This VM backup cannot be configured using standard policy, please use Enhanced Policy

Question

This VM backup cannot be configured using standard policy, please use Enhanced Policy

Answer 1

Hello Admin_Kumaran_Narayanan,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

When investigated you it looks like you’re hitting the “This VM backup cannot be configured using Standard policy – please use Enhanced Policy” error (UserErrorThisVMBackupIsSupportedUsingEnhancedPolicy). That usually means your VM has a configuration that only Enhanced policies support (for example Trusted Launch VMs, Premium SSD v2 or Ultra Disks, multi-disk crash-consistent snapshots, etc.). Here’s how you can get past it:

Verify why your VM needs Enhanced

• Trusted Launch VMs, Ultra or Premium SSD v2 disks, or any multi-disk crash-consistent requirement all force Enhanced.
• Standard policies don’t support these, so you must switch to Enhanced.

Create an Enhanced backup policy

Portal:

• Go to your Recovery Services vault → Backup policies → + Add.
• On “Select policy type” pick Azure Virtual Machine, then choose Enhanced.
• Configure your backup schedule (Hourly/Daily/Weekly), instant-restore retention (1–30 days), and your vault-tier retention.
• Click Create.

PowerShell snippet:

# Example: hourly Enhanced policy
$sch = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupSchedulePolicyObject -PolicySubType Enhanced -WorkloadType AzureVM -ScheduleRunFrequency Hourly
$ret = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupRetentionPolicyObject -WorkloadType AzureVM -ScheduleRunFrequency Hourly
New-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtectionPolicy -Name "MyEnhancedPolicy" -WorkloadType AzureVM -SchedulePolicy $sch -RetentionPolicy $ret

CLI snippet:

az backup policy create \
--resource-group MyRG \
--vault-name MyVault \
--name MyEnhancedPolicy \
--backup-management-type AzureIaaSVM \
--policy-sub-type Enhanced \
 --policy @policy.json

Assign the Enhanced policy to your VM

• In the Recovery Services vault → Backup Items → Azure Virtual Machines, select your VM.
• Click Change Backup Policy, pick your new Enhanced policy, and confirm.
• Kick off a manual backup (Backup Now) to validate.

1. Double-check prerequisites
   • Ensure you have Backup Contributor on the vault and VM Contributor on the VM’s resource group.
   • Confirm Enhanced policies are available in your region (all public/Azure Gov regions).
   • Remember: once you migrate from Standard → Enhanced, you cannot switch back.
2. Monitor costs
   • Enhanced policies incur additional snapshot costs (zone-redundant snapshots, more frequent backups, longer snapshot retention).
   • See “Recovery Point Size and Backup Costs” for details and Log Analytics reporting.

Hope that helps! If you still run into problems, could you share:

• The exact VM type/OS and disk types you’re using?

• Whether you tried via Portal, CLI or PowerShell (and any commands you ran)?

• The region your vault is in? That info will help narrow things down.

References

• Resolve UserErrorThisVMBackupIsSupportedUsingEnhancedPolicy: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy?wt.mc_id=knowledgesearch_inproduct_azure-cxp-community-insider#create-an-enhanced-policy-and-configure-the-vm-backup
• Back up an Azure VM by using the Enhanced policy (Portal, CLI, PowerShell): https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy
• Migrate Azure VM backups from Standard to Enhanced policy: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/backup/backup-azure-vm-migrate-enhanced-policy
• Recovery Point Size and Backup Costs: https://supportability.visualstudio.com/AzureBackup/_wiki/wikis/AzureBackup/1511729/Troubleshoot/Azure VM/Azure VM Advisory Howto/Recovery Point Size and Backup Costs

Answer 2

The message indicates that the VM can only be protected with an Enhanced backup policy, not a Standard policy.

Key points and actions:

1. Enhanced policy is required
   • Certain VM types and features are only supported with Enhanced policy, including:
     • Trusted Launch VMs
     • Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disks
     • Multi‑disk crash‑consistent backups
   • For these scenarios, backup with Standard policy is not supported, so the portal/CLI blocks configuration with Standard and shows this message.
2. Configure backup using Enhanced policy
   • In the Azure portal, when configuring backup for the VM, choose Policy sub type = Enhanced on the Configure backup pane.
   • If the default Enhanced policy does not meet requirements, create a new Enhanced policy and then assign it to the VM.
3. CLI example (Enhanced policy)
   • Create an Enhanced policy (JSON policy definition required):

          az backup policy create \
            --policy {policy} \
            --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
            --vault-name MyVault \
            --name MyPolicy \
            --backup-management-type AzureIaaSVM \
            --policy-sub-type "Enhanced"
     

   • Enable protection for the VM with that policy:

          az backup protection enable-for-vm \
            --resource-group myResourceGroup \
            --vault-name myRecoveryServicesVault \
            --vm $(az vm show -g VMResourceGroup -n MyVm --query id | tr -d '"') \
            --policy-name MyPolicy
     

4. PowerShell example (Enhanced policy)
   • Create schedule and retention policy objects with -PolicySubType "Enhanced" and -WorkloadType "AzureVM", then create the protection policy:

          $SchPol = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupSchedulePolicyObject -PolicySubType "Enhanced" -WorkloadType "AzureVM" -ScheduleRunFrequency "Hourly"
          $RetPol = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupRetentionPolicyObject -WorkloadType AzureVM -ScheduleRunFrequency "Hourly"
          $RetPol.DailySchedule.DurationCountInDays = 365
          New-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtectionPolicy -Name "NewPolicy" -WorkloadType AzureVM -RetentionPolicy $RetPol -SchedulePolicy $SchPol
     

   • Assign the Enhanced policy to the VM:

          $targetVault = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -ResourceGroupName "Contoso-docs-rg" -Name "testvault"
          $pol = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtectionPolicy -Name "NewPolicy" -VaultId $targetVault.ID
          Enable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection -Policy $pol -Name "V2VM" -ResourceGroupName "RGName1" -VaultId $targetVault.ID
     

5. Migration from Standard to Enhanced (if VM was previously on Standard)
   • Migration from Standard to Enhanced policy is supported for Azure VMs.
   • Once migrated to Enhanced, the VM cannot be moved back to Standard policy.

If the VM is Trusted Launch or uses Premium SSD v2/Ultra Disks, or if multi‑disk crash consistency or extended snapshot retention is needed, use Enhanced policy as required by the platform.

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References:

• Back up an Azure VM by using the Enhanced policy
• Quickstart: Back up a virtual machine in Azure
• Migrate Azure VM backups from standard to enhanced policy
• Support matrix for Azure VM backups

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