Configure and manage Hyper-V virtual machines

Question 1

VM configuration versions

Answer 1

The VM configuration version is determined by the version of Hyper-V installed on the host machine at the time of the VM creation. Certain features and functionality in Hyper-V are only available with specific VM configuration versions. The configuration version identifies the compatibility of certain components in a VM with features available on the host, such as:

Configuration. The VM configuration information such as processor, memory, and attached storage.
Checkpoint. Files representing configuration files and runtime state files used when checkpoints are created.

Question 2

Supported VM configuration versions

Answer 2

If you have VMs created with an earlier version of Hyper-V, some features that are introduced and available on a newer Hyper-V host operating system (OS) might not work with those VMs.

Question 3

Update the VM configuration version

Answer 3

As you move or import a VM between Hyper-V hosts, it’s important that the host supports the configuration version of the VM. If you move the VM to a newer version of Windows or Windows Server, the VM configuration version won’t update automatically. This means that if you need to, you can move the VM back to the original host and it’ll continue to run successfully. However, the VM won’t benefit from the features or functionality of the newer version of Windows or Windows Server until you manually update the VM configuration version to a newer version.

PowerShell Command

Update-VMVersion \

The VM must be turned off to be able to update the configuration version.

Once the VM configuration version is updated, you can import the VM. However, the VM can’t start on hosts that don’t support the updated configuration version. In other words, newer Hyper-V hosts can run older VM configuration versions, but older Hyper-V hosts can’t run newer VM configuration versions.