Unable to fetch information of Hyper-V shared disk(.vhds) when VM is running

Question

I am using two node Hyper-V csv cluster(windows2016).
I have created a shared disk(.vhds) and attached that shared disk to two VMs(both windows 2016)
I have followed all requirements required to use and take backup of Hyper-V VMs with shared disk:
Like guest failover cluster should be enabled in guest VMs, and nodes should be online, permission on folders etc etc.

When I try to fetch information of shared disk either by powershell commands or by methods, it gives proper information when VM IS TURNED OFF:
PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-VHDSet -path "C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2\VMs\chidanand\2016-vhds1\Virtual Hard Disks\vhds1.vhds" -GetAllPaths

ComputerName Path SnapshotIdList AllPaths

---

---

H2K16-3DFS2 c:\clusterstorage\volume2\vms\chidanand\2016-vhds1\virtual hard disks\vhds1.vhds {4ECCDCBA-D8FA-40F0-996F-79A04019EC1A} {VHDS1_2ece7366-f62a-4b03-945d-c6...

But if I power ON VM and try to fetch information related to shared disk, it FAILS.
For example:
PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-VHDSet -path "C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2\VMs\chidanand\sharedDisk1\sd2.vhds" -GetAllPaths
Get-VHDSet : Failed to get the disk information.
At line:1 char:1

• Get-VHDSet -path "C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2\VMs\chidanand\sharedDisk ...
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-VHDSet], VirtualizationException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidParameter,Microsoft.Vhd.PowerShell.Cmdlets.GetVHDSet

WITHOUT adding "-GetAllPaths", it will succeed(actual disk path won't be there). But I need to fetch information related to actual disk(disk name) associated with ".vhds". Hence I need it to work with GetAllPaths.

Same result with Get-VHDSnapshot also- fails when VM is RUNNING
PS C:\Users\Administrator> get-vhdsnapshot -Path "C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2\VMs\chidanand\2016-vhds1\Virtual Hard Disks\vhds1.vhds" -SnapshotId 4eccdcba-d8fa-40f0-996f-79a04019ec1a -GetParentPaths
get-vhdsnapshot : Failed to get the disk information.
At line:1 char:1

• get-vhdsnapshot -Path "C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2\VMs\chidanand\2016-v ...
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-VHDSnapshot], VirtualizationException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidParameter,Microsoft.Vhd.PowerShell.Cmdlets.GetVHDSnapshot

WITHOUT adding "-GetParentPaths", it will succeed. But I need to fetch information related to actual disk(disk name) associated with ".vhds".

I tried corresponding methods(when VM is ON)- GetVHDSetInformation and GetVHDSnapshotInformation. Behavior is same as above.

How to get information of actual disk associated with .vhds even when VM is running ?

Answer 1

Hello there,

Are you running this script on the host that is using that shared storage?

When the VHD is in use (for example by a VM or mounted in the OS) and it is on shared storage, the Get-VHD cmdlet can only access it from the host that is using it. Any other server trying to run the Get-VHD cmdlet will get an error that it is in use.

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