Are you looking for how to delete a backup checkpoint in Hyper-V? We can help you with it.

Usually, we can delete it from the Hyper-V Manager. But in some instances, it fails and we do the same from the PowerShell.

At Bobcares, we often get requests to manage Hyper-V checkpoints, as a part of our Infrastructure Management Services.

Today, we will see how our Support Engineers delete checkpoints in Hyper-V.

What is checkpoint in Hyper-V?

The checkpoint is a feature in Hyper-V that allows us to save the existing state of a VM. In the backend, the checkpoints are saved as .avhdx files.

Actually, this is a backup before a software update or a new software installation. So that, in case of any error, we can revert back the VM to the state saved in the checkpoint.

But, checkpoints use up space in VM. Hence, to free up some space in VM, we can delete it. While we delete a checkpoint it merges the .avhdx and .vhdx files and removes it from the system.

Let us discuss how our Support Engineers delete the backup for our customers.

How to delete backup checkpoint in Hyper-V?

For deleting a checkpoint, we can’t simply remove a .avhdx file. Let’s see the two ways by which we cleanly delete a checkpoint.

1. Delete checkpoint using Hyper-V manager

For deleting a checkpoint under a VM, our Support Engineers do as follows.

1. Firstly, we open the Hyper-V Manager and select the VM which as the checkpoint to delete.

2. The checkpoint section lists the checkpoints created under that VM. Here we right-click on the appropriate checkpoint. It lists a few options and we select the Delete option. The options appear as,

3. To delete a checkpoint and all its subsequent checkpoints, we right-click the checkpoint. Then we select the option Delete Checkpoint Subtree.

4. Finally, in the verification checkbox, we select the Delete option.

And, this successfully removes a checkpoint from Hyper-V.

2. Deleting the checkpoint using PowerShell

Similarly, we can also delete the checkpoint from using the PowerShell. And our Support Engineers do this using the command,

Remove-VMCheckpoint -VMName <name of the virtual machine> -Name <name of the checkpoint>

Hence, this command can cleanly remove a checkpoint in Hyper-V.

[Need assistance in fixing Hyper-V errors? – Our Experts are available 24/7.]

Conclusion

In short, we can delete Hyper-V backup checkpoint, using either Hyper-V Manager or using PowerShell. Using Hyper-V Manager we can either delete one checkpoint or delete all the subsequent checkpoints. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers do it.