Hyper-V: Delete Checkpoint Catastrophic Failure
By William Bracken
Published March 9, 2016
Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minute

Do you have a VM with checkpoints or a checkpoint subtree that you want to delete but receive the following error? I have seen the Windows Backup tool create a new checkpoint upon every backup resulting in dozens of checkpoint in a long and nasty tree that simply will not allow you remove it, whether through the admin interface or PowerShell.

[br]

Virtual machine failed to generate VHD tree: ‘Catastrophic failure'(‘0x8000FFFF’)

[br]

Here’s a quick and painless option to try before punching your Hyper-V server:

[br]

*Note: This process will merge changes so previous checkpoints will no longer be available for rollback.

[br]

  • Locate the most recent snapshot and select it.
  • Click Export from the actions menu.
  • Export the VM to a new location.
  • Shutdown the VM.

[br]

Once the export completes you will have a new merged vhdx!

[br]

  • Click Import Virtual Machine.
  • The VM will have the name of the snapshot. Power the VM on and validate it’s working as desired.
  • Once satisfied with the new VM, delete the offending VM.
  • Rename the newly imported VM.
  • Enjoy the lack of snapshots.
Post Tags: checkpoint | Hyper-v
Article By William Bracken
Partner – Model Technology Solutions William is an experienced and results-driven IT geek who is passionate about the “automation of things,” with an extensive background in systems management, advanced OS deployment automation, and overall infrastructure automation. He has more than 19 years of experience in IT, and has designed and implemented management solutions that have dramatically reduced support costs and ultimately brought consistent and well managed operating environments to organizations across the US.

Related Posts