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Azure Migrate Failing on the setup protected entities stage, failing ReFS cloning on an azure local cluster

Naveed Khan 0 Reputation points
2026-04-21T23:16:02.3633333+00:00

We are currently facing an issue where azure migrate no longer migrates virtual machines from our vcenter environment into azure local. The previous migrations worked fine without issue. The issue seems to have been introduced after upgrading the cluster on the 9th of April to version 12.2603.1002.500.

Since the update, the migration process stops at the 'setting up protected identities' stage and seems to fail the ReFS clone of the seed vhdx disks to provision the vm. The error message encountered is :

Error message

ReFS clone failed for the disk \\domain.local\ClusterStorage$\volume06\ea579302eb07b25\machine01-OSdisk-0-bc17-seed-604d282e-54ce-4d26-a028-2fae1b6d4cfe-rgname.VHDX and snapshot Id dcf52f14-c12a-4e6a-a9e3-f49a55c1dcad with error code 2.

Possible causes

Target cluster volume filesystem is not ReFS or its not reachable .

We have tried the following so far:

  • Recreated the replication, this created new disks and would have created new seed disks. The issue remains
  • Confirmed that the refs volume is set to direct an not on redirected access
  • Confirmed the disks actually exist on that unc path and are accessable

The following filter drivers are present on the owner node of the volume in question:

Filter Name Num Instances Altitude Frame

bindflt 0 409800 0

VeeamFCT 12 404920 0

CsvNSFlt 1 404900 0

CsvFlt 0 404800 0

CCFFilter 10 404600 0

MsSecFlt 15 385600 0

WdFilter 13 328010 0

applockerfltr 12 265000 0

Cbafilt 2 261150 0

SmbBandwidthLimitFilter 1 261110 0

Datascrn 0 261000 0

storqosflt 9 244000 0

ResumeKeyFilter 0 202000 0

wcifs 0 189900 0

svhdxflt 0 135100 0

UnionFS 0 130850 0

Quota 0 125000 0

npsvctrig 1 46000 0

Wof 1 40700 0

ReFS 3.14 is running on the cluster nodes

Veeam B&R version 12.3.2.4165 is installed on the nodes as well

We have tried disabling the veeamfct and Cbafilt filters to rule those out, with those disabled and after a reboot of the host, the issue with migation still exists. These have been re-enabled now as it didn't have an impact on the issue.

Has anyone run into this issue with azure migrate and azure local after applying the latest cumulative update for azure local?

Azure Migrate
Azure Migrate

A central hub of Azure cloud migration services and tools to discover, assess, and migrate workloads to the cloud.

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  1. kagiyama yutaka 1,990 Reputation points
    2026-04-22T03:26:43.0533333+00:00

    I think the break is in the ReFS fast‑clone metadata on that CSV, so just try a tiny dummy‑clone on the same volume… if even that slips, move the seed to another CSV and rerun.

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  2. Bharath Y P 8,495 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-22T01:44:38.7233333+00:00

    Hello Naveed, it looks like your migration is tripping over the ReFS block‐clone step when Azure Migrate tries to copy the seed VHDX on your Stack HCI CSV. Error code 2 usually means the clone API hit a low‐level file or filter driver issue, or the CSV wasn’t recognized as ReFS by the appliance. Here’s what you can try:

    1. Validate the CSV File System • On each cluster node, run Get-Volume and confirm the target volume’s FileSystem is “ReFS.” • Make sure the CSV is in Direct I/O mode (not redirected) and is reachable via UNC from the appliance.
    2. Test a Manual Clone Outside Azure Migrate • On one of the cluster nodes, pick the seed VHDX and attempt to copy it locally with PowerShell: Copy-Item –Path “C:\ClusterStorage\Volume06\…\seed.vhdx” –Destination “C:\Test\seed-copy.vhdx” • If that fails, it’s a general ReFS clone problem—check for ReFS health issues, free space, or path‐length limits on the volume.
    3. Check for Third‐Party Filter Drivers or AV Interference • You’ve already tried disabling VeeamFCT and Cbafilt—next, look at any antivirus or security filter drivers (e.g., MsSecFlt, WdFilter) and temporarily disable real‐time scanning on the CSV to rule them out.
    4. Inspect Event and Cluster Logs • On the node that owns the CSV, review the Windows System and Application logs around the time of the failure for ReFS or CSV errors. • Generate a cluster diagnostic log with Get-ClusterLog -UseLocalTime and scan for ReFS clone or CSV snapshot errors.
    5. Confirm Cluster Health and Version Compatibility • Run Test-Cluster and ensure no storage or CSV warnings.

    Follow-up questions to help narrow this down:

    1. Any ReFS or CSV errors in the Windows event log at the time of the migration failure?
    2. How much free space is available on Volume06, and what’s its current usage?
    3. Other than VeeamFCT/Cbafilt, are there any remaining third-party filter drivers or AV services on the CSV nodes?

    References

    • Troubleshoot VMware to Azure Local migration failures

    • Troubleshoot issues migrating VMs to Azure Local via Azure Migrate

    Hope this helps. and please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions. Thanks

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