Summary
This article provides instructions for disabling Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT) on a Nutanix AHV virtual machine. Disabling NGT can be necessary when you want to prevent application-consistent snapshots, avoid Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) interactions during backups, or resolve application-level backup conflicts (e.g., with Microsoft SQL, Oracle, or other transactional systems).
Problem Description
Some transactional applications may encounter performance issues or job failures when Nutanix NGT triggers application-consistent snapshots during Druva backup operations. These app-consistent snapshots interact with VSS (Windows) or quiescing scripts (Linux) inside the guest OS, occasionally creating conflicts with the application's native backup workflows.
Disabling NGT prevents Nutanix from initiating application-aware quiescing during snapshots, forcing Druva backups to seamlessly default to crash-consistent snapshots.
Resolution: Disable NGT on a Nutanix VM
Option 1: Disable NGT from Prism Central (Recommended)
Log in to Prism Central.
Navigate to Virtual Infrastructure-> VMs.
Select the target virtual machine experiencing the conflict.
Click Actions -> Manage NGT (or Manage NGT Applications).
Review the installed NGT components (e.g., VSS Provider, File-Level Restore Helper).
Toggle Off / Disable the required NGT components or the entire NGT package.
Confirm the changes.
Option 2: Stop and Disable NGT Services from the Guest OS
If you prefer not to modify settings via Prism Central, you can stop the local service components directly inside the virtual machine's operating system.
For Windows VMs
Open the Services console (
services.msc).Locate the following Nutanix services:
Nutanix Guest Agent
Nutanix VSS Provider
Right-click each service, select Properties, and change the Startup Type to Disabled.
Click Stop to terminate the service if it is currently running.
For Linux VMs
Disable and stop the guest agent service using systemctl:
sudo systemctl disable ngtguestagent sudo systemctl stop ngtguestagent
Verification
To verify that the configuration was successful:
Run an on-demand (Backup Now) job for the affected VM from the Druva Cloud Platform console.
Review the snapshot tasks inside Nutanix Prism.
Confirm that the logs indicate a crash-consistent operation rather than an application-consistent snapshot.
Expected internal log indicator:
AppConsistentSnap is set to false
Notes & Implications
Backup Consistency: Disabling NGT means Druva will only capture crash-consistent backups of the VM infrastructure. If application-consistent recovery points are mandatory for compliance, NGT must remain enabled, and the VSS/quiescing layer must be troubleshooted instead.
Third-Party Tools: Be aware that other third-party utilities co-existing in your infrastructure might depend on NGT. Ensure no other workflows are disrupted before disabling these services globally on the target VM.