Unable to import VM to incus from lxd

Incus
,
1

Hello,

Versions at play:
lxd version: 6.7-d814d89 (6/stable from snap)
incus version: 6.0.6 on nixos

I exported the vm from lxd using:

lxc export <name> –export-version 1

I used --export-version 1 as import failure was immediate and I’d read elsewhere on this forum that this is the best approach for what I’m doing. Both systems have different profiles, and profiles are used in the exported vm. I’m hoping to import and remap, though I have tried editing index.yaml in the .tgz and this did not help.

Import into incus goes to 100% then sits for a while, and fails with the following:

Error: Create instance from backup: Error updating backup file: open /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/default/virtual-machines/test-recovery/backup.yaml: no such file or directory

Output from incus monitor shows:

DEBUG  [2026-05-19T18:37:42-07:00] Failure for operation                         class=task description="Restoring backup" err="Create instance from backup: Err
or updating backup file: open /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/default/virtual-machines/test-recovery/backup.yaml: no such file or directory" operation=372d1f51-b5e
7-4bae-9b8a-86334c6a5a5e project=default
INFO   [2026-05-19T18:37:42-07:00] ID: 372d1f51-b5e7-4bae-9b8a-86334c6a5a5e, Class: task, Description: Restoring backup  CreatedAt="2026-05-19 18:24:27.55017482
9 -0700 MST" Err="Create instance from backup: Error updating backup file: open /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/default/virtual-machines/test-recovery/backup.yaml:
 no such file or directory" Location=none MayCancel=false Metadata="map[]" Resources="map[instances:[/1.0/instances/test-recovery]]" Status=Failure StatusCode=F
ailure UpdatedAt="2026-05-19 18:24:27.550174829 -0700 MST"

During the import I monitored the path /var/lib/incus/storage-pools/default/virtual-machines/test-recovery/ and indeed backup.yaml never shows up. No index.yaml either.

I confirmed the .tgz I’m attempting to import does not have a backup.yaml file but it does have index.yaml.

I mounted the zfs filesystem for this vm and do see backup.yaml present on the source lxd system, but no index.yaml.

Not sure where to go from here. Any guidance is appreciated!

Thanks!

gs

2

I ended up solving my need to import this VM from LXD via incus-migrate.

To do this, I followed this process.

  1. Untar the backup file. There will be a file backup/virtual-machine.img. Note it’s absolute path.
  2. download and run incus-migrate as root:

Note: You need to use the absolute path to the .img file else it will fail.
Note: Use profiles only if you need them.

[root@nixtop:/home/schwim]# ./incus-migrate
The local Incus server is the target [default=yes]:

What would you like to create?
1) Container
2) Virtual Machine
3) Virtual Machine (from .ova)
4) Custom Volume

Please enter the number of your choice: 2
Name of the new instance: zm-test
Please provide the path or URL to a disk, partition, or qcow2/raw/vmdk image file: /home/schwim/backup/virtual-machine.img
Does the VM support UEFI booting? [default=yes]:
Does the VM support UEFI Secure Boot? [default=yes]:

Instance to be created:
  Name: zm-test
  Project: default
  Type: virtual-machine
  Source: /home/schwim/backup/virtual-machine.img
  Source format: raw

Additional overrides can be applied at this stage:
1) Begin the migration with the above configuration
2) Override profile list
3) Set additional configuration options
4) Change instance storage pool or volume size
5) Change instance network
6) Add additional disk
7) Change additional disk storage pool

Please pick one of the options above [default=1]: 2
Which profiles do you want to apply to the instance? (space separated) [default=default, "-" for none]: basebuild01 storage-100GB mem-16GB cpu-4 net-prod

Instance to be created:
  Name: zm-test
  Project: default
  Type: virtual-machine
  Source: /home/schwim/backup/virtual-machine.img
  Source format: raw
  Profiles:
    - basebuild01
    - storage-100GB
    - mem-16GB
    - cpu-4
    - net-prod

Additional overrides can be applied at this stage:
1) Begin the migration with the above configuration
2) Override profile list
3) Set additional configuration options
4) Change instance storage pool or volume size
5) Change instance network
6) Add additional disk
7) Change additional disk storage pool

Please pick one of the options above [default=1]:
Instance zm-test successfully created

Things I tried that did not work:

  • The original post above
  • incus-migrate pointing at the lxd export tarball
  • incus-migrate running inside the VM I was trying to migrate (saw this suggested elsewhere)
  • incus-migrate using a relative path to the .img file (i.e. backup/virtual-machine.img)

I found I needed to clean up the filesystem after the migration was complete. Once done things appear to be working fine.