

(SMB 1 is deprecated and SMB 2.1 and 3 do not work.)

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Hyper-V export with Export-VM to network (NAS) fails

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