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Backup of Powered-Off VM in Proxmox Fails When HA Status is Stopped

KB ID: 4715
Product: Veeam Backup & Replication | 12.3 | 12.3.1 | 12.3.2 | 13
Veeam Plug-In for Proxmox VE
Published: 2025-01-30
Last Modified: 2025-09-24
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Challenge

The backup of a powered-off VM within a Proxmox environment where High Availability (HA) is enabled but the HA status is Stopped, fails with the error:

Failed to perform backup: Failed to connect the NBD server to the hypervisor host.

Cause

The job fails because the High Availability (HA) status is set to "stopped." As documented in the Proxmox documentation, in the stopped state, "The CRM tries to keep the resource in stopped state, but it still tries to relocate the resources on node failures." This configuration prevents backups of powered-off virtual machines, resulting in errors.

Solution

To resolve this issue and allow the job to complete for powered-off VMs, reconfigure the Veeam Plugin for Proxmox to lock VMs during backup, informing the CRM not to trigger a stop operation.
Instructions for Veeam Backup & Replication 13 Veeam Software Appliance
  1. Log in to the Veeam Host Management Console.
  2. Export the following configuration file using the Host Configuration section found under Logs and Services.
    /etc/veeam/platform-service-pve/appsettings.json
Veeam Host Management Console showing the "Logs and Services" section under "Host Configuration," with the "pve" configuration file selected and the "Export" button highlighted. The file path "/etc/veeam/platform-service-pve/appsettings.json" is shown.
  1. Open the downloaded json file using a text editor.
  2. Find the line containing "LockVmOnBackup": false and change it to true, and save the file.
Notepad++ window displaying part of an appsettings.json file. The line '"LockVmOnBackup": true,' is highlighted within the "BackupRestore" settings section.
  1. Ensure there are no active Proxmox backup or restore tasks.
  2. Disable all scheduled Proxmox jobs.
  3. Log in to the Veeam Host Management Console.
  4. Import the following configuration file using the Host Configuration section found under Logs and Services.
Veeam Host Management Console in "Logs and Services" under "Host Configuration," with "pve" configuration file selected and the "Import" button highlighted. The file path "/etc/veeam/platform-service-pve/appsettings.json" is shown.
Security Officer Approval Needed

After clicking Import, a message may appear stating that the change has been staged and requires the Security Officer to approve the setting import operation.

Please reference Performing Security Officer Tasks for more information.

  1. Switch to the Services tab, search for the veeam-platform-service-pve.service service, select it and click Restart.
Veeam Host Management Console in "Logs and Services" under "Services," showing "veeam-platform-service-pve.service" selected and running, with the "Restart" button highlighted.
  1. Enable all disabled jobs from Step 6.
Instructions for Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3.x on Windows
  1. On the Veeam Backup Server, open the AppSettings File: 
    C:\Program Files\Veeam\Plugins\PVE\Service\appsettings.json
  2. Find the line containing "LockVmOnBackup": false and change it to true.
Example
  1. Save the file.
  2. Ensure there are no active Proxmox backup or restore tasks.
  3. Disable all scheduled Proxmox jobs.
  4. Restart the Veeam PVE Service service.
  5. Enable all disabled jobs from Step 5.
Note
In the event of any failures during the backup, the VM may remain locked. To resolve this issue, please follow the instructions provided here: How to unlock a VM if it doesn’t start.

If this KB article did not resolve your issue or you need further assistance with Veeam software, please create a Veeam Support Case.

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