Veeam VM backups on Windows 2022 server failing due to checkpoint errors

To address the checkpoint errors you're experiencing with Veeam backups on your Windows Server 2022, consider the following steps:

1. Check for File Locks: The error message indicates that the process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process (0x80070020). Use Resource Monitor or Process Monitor to identify which process is locking the file. Restarting the VM or the host may help if the issue persists.
2. VSS Writer Issues: Ensure that the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is functioning correctly. Restart the VSS services using the following commands:

      net stop vss
      net start vss
      net stop swprv
      net start swprv
   

   After restarting, check the VSS writers' status with vssadmin list writers and resolve any failed writers.
3. Backup Configuration: Verify that your backup software (Veeam) is properly configured to clean up after backups. Ensure that Hyper-V files, folders, and processes are excluded from antivirus scanning to prevent conflicts during backup operations.
4. Checkpoint Management: If orphaned checkpoints exist, you may need to merge them manually. Shut down the affected VM, then use Hyper-V Manager to edit the disk and merge the AVHDX files back to the parent VHDX. This can help resolve issues with checkpoint creation.
5. Update Windows Server: Ensure that your Windows Server 2022 is fully updated. Sometimes, issues can arise from outdated components. Check if there are any pending updates that need to be installed.
6. WSUS Configuration: For WSUS, ensure that it is correctly configured to support your Windows Server 2022. You may need to update the WSUS server or adjust its settings to ensure it recognizes and serves updates for the newer server version.

By following these steps, you should be able to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the checkpoint errors affecting your Veeam backups.

References:

• Troubleshoot Hyper-V virtual machine backup, checkpoint, and storage failures
• Troubleshoot Hyper-V snapshots, checkpoints, and differencing disks (AVHDX)

Hello KC76,

I understand your Windows Server 2022 is stuck on 21H2 because WSUS 2016 doesn’t fully recognize newer Server 2022 updates unless it’s patched. Make sure WSUS 2016 is up to date with the latest cumulative and servicing stack updates, enable the Windows Server 2022 product category in WSUS, and install .NET Framework 4.8 to improve compatibility. If WSUS still fails to deliver updates, you can temporarily point the 2022 server to Microsoft Update to bring it current, then re‑enable WSUS afterward.

For the Hyper‑V/Veeam checkpoint errors, the issue comes from using production checkpoints with Linux VMs. Since Linux doesn’t support VSS, production checkpoints often fail. I suggest to switch to Standard checkpoints in Hyper‑V, exclude VM storage paths from antivirus scanning, and confirm storage permissions and free space are sufficient. For application‑consistent backups, Veeam agents inside the Linux VMs remain the best option, while standard checkpoints work reliably for crash‑consistent backups.

Please let me know if any of these steps help resolve the issue. If you find this answer helpful, feel free to hit "Accept Answer" so others can benefit too 😊.

Domic Vo.

Just in case someone else is looking,

The problem ended up being that the local system account did not have log in as batch /service rights because I have a GPO that sets those that overides the default. Nothing worked until I fixed that.

I had tried all the other things, notably added exclusions to my anti-virus, but I saw no change until I dealt with the permissions issue. Wsus was not the issue at all in the end.