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How to move a Hyper-V Virtual Machines (VM) without exporting it

Summary: This article provides information on how to move a Hyper-V virtual machine without exporting it.

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Symptoms

Sometimes you may not want to export a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) in order to move it.  If you have this condition, there is a work around to exporting your VM to another location.

Cause

For detailed information and screen shots, refer to the MSDN BizTalk & Development Thoughts article Solved: How to move a Hyper-V virtual machine without Exporting it first. The steps are reproduced below:
  1. Stop or shut down your VM (you cannot save its state!)
  2. Stop the Hyper-V management service from the management console
  3. Once it is stopped browse to the folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines"
  4. You will find a symbolic link file to the XML settings file of the VM with the same name. Just rename it to any other name. Make note of the old name. you will need it in step 6
  5. Then move the VM to the new folder or rename the folder (Move your VM).
  6. Once the VM is moved then open a new command prompt as an administrator and then type the command
    • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines>mklink 0B142A56-4B3F-4AE5-88E5-AC21B33CE290.xml "\0B142A56-4B3F-4AE5-88E5-AC21B33CE290.xml"
  7. Then right click on the newly created symbolic link file and then click security tab and edit. You need to give the local users full control over this created file.
  8. Now go back to the computer management and start the service again
  9. Now you will find your VM moved and ready to start

Resolution

Please reference the available Microsoft resources for more complex situations. 

Affected Products

Servers, PowerEdge