We would like to merge these snapshots back into a single VHD, how do we go about that?

Shaamiel Goordeen 1 Reputation point
2021-06-28T15:51:11.717+00:00

We have backups running on our Hyper-V VMs - when the backup doesnt complete Veeam creates a snapshot and the VM runs from that snapshot - we would like to merge these snapshots back into a single VHD, how do we go about that?

Support message from Veaam

Thank you for contacting Veeam Technical Support. My name is Alexey and I will be assisting you with this case.

On the screenshot provided I can see a lot of recovery checkpoints.
And it seems that they don't have 'remove' option on right-click menu (in Hyper-V Manager).

Considering the fact that Veeam sends API requests to create/remove checkpoint - the whole checkpoint procedure performed by Hyper-V host itself.
In your situation it seems that checkpoint tree is broken.
You can try to remove them using elevated powershell command on Hyper-V host (in some situation it help):
Get-VMSnapshot -VMName “HERJHBACC” | Remove-VMSnapshot

If it fail it would be better to involve Microsoft support for assistance.
Here you can find more information about it: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/troubleshoot/windows-server/virtualization/cannot-delete-recovery-checkpoint-vm

However, you can try to manually merge checkpoints : https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6257.manually-merge-avhd-to-vhd-in-hyper-v.aspx
Please note that it may cause data loss.

I look forward to hearing from you.
If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask.

Hyper-V
Hyper-V
A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
2,546 questions
Windows Server Backup
Windows Server Backup
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Backup: A duplicate copy of a program, a disk, or data, made either for archiving purposes or for safeguarding valuable files from loss should the active copy be damaged or destroyed.
452 questions

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Yuhan Deng 3,761 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-06-29T02:37:43.757+00:00

    Hi Shaamiel,
    For manually merging avhdx files, you can refer to this:
    https://www.nakivo.com/hyper-v-backup/merge-hyper-v-snapshots-step-step-guide/
    Please note: Information posted in the given link is hosted by a third party. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy and effectiveness of information.

    Thanks for your time.
    Best regards，
    Danny

    -----------------------------

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

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    0 comments