Hyper-V VM silently excluded from backup job — "VM excluded due to: HV hierarchy object" (Case #08102249)

[NelsonPark]

Hi all,

Case #08102249

I have a single VM on a Hyper-V host that is consistently excluded from its backup job with no error — just a silent skip. Every other VM on the same host backs up successfully. I've done extensive troubleshooting and can't find the root cause, so hoping someone here has seen this before.

Environment
- Veeam Backup & Replication 13.0.1.2067 (Community Edition)
- Hyper-V host: Windows Server 2022 (21H2, OS Build 20348.5139)
- Affected VM: NELSON-INTRANET — Windows Server 2019 (1809, 64-bit)
- All VMs added to the job individually (not via container)

Symptoms
- NELSON-INTRANET appears in the job's VM list but shows 0 B size
- It never appears in job run results — no success, no warning, no error entry
- Inventory rescan does not resolve the 0 B size
- The VM is confirmed healthy in Hyper-V Manager

Log evidence

Searching the job log for NELSON-INTRANET shows the following pattern repeating on every single run without exception:

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[000E]  Info  Location: [NELSON-HYPER1\NELSON-INTRANET], Type: [Exclude], ApproxSize: [0]
[000N]  Info  VM: 'NELSON-INTRANET', ref: '30be3510-a0f5-47fa-ab76-e94ad29f79dd', host: 'NELSON-HYPER1'.
[000N]  Info  VM 'NELSON-INTRANET' excluded due to:
[000N]  Info   HV hierarchy object. Server: "NELSON-HYPER1". Name: "NELSON-INTRANET". Reference: "30be3510-a0f5-47fa-ab76-e94ad29f79dd".

There is no preceding error — Veeam simply classifies it as an "HV hierarchy object" and excludes it. This has occurred on every run since the VM was added to the job.

Troubleshooting performed

1. Inventory rescan — performed multiple times, 0 B size persists, exclusion behaviour unchanged

2. PowerShell object check on the Veeam backup server:

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$vm = Find-VBRHvEntity -Name "NELSON-INTRANET"
$vm | Select-Object *

ConnHostId      : 24efa01d-7a60-4c80-bb8d-b3c1f005ddb8
Type            : Vm
Reference       : 30be3510-a0f5-47fa-ab76-e94ad29f79dd
Name            : NELSON-INTRANET
Path            : NELSON-HYPER1\NELSON-INTRANET
VmHostName      : NELSON-HYPER1
PowerState      : PoweredOn
ProvisionedSize : 0
UsedSize        : 0
Platform        : EHyperV
IsInfected      : False

Type is correctly reported as Vm — not a host or cluster object.

3. VMID verification on the Hyper-V host:

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Get-VM "NELSON-INTRANET" | Select-Object Name, Id, ConfigurationVersion

Name            Id                                   ConfigurationVersion
NELSON-INTRANET 30be3510-a0f5-47fa-ab76-e94ad29f79dd

The VMID matches exactly what Veeam has stored — no stale reference.

4. All VMs on the host show blank ConfigurationVersion via PowerShell — not unique to NELSON-INTRANET.

5. GuestInfo comparison between NELSON-INTRANET and a working VM:

Code: Select all

IsUnixBased: False  |  IsWindowsBased: False  |  Properties: {}

Identical on both — no difference.

6. VHDX path for NELSON-INTRANET is D:\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks\NELSON-INTRANET.vhdx — same location structure as all other VMs on the host.

7. Cannot remove and re-add the Hyper-V host to force a fresh inventory — Veeam blocks host removal while backup jobs reference it.

Question

What is causing Veeam to classify NELSON-INTRANET as an "HV hierarchy object" at job runtime, despite the PowerShell inventory correctly identifying it as Type: Vm? Is there a database fix or supported procedure to correct this classification?

Thanks in advance.

[HannesK]

Hello,
and welcome to the forums.

My suggestion would be to work with support, because you probably already checked these two things:

1. exclusion for the MV
2. not enough licenses

Best regards
Hannes