---
title: "Back up Hyper-V virtual machines"
description: "Protect Hyper-V guests with a job that uses the Hyper-V VSS writer, stores the copy off the CSV, and can import the virtual machine on another host."
url: https://howtobackupvm.com/en/blog/backup-hyper-v-vms/
---

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# Back up Hyper-V virtual machines

Protect Hyper-V guests with a job that uses the Hyper-V VSS writer, stores the copy off the CSV, and can import the virtual machine on another host.

Published 2026-02-24· HowToBackupVM editors

Production checkpoints that invoke the guest VSS writer are for short-term rollback. They are not a substitute for a backup stored outside the cluster shared volume. A host-level export or a backup that reads the VHDX through the backup API is the recovery copy.

Include the virtual machine configuration, every VHDX the guest boots from, and any shared VHDX the application needs. Leave page files and temporary data disks out only when you have tested a boot without them.

Name the recovery host, the virtual switch, and the folder that will receive the import. Practice that import before you need it.

## Questions

On storage that does not share the production datastore, rack power, or backup admin password.

A boot of the restored guest on an isolated network, plus a recent application record.

Daily for two to four weeks, weekly for a few months, and monthly for the period your contract names.

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