One of the great benefits to virtualization is the ability to easily save the state of a virtual machine. In Hyper-V this is done through the use of virtual machine checkpoints. You may want to create a virtual machine checkpoint before making software configuration changes, applying a software update, or installing new software.
Windows 10 Hyper-V includes two types of checkpoints:
- Standard Checkpoints -- takes a snapshot of the virtual machine and virtual machine memory state at the time the checkpoint is initiated. A snapshot is not a full backup and can cause data consistency issues with systems that replicate data between different nodes such as Active Directory. Hyper-V only offered standard checkpoints (formerly called snapshots) prior to Windows 10.
- Production Checkpoints -- uses Volume Shadow Copy Service or File System Freeze on a Linux virtual machine to create a data-consistent backup of the virtual machine. No snapshot of the virtual machine memory state is taken.
Production checkpoints are selected by default however this can be changed using either Hyper-V manager or PowerShell.
Changing the Checkpoint Type
- Open Hyper-V Manager.
- Right click on a virtual machine and select settings.
- Under Management select Checkpoints.
- Select the desired checkpoint type.
Please see the picture below:
Creating checkpoints
- In Hyper-V Manager, select the virtual machine.
- Right-click the name of the virtual machine, and then click Checkpoint.
- When the process is complete, the checkpoint will appear under Checkpoints in the Hyper-V Manager.
