How to Merge Snapshots in Hyper-V

Hyper-V is paid virtualization server software manufactured by Microsoft. By using the virtualization server, you have the ability to back up all of your projects and workloads to a virtual hard drive. One feature of Hyper-V is “Snapshots.” With snapshots, you can take a screenshot of your system data at any given time. This screenshot makes system restoration quick. You also have the ability to merge two screenshots together, in the event that data from one screenshot is not included in the other.

Instructions

1. Open the Hyper-V Manager on your computer.

2. Click “Actions” from the top navigation menu. In the “Virtual Machines” section, click the virtual machine you want to merge snapshots for. Click “Edit Disk” from the right panel to view the files stored on your virtual machine. Click the “AVHD” file. Select “Rename” from the right panel.

3. Rename the AVHD file as “VHD.”

4. Click “Actions.” Double-click the snapshot file you want to merge in the “Snapshots” section. Click “Merge.” Select “To Parent Virtual Disk.”

5. Click “Finish” to complete the merging process. The status of your merger appears in the Virtual Machines section of Hyper-V Manager.

References

• Search Server Virtualization: How Hyper-V Snapshots Work
• Virtualization Admin: Manually Merging Hyper-V Snapshots
• Powershell: Hyper V – I Need To Merge My AVHD And VHD