Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V snapshots and volume mount points
- Hi
i noticed an issue with snapshots for the virtual machines that are stored in Volume Mount Points.
It throws an error message:
"An error occured while attempting to snapshot the selected virtual machine(s).
'VM name' could not initiate a snapshot operation. Could not create auto virtual disk 'path to the vhd'. General access denied error. "
P.S. the snapshots are configured to be stored under the same path as the vm.
so the vhd file resided in d:\VirtualServers\vmname\vmname.vhd
snapshot: d:\VirtualServers\vmname\
The snapshots work fine if the vm is stored under a dedicated drive letter. I have another vm on the same Hyper-V host which i stored under E:\ and it works fine.
is this another bug ?
i submitted another question about Hyper-V R2. those seem to be major bugs. Hope there are some hotfixes to our problems.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsserver2008r2highavailability/thread/596e8abf-5372-44ff-beed-390923f495c2
Tutte le risposte
Hi,
I’d like to confirm the following information:
1. What did you mean “volume mount points” here?
2. When did you received this error?
3. You mentioned that “The snapshots work fine if the vm is stored under a dedicated drive letter.” So when the snapshot will not work?
In Hyper-V, you can store the VMs with the path such as d:\VMs, and you can also use the volume GUID to instead of the drive letter. The volume GUID of my D: drive is “\\?\Volume{0bb5ed50-81ea-11de-a058-806e6f6e6963}\”, so I can store VMs in “\\?\Volume{0bb5ed50-81ea-11de-a058-806e6f6e6963}\VMs” instead of “D:\VMs”, in this case, the VMs will not be influence if the drive letter changed.
Vincent Hu
- I'm noticing the same problem, and we seem to have a similar configuration if I understand the original post.
We are using Microsoft Storage Server to host iSCSI targets which our Hyper-V machines connect to. The iSCSI targets are mounted on the Hyper-V machines not as drive letters, but in empty NTFS folders ("mount points"). For instance, a virtual machine called "Joe" will use an iSCSI target on the Storage Server as drive space for its .vhd file, which appears to the Hyper-V host as a directory such as E:\WorkstationsVHDs\Joe. The configuration files and snapshot location are local on the Hyper-V system drive (C:\Workstations\Joe).
Using this configuration, we've had no problems with our Windows Server 2008 / Hyper-V machines - snapshots work just fine. On a new deployment with Windows Server 2008 R2 / Hyper-V R2, the snapshots fail every time with the same error. The snapshot folders are created, but no shapshots are taken. This happens when I'm using the Hyper-V management console, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, or the Action>Snapshot... menu from the Virtual Machine Connection window when connected to the console of a Virtual Machine.
Because of the large number of virtual machines we deploy, using drive letters will not work for iSCSI targets, so we need a solution that will allow us to use mount points.
What's changed between Hyper-V and Hyper-V R2 that has removed the ability to take snapshots using this configuration?
Thanks - I have the same problem. Changing the snapshot location for the VM does not help - in the error message I get the location of the VM drive, not the snapshot location.
I have the same problem. Changing the snapshot location for the VM does not help - in the error message I get the location of the VM drive, not the snapshot location.
Hi
Me too.
I cannot create a snapshot in R2.
As Datapolis says above, changing the snapshot location has no effect - it's still trying to save to the VM folder...
:(- Hi
Some more info:
1. The Hyper-V Image Management Service actually creates the disk - one see the .avhd file with the trailng Guid in the directory sepciifed as the VHD store.
2. The .avhd file does NOT have the same securty settings as vhd files that are in use - they have a SUID in the ACL list which the avhd does not - and when viewed in explorer, the avhd file has a 'lock' icon.
I also had similar problems (general access error) when trying to create disks via the 'Add new VM' wizard - I had to pre-create my differencing disk first, and THEN assign it when creating a VM.
Thoughts? - Opps...
Forgot the workaround:
1. Stop the VM
2. Create a new differencing disk with the VM's original VHD as the parent (yes, you can chain differencing disks if you need)
3. Reassign the VM's VHD to the new disk you just created
4. Start the VM and do what you need to
5. If you want to discard your changes then just rollback the changes above and the delete the new VHD
6. If you want to keep your changes, then you can stop the VM, edit your new vhd and select to merge it to the parent.
Kinda prefer the 'Snapshot' button myself, don't you? Shame it doesn't work. Shame on MSFT too... Mine is a 'bog standard' install of Hyper-V on Datacenter. What happened to quality control?
Paul. I was receiving a similar error message that contained the text "could not initiate a snapshot operation" but not the "Could not create auto virtual disk" piece that the original poster describes. However, I fixed my problem by going into File..Settings..Management..Snapshot File Location and changing the pathname from C:/ProgramData/Temp to C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Hyper-V/. However, even after I changed the path I started getting another error message when using the snapshot button on the toolbar. After I used Action..Snapshot from the menu the snapshot was finally taken successfully. This happened to be a VM for a non-supported operating system that was booted from an ISO (LiveCD). There was a relatively small (~8GB) VHD associated with it but I never got around to mounting it in the guest OS at the time of the aforementioned snapshot troubles.
Another issue I had earlier was trying to store VHD files in directories other than C:\Users\Name\Documents\My Virtual Machines\.
I would receive a permissioning error on other directories even after verifying MIC and the ACL's as Administrator. So again, I changed the directory back to the default setting and everything worked fine and dandy. FYI, this all happened on a Windows Server 2008 R2 installation.
- Derek Callaway- Having the very same issue here. Does anyone have this solution?
Rafael Granado rafael.granado@gmail.com - Solved my problem. At the event logs I´ve noticed that the errors was under the Network Service Account.
Give him the right permission at the snapshots folder and it worked like a charm.
Hope its helps you all.
Rafael Granado rafael.granado at gmaildotcom- Proposta come risposta annullataMarek Mazur mercoledì 3 marzo 2010 16.59
- Proposto come rispostals01c mercoledì 3 marzo 2010 10.03
