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Hyper-V 4 min read

Check storage and network drivers in a Linux guest

MN
Marcos Nogueira
On this page
  1. Check the host-side configuration
  2. Verify the guest kernel drivers
  3. Confirm the management daemons
  4. Troubleshooting missing or unresponsive services
  5. Next steps

You have a Linux virtual machine on a Windows Server 2025 host. It is not behaving as expected, or you are preparing it for production and want to confirm the integration components are active. The first thing to check is whether the synthetic drivers are loaded and the management daemons are running.

Hyper-V Integration Services enhance virtual machine performance and provide convenience features by leveraging two-way communication with the Hyper-V host Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. Many of these services are conveniences, such as guest file copy, while others are important to the virtual machine’s functionality, such as synthetic device drivers Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. The driver components are not intended to be serviced manually Manage Hyper-V Integration Services.

Check the host-side configuration

Before looking inside the guest, confirm that the host has enabled the relevant integration services for the virtual machine. You need to know the virtual machine name and have appropriate permissions on the host.

Run the following PowerShell command on the Windows Server 2025 host:

Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName "LinuxVM"

The output lists all integration services available on the Hyper-V host and whether the host has enabled the virtual machine to use them Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. Look for services such as Heartbeat, Time Synchronization, and Shutdown. If a service is disabled on the host, it will not function in the guest, regardless of the guest’s configuration.

Verify the guest kernel drivers

Linux integration services are generally provided through the Linux kernel Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. The Linux integration services driver is named hv_utils Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. Synthetic storage and network adapters rely on this foundation.

Connect to the Linux guest and run:

lsmod | grep hv_utils

If the hv_utils module is loaded, you should see output similar to:

Module                  Size   Used by
hv_utils               20480   0
hv_vmbus               61440   8 hv_balloon,hyperv_keyboard,hv_netvsc,hid_hyperv,hv_utils,hyperv_fb,hv_storvsc

The presence of hv_netvsc and hv_storvsc in the “Used by” column confirms that the synthetic network and storage drivers are active Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. If hv_utils is missing, the kernel may not have the necessary Hyper-V modules compiled or loaded. In that case, check the kernel version and ensure it is a supported Linux distribution for Hyper-V on Windows Manage Hyper-V Integration Services.

Confirm the management daemons

The kernel drivers handle the synthetic hardware, but several daemons manage higher-level features such as time synchronization, file copy, and volume shadow copy requests. To find out if the required daemons are running, use this command inside the guest:

ps -ef | grep hv

The output should show processes like hv_kvp_daemon and hv_vss_daemon Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. Integration service daemons that might be listed include:

If any of these are missing, they might not be supported on your system or they might not be installed Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. You can see what daemons are available by running:

compgen -c hv_

Troubleshooting missing or unresponsive services

If the host shows a service as enabled but the guest is not responding, check the guest’s service status. For example, if Heartbeat is failing, ensure the time synchronization service is running in the guest. Linux guests using current kernels contain integration services built in, but there may be optional updates available Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. You will receive the latest integration components when you update the kernel Manage Hyper-V Integration Services.

To restart a specific daemon, such as the KVP daemon, use the process ID (PID) to stop it. To find the PID, look at the second column of the output from ps -ef, or use pidof Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. Hyper-V daemons run as root, so you will need root permissions Manage Hyper-V Integration Services.

sudo kill -15 `pidof hv_kvp_daemon`

To verify that all hv_kvp_daemon processes are gone, run:

ps -ef | grep hv_kvp_daemon

To start the daemon again, run the daemon as root:

sudo hv_kvp_daemon

To verify that the hv_kvp_daemon process is listed with a new process ID, run:

ps -ef | grep hv_kvp_daemon

Next steps

Once you have confirmed the drivers and daemons are active, verify the specific functionality you need. For example, check if file copy works by enabling Guest Service Interface on the host and ensuring the hv_fcopy_daemon is running in the guest Manage Hyper-V Integration Services. If you are using dynamic memory, ensure the hv_balloon module is loaded and the hv_kvp_daemon is running to report memory statistics Manage Hyper-V Integration Services.

If issues persist, check the kernel logs for errors related to hv_vmbus or hv_utils. Also, ensure the Linux kernel version is supported for Hyper-V on Windows Server 2025 Manage Hyper-V Integration Services.

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