We should be able to restore Hyper-V 2019 VMs on Hyper-V 2016 if the config version is 8.0

[birdwaffle]

Hi, I'm new to the forums. I hope I posted this in the right place.

I have a Hyper-V 2019 with VMs in configuration version 8.0 (Hyper-V 2016's version). This allows me to migrate the VMs to a Hyper-V 2016 if need be.

Now, when I try to restore these VMs on a Hyper-V 2016, it won't work.

Is there a reason, we cannot do this? I think we should be able to do this if the configuration version is compatible between backup and the target for restore.

[Dima P.]

Hello and welcome to the community birdwaffle,

Now, when I try to restore these VMs on a Hyper-V 2016, it won't work.

Can you please share the text or a screenshot of the error you got during restore? Thank you in advance!

[birdwaffle]

Yes, I have a screenshot and an output of the VM configuration version:

The config version is 8.0

edit: Source Server is Windows Server 2019 (10.0.17763) and the target server is Hyper-V (standalone) 2016 (10.0.14393)

[hyper-v12]: PS C:\Users\*\Documents> get-vm -name win10av

Name State CPUUsage(%) MemoryAssigned(M) Uptime Status Version
---- ----- ----------- ----------------- ------ ------ -------
Win10AV Running 3 4096 6.18:27:16.8950000 Operating normally 8.0

[hyper-v12]: PS C:\Users\*\Documents>

[Dima P.]

Hello birdwaffle,

Unfortunately it's a known limitation described in the Help Center:

The version of the target host on which the VM is restored must be the same or later than the version of the source host where the original VM was registered.
For example, you can restore a VM from the host that runs Microsoft Windows Server 2016 to the target host that runs the following versions of Microsoft Windows:

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (including version 1809)
Microsoft Windows Server 2019
The Hyper-V role must be enabled on both source and target hosts.

[birdwaffle]

I see. Thank you @Dima P !

I just want to add, it shouldn't be a limitation because in my mind if I have a backup of, say, a VM config version 8, it shouldn't matter where the backup came from. Therefore I should be able to restore it on any Hyper-V version that can handle version 8 VMs. Am I wrong?

[nmdange]

I agree it should be possible since you can live migrate a VM on config version 8.0 to a Hyper-V host running 2016. Veeam should look at the config version of the VM, not the version of the host OS.

[javaviles]

hello, I have 2 servers in 2019 version, both the origin and destination, even so it shows me the same message.

[foggy]

Hi Javier, please contact technical support for a closer look. I'd appreciate if you share the case ID here for reference. Thanks!

[javaviles]

Case #04275983 was created. tks!

[cgracie@sygnet.ca]

I would like to 2nd that this really should be possible with Veeam. This has caused us some grief lately as we could not backup and restore VMs between hosts where we expected to be able to do so based on the VM version.

Thank you.

[HBABadm]

2:nd this to !!
It is possible to do this in the native OS replication, although not best practice.

It is really lame that you could:
set up a replication frpn 2016 to 2019 and it works
have a fail-over

BUT NOT replicat it back and if fail back it will get broken or not at all!!

I have not tried but would it as well make it not possible to make a replication scenario frpm 2016 to Azure and be able to fail back?!

Other products out ther are also supporting it, although some manual setup but it works.

Is there any Uservoice for Veeam so we can have some voting to issues that should be fixed and/or come in next release.

[foggy]

Failback to the original location (if the original VM still exists) is possible in case 2016 -> 2019 replication (disks will be synced back normally). However, restore to an older version or failback to the new location on an older host are not allowed since we cannot register the VM with a newer configuration on an older Hyper-V version (by design).

[cgracie@sygnet.ca]

Hi Foggy,

The guest VMs to not upgrade their versions automatically. If a VM from 2016 is restored to 2019, and the version is not upgraded while it is there, it should be possible to restore it back to 2016.

Thank you.

[foggy]

I understand what you're saying but currently only restore to the original location is possible in case you're restoring to a lower host version.

[cgracie@sygnet.ca]

Hi Foggy,

In the context of backup and restore (no replication), why is this a limitation for Veeam? In Windows, you can take a VM running under Windows Server 2019 that is still version 8.0 (the max version for Windows Server 2016), copy the VM files over to a Windows Server 2016 host, and import it there no problem. Why is Veeam not able to do more or less the same? It seems to me the restore logic is not quite right. It seems the restore job only considers the source and destination servers, with no regard to the VM version which is also pertinent.

Thank you.

[foggy]

The decision to go this path was made at the initial stage of development to avoid potential issues with VM version and decrease the variability of test configurations.