Clarification of Moving Virtual Machines in saved states between hosts

  • Article

Here's some useful info if you need to move Virtual Machines between one host and another when they are in a saved state (as opposed to cleanly shutdown). Generally, to do this, you must have identical hardware and versions of Virtual Server meaning:

  • Saved states are not compatible between different products or versions. eg:

Virtual Server 2005 RTM <-> Virtual Server 2005 R2
Virtual Server 2005 SP1 Beta <-> Virtual Server 2005 R2
Virtual Server 2005 <-> Virtual PC 2004
Virtual PC 2004 RTM <-> Virtual PC 2004 SP1

  • Saved states are not compatible between different processor manufacturers. (ie Intel <-> AMD)
  • Saved states are not compatible across processor steppings. (eg Intel Northwood <-> Intel Prescott):

However:

  • Saved states are compatible on identical hardware across different "SKUs" but identical build levels (build meaning the "Version number" under Server Properties. VS2005R2=1.1.465.292 for example). eg:

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Standard <->Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise
Virtual Server 2005 R2 Evaluation <-> Virtual Server 2005 R2 Standard