Export and import VMs in Hyper-v Server

Importing and exporting virtual machines in hyper-v is a way to move virtual machines to other servers.

When you export a VM, You need to specify a path. The system will create a copy of all the files of the virtual machine to this path, including configuration files, virtual hard disk and checkpoint. Ceckpoint also call snapshot. You can export a Virtual Machine while it is running or stopped.

Export Virtual Machine using Hyper-v Manager

Open Hyper-v Manager, Right-Click the Virtual Machine you want to export, and select Export.

Specify a location store Virtual Machine files and click Export

You can see the Virtual Machine Export progress in the status bar

When exporting a virtual machine, you can select Cancel Exporting in the Action pane cancel the export

You can also export Virtual Machine using Export-VM cmdlet in Windows PowerShell

Name: VM's Name

Path: Path of VM export

Import Virtual Machine using Hyper-V Manager

Open Hyper-v Manager, Select Import Virtual Machine in Action pane.

Click Next

Browse to the folder containing the exported files.

Click Next

Chose you want to import VM's type：

• Register The Virtual Machine In Place: Store the exported file where you want and register the virtual machine on the Hyper-V server with the same virtual machine ID.
• Restore The Virtual Machine: Assuming your exported files that are stored in a removable storage, you can choose this option to move the files to the right place，then register the virtual machine on the Hyper-V server with the same virtual machine ID.
• Copy The Virtual Machine: If you want to import this virtual machine many times, for example, you want to use this virtual machine as a template, you can choose this option. Copy the virtual machine to the right place, and generate a new ID, then register this virtual machine.

I select Copy The Virtual Machine in here. Then click Next.

Specify the store location of the configuration file, checkpoint file, and smart page file of the virtual machine. Then click Next

Specify the store location of the Virtual Hard Disk

Click Finish

When Exported Virtual machine is saved state，you need to delete the saved state to run the virtual machine.

Right-Click the Virtual Machine，Select Delete Saved State.

Click Delete

When the names of the virtual switches on two Hyper-V hosts do not match, you will get an error like a following.

Solution：Select the available virtual switch in the connection option

You can also import Virtual Machine using Import-VM cmdlet in Windows PowerShell

Copy: Copying the Virtual Machine's files to the default virtual machine and virtual hard drive storage locations of the Hyper-V host.

GenerateNewId: Generate a new Virtual Machine ID

Note: When importing a virtual machine, you need to enter the full path of the virtual machine's configuration file.

If you want to import the Virtual Machine from it's configuration file, and the Virtual Machine is registered in-place. You can use following command：

Import-VM -Path 'the full path to the virtual machine's configuration file' -Register

To specify different locations for the copied files, you can add the following parameters to the command line:

• VirtualMachinePath
• VhdDestinationPath
• SnapshotFilePath
• SmartPagingFilePath