Virtual machine update while keeping devices attached to the virtual machine

A computing system having one or more first virtual machine (VM) components that are to be subjected to a servicing operation and one or more second VM components that are to remain loaded in physical computing system hardware during the servicing operation, the computing system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• a computer readable hardware storage device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to perform the following:
• suspend an operation of a VM running the one or more first and second VM components so that a servicing operation for the VM can be performed;
• save a state of the one or more first VM components;
• save an identification pointer for the one or more second VM components in a portion of the computing system physical memory without removing any underlying data structures of the one or more second VM components from the computing system physical hardware;
• shut down the one or more first VM components by removing any underlying data structures for the one or more first VM components from the computing system physical hardware;
• restore at the completion of the servicing operation the one or more first VM components by;
• reconnect the restored one or more first VM components to the one or more second VM components using the identification pointers;
• and
• resume the operation of the VM.

In a computing system having one or more first virtual machine (VM) components and one or more second VM components that are to remain loaded in computing system physical hardware during a servicing operation of the VM, a method for performing the servicing operation of the VM, the method comprising:

• suspending an operation of a VM running the one or more first and second VM components so that a servicing operation for the VM can be performed, the VM having one or more devices that are directly attached to it;
• saving a state of the one or more first VM components;
• saving an identification pointer for the one or more second VM components in a portion of the computing system physical memory without removing any underlying data structures of the one or more second VM components from the computing system physical hardware, wherein the one or more directly attached devices remain configured as attached to the VM and remain configured to communicate with the VM while the VM is suspended and while the servicing operation is performed since the underlying data structures of the one or more second VM components are not removed;
• shutting down the one or more first VM components by removing any underlying data structures for the one or more first VM components from the computing system physical hardware;
• restoring at the completion of the servicing operation the one or more first VM components;
• reconnecting the restored one or more first VM components to the one or more second VM components using the identification pointers;
• and
• resuming the operation of the VM.