What's supported and what isn't for DPM?

This article summarizes some of the common support information you might need when deploying and maintaining a System Center - Data Protection Manager.

Installation and deployment issues

DPM deployment options

Issue: DPM can be installed in physical and virtual environments.

More information: DPM can be installed as follows:

• As a standalone physical server - DPM can't be deployed in a physical cluster, but you can manage multiple DPM servers from a single location using Central Console in Operations Manager.

• As an on-premises virtual machine - You can deploy DPM as a Hyper-V virtual machine as a single server or virtual machine cluster. You can install DPM in the same way as a physical installation. For detailed information, see the row DPM installed as Hyper-V VM in the Setup prerequisites table.

• As an Azure virtual machine - You can install DPM 2025 as an Azure virtual machine. There are many restrictions in this deployment. For detailed information, see the row DPM as an Azure virtual machine in the Setup prerequisites table.

• As a Windows virtual machine in VMware - You can install DPM 2025 on a Windows virtual machine in a VMware environment. In this configuration, DPM can protect Microsoft workloads running as Windows virtual machines in VMware.

Sharing a library between different DPM versions isn't supported

Issue: Different versions of DPM (for example, DPM 2019 and DPM 2022) can't function as clients sharing the same library.

Workaround: None. All DPM servers sharing a library must be running the same version of DPM.

DPM doesn't run on the Turkish language version of Windows Server operating systems

Issue: No language support

Workaround: None

DPM can't run on a server running a 32-bit operating system

Issue: Operating system limitation.

Workaround: Install on 64-bit only. For a full list of system requirements, see Preparing your environment for System Center Data Protection Manager.

Underscore isn't supported in the SQL Server name

Issue: If you specify a remote SQL Server that has an underscore in the name during DPM installation, the installation might fail.

Workaround: Specify a SQL Server name that doesn't include the underscore _ character.

NTFS compression isn't supported on DPM volumes

Issue: NTFS not supported.

Workaround: None

Renaming the DPM server isn't supported

Issue: Renaming not supported.

Workaround: None

Moving the DPM server domain isn't supported

Issue: Moving the DPM server to a different domain after deployment isn't supported.

Workaround: None

DPM on a domain controller can only protect local data sources

Issue: Deployment not supported.

Workaround: If you want to install the DPM protection agent on other computers to protect them, don't install DPM on a domain controller.

DPM can't use SQL Server running on a domain controller

Issue: Database deployment not supported.

Workaround: If you want to use a remote instance of SQL Server as your DPM database, ensure that the SQL Server Instance isn't running on a domain controller.

Moving protected servers with DPM secondary servers

Moving protected servers between DPM servers that are under secondary protection isn't supported. To illustrate this, we've the following:

• Server1

• Server2

• DPM1 acting as the primary DPM server

• DPM2 acting as another primary DPM server

• DPM3 acting as a secondary server for DPM1 and DPM2

Where:

• Server1 is protected by DPM1

• Server2 is protected by DPM2

• DPM3 is a secondary server for DPM1 and DPM2 (and thus protects Server1 and Server2)

The following occurs:

• Scenario 1

  • DPM1 fails or is removed from the infrastructure.

  • You now want to protect Server1 with DPM2 (with DPM3 acting as the secondary server).

• Scenario 2

  • DPM1 fails or is removed from the infrastructure.

  • You now want to protect Server1 with DPM3.

Both scenarios are unsupported. You can only select one of the following options:

• Option 1 - Use Switch Protection on DPM3 for Server1 and leave DPM3 in this mode going forward. Note that in this scenario you can't add secondary protection for Server1 on another DPM server when you're using the switched protection mode.

• Option 2 - Rebuild DPM1 with the same name and restore the DPM database. This allows DPM to resume primary protection.

• Option 3 - Move protection for Server1 to a new DPM server (DPM4) that DPM3 doesn't know about.

Storage issues

References to old tape libraries aren't removed from the DPM database

Issue: Obsolete tape libraries are still enumerated and listed in DPM PowerShell cmdlets such as get-dpmlibrary.

Workaround: None

Virtual tape library support

Issue: Are virtual tape libraries supported?

Workaround: Virtual tape libraries configured with a virtual fiber channel adapter are supported on DPM with certified hardware. For the current list of supported hardware, see Compatible Tape Libraries. To check if your tape library is supported by the virtual fiber channel adapter, contact your tape hardware vendor and ask them to verify tape library compatibility.

USB or removable drives can't be used in the DPM storage pool

Issue: USB and removable storage such as Firewire.

Workaround: None. This isn't supported due to a limitation with Windows dynamic disks.

Data on CSVs

Issue: DPM only supports the protection of Hyper-V virtual machines on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs). Protection of other workloads hosted on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs) isn't supported.

Protection of SQL Server database stored on Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) is supported with DPM 2025.

Workaround: None.

BitLocker

Issue: Is enabling BitLocker on DPM Storage Pool supported?

Workaround: Don't enable BitLocker before adding the disk to the storage pool. You can enable the BitLocker once you add the disk to the storage pool.

Deduplication issues

Deduplicated volumes support

For NTFS Volumes:

Note

• Deduplication support for DPM depends on operating system support. Also, the Data Deduplication server role must be installed on the DPM server to back up the volume with deduplication enabled.
• We've identified a few issues with backup of deduplicated ReFS volumes. We are working on fixing these and will update this section as soon as we've a fix available.

Operating system of protected server	Operating system of DPM server	DPM version	Dedupe support
Windows Server 2025	Windows Server 2025	DPM 2025	Y
Windows Server 2022	Windows Server 2025	DPM 2025	Y
Windows Server 2019	Windows Server 2025	DPM 2025	Y*
Windows Server 2025	Windows Server 2022	DPM 2025	N
Windows Server 2022	Windows Server 2022	DPM 2025	Y
Windows Server 2019	Windows Server 2022	DPM 2025	Y*

• *Deduped NTFS volumes in Windows Server 2019 Protected Servers are non-deduplicated during restore.

Windows deduplication isn't always supported on volumes hosting .VHD or .VHDX files

Issue: Dedupe support

Workaround: Deploy DPM as a virtual machine.

You can enable deduplication for DPM storage when it runs in a Hyper-V virtual machine and stored backup data to VHDs in shared folders on Windows File Servers with data deduplication enabled. For more information about this scenario, read Deduplicating DPM storage.

The Dedup file system can't be protected to a secondary DPM server

Issue: After a dedup file system is protected by a primary DPM server, it can't be protected to a secondary DPM server.

Workaround: None.

Item-level recovery not supported

Issue: If you're protecting virtual machines that contain deduped volumes, you can't perform item level recovery (ILR) from those VHD/VHDX files.

Workaround: Restore the .VHD/VHDX file that contains the deduped volume to a Windows Server that has the Data Deduplication role installed. Mount the .VHD file in disk management and copy out the desired files.

Client and server protection issues

Support parameters for protecting computers running client operating systems with DPM

Issue: Support for backing up Windows clients with DPM.

Workaround: DPM 2025 can back up Windows 10 and Windows 11 client computers. For information about supported workloads, see What can DPM back up.

Support for protecting computers running server operating systems with DPM

Issue: Support for backing up Windows Server with DPM.

Workaround: DPM 2025 can back up Windows Server 2025, 2022, and 2019. For information about supported workloads, see What can DPM back up.

DPM can't protect SOFS shares

Issue: DPM can't protect shares on SOFS.

Workaround: Ensure shares you want to protect aren't located on SOFS.

File server issues

File Server end-user recovery (EUR) isn't available when using Modern Backup Storage (MBS)

Description: File Server end user recovery (EUR) isn't available with DPM 2025 since it uses Modern Backup Storage.

Workaround: None. File Server EUR isn't supported when using MBS.

Data protection issues

DPM doesn't back up shared VHDX

Issue: DPM can't back up VMs using shared drives (which are potentially attached to other VMs) as the Hyper-V VSS writer can't back up volumes that are backed up by shared VHDs.

Workaround: To avoid potential data loss, use another method to back up data on the shareable VHD.

Protection might fail when changing the path of a data source

Issue: When you protect a shared folder, the path to the shared folder includes the logical path on the volume. If you move the shared folder, protection will fail. In addition, if you change the path of a protected data source on a volume that uses the Encrypting File System (EFS) and the new file path exceeds 5120 characters, data protection will fail.

Workaround: If you must move a protected shared folder, remove it from its protection group and then add it to protection after the move. For an encrypted volume, ensure that the new file path of the protected data source uses fewer than 5120 characters.

Change the domain of a protected resource

Issue: You can't change the domain of a protected computer and continue protection without disruption. In addition, you can't change the domain of a protected computer and associate the existing replicas and recovery points with the computer when it's reprotected.

Workaround: We recommend that you don't change the domain of a protected computer. If you must change the domain of a protected computer, then first remove the data sources on the computer from protection. Then protect the data source on the computer after it has a new domain.

Change the name of a protected resource

Issue: You can't change the name of a protected computer and continue protection without disruption. Also, you can't change the name of a protected computer and associate the existing replicas and recovery points with the computer when it's reprotected.

Workaround: We recommend that you don't change the name of a protected computer. If you must change the name of a protected computer, then first remove the data sources on the computer from protection. Then protect the data source on the computer after it has a new name.

Change the time zone of a protected resource

Issue: Ensure that you update the time zone correctly if you change it for a protected resource.

Workaround: DPM automatically identifies the time zone of a protected computer during the installation of the protection agent. If a protected computer is moved to a different time zone after protection is configured, ensure that you change the computer time in the Control Panel. Then update the time zone in the DPM database.

Some data types aren't supported

Issue: DPM doesn't support the following data types:

• Hard links

• Reparse points, including DFS links and junction points

• Mount point metadata - A protection group can contain data with mount points. In this case, DPM protects the mounted volume that is the target of the mount point, but it doesn't protect the mount point metadata. When you recover data containing mount points, you'll need to manually recreate your mount point hierarchy.

• Data in mounted volumes within mounted volumes

• Recycle Bin

• Paging files

• System Volume Information folder. To protect the system information of a computer, you'll need to select the computer's system state as the protect group member.

• Non-NTFS volumes

• Files containing hard links or symbolic links from Windows Vista.

• Files with any of the following combination of attributes:

  • Encryption and reparse

  • Encryption and Single Instance Storage (SIS)

  • Encryption and case-sensitivity

  • Encryption and sparse

  • Case-sensitivity and SIS

  • Compression and SIS

Workaround: None

Limitations on protecting computers in workgroups and untrusted domains

Issue: DPM can protect workloads in the same domain as the DPM server or in child and trusted domains. You can also protect the following workloads in workgroups and untrusted domains using NTLM or certificate authentication:

• SQL Server

• File Server

• Hyper-V

These workloads can be running on a single server or in a cluster configuration.

Workaround: If you want to protect a workload that isn't in a trusted domain, see Prepare computers in workgroups and untrusted domains for exact details of what's supported and what authentication is required.

Short-term backup to tape isn't supported

Issue: DPM doesn't support short-term backup (incremental backup) to tape for workload data (Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, Hyper-V). Only file data (volumes, shares, folders) can be backed up incrementally.

Workaround: Use disk or a combination of disk and cloud storage (Azure Backup) for short-term backup of these workloads.

Multiple long-term tape goals that use dataset-copy jobs fail if you only have a single tape drive

Issue: DPM doesn't support multiple long-term backup goals if you only have a single tape drive.

Workaround: Add a second tape drive to DPM or to the tape library.

Backing up data on User Profile Disks (UPDs) isn't supported

Issue: Data on file shares hosting User Profile Disks (UPDs) can't be protected by DPM.

Workaround: None.

Exchange protection issues

Disk-to-tape backup isn't supported for Exchange DAG

Issue: DPM doesn't support short-term or long-term disk-to-tape (D2T) backup for Exchange DAG workloads.

Workaround: Use disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) for Exchange DAG workloads.

SharePoint protection issues

AlwaysOn support

Issue: DPM 2025 protects SharePoint farm SQL Server databases that have AlwaysOn enabled.

Workaround: None.

SQL Server protection issues

AlwaysOn support

Issue: AlwaysOn is supported in DPM.

Workaround: None.

AlwaysOn recovery to original location isn't supported

Issue: When DPM is protecting SQL Server with AlwaysOn enabled, data recovery to the original location isn't supported.

Workaround: None.

DPM can't protect SQL Server on scale-out file servers (SOFS)

Issue: DPM can't protect SQL Server databases hosted on Windows Server SOFS.

Workaround: Move the SQL Server databases off the SOFS.

DPM can't protect SQL Server DAG or AG, where the role name on failover cluster is different from the named AG on SQL.

Issue: DPM can't protect SQL Server Distributed Availability Group (DAG) or Availability Group (AG), where the role name on failover cluster is different from the named AG on SQL.

Workaround: The role name for SQL Server DAG or AG on failover cluster must be the same as the SQL server availability group or distributed availability group name on SQL and vice versa.

Hyper-V and virtual machine protection issues

Linux virtual machines backed up with file-consistent snapshots only

Issue: You can back up Linux virtual machines using DPM. Only file-consistent snapshots are supported.

Workaround: None.

Backup of Hyper-V servers and clusters in trusted and untrusted domains

Issue: To back up Hyper-V server clusters, they must be located in the same domain as the DPM server or in a trusted or child domain. You can back up servers and clusters in an untrusted domain or workload using NTLM or certificate authentication for a single server or certificate authentication only for a cluster.

Workaround: None

Backing up virtual machine data on pass-through disks isn't supported

Issue: DPM doesn't support the backup of virtual machine data on pass-through disks that present volumes to the virtual machine or that use a remote VHD.

Workaround: We recommend that in this scenario you use host-level backup of the VHD files using DPM and install an agent on the virtual machine to back up data that isn't visible on the host.

Secondary DPM protection of a Hyper-V cluster isn't supported for a scaled-out DPM server deployment

Issue: When protecting a Hyper-V cluster using scaled-out DPM protection, you can't add secondary protection for the protected Hyper-V workloads.

Workaround: None

DPM and Azure

DPM as an Azure virtual machine

Issue: DPM can run as an Azure virtual machine. Be aware of these limitations:

• On-premises DPM servers can't protect Azure-based workloads.

• DPM running as an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) virtual machine, in Azure, can protect some workloads running as Azure virtual machines. For details, see the DPM protection support matrix.

• DPM running as an Azure virtual machine can't protect on-premises workloads.

Workaround: For more information about this scenario, see Install DPM as an Azure virtual machine.