---
title: "Start-VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession"
description: "This cmdlet creates and starts a maintenance session for the specified backup repositories. A maintenance session is a period of time during which Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 suspends operations on backup repositories: it does not start new..."
canonical: "https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo365/powershell/start-vborepositorymaintenancesession.html"
breadcrumb: "PowerShell Reference > Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 PowerShell Reference > Backup Infrastructure > JET-based Backup Repositories and Object Storage Repositories > Start-VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession"
dateModified: "2026-08-21"
---

# Start-VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession

## Short Description
Creates and starts a maintenance session to suspend operations on backup repositories.

## Syntax
```
Start-VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession -Repository <VBORepository[]> [-WaitForSessionsTimeoutMinutes <Int32>]
 [-ForceStopSessions] [-ForceStopSessionsTimeoutMinutes <Int32>] [<CommonParameters>]
```

## Detailed Description
This cmdlet creates and starts a maintenance session for the specified backup repositories.

A maintenance session is a period of time during which Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 suspends operations on backup repositories: it does not start new related sessions that use these repositories, does not remove backed-up data according to the retention policy and does not run background operations. You may need to start a maintenance session, for example, if you want to perform service operations on the storage where the backup repositories reside.

::: note

A backup repository can be involved in one session at a time. If at least one of the specified backup repositories is already involved in a maintenance session, a change owner session or an organization transfer session, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 does not start the maintenance session for any of the specified backup repositories.

:::

## Parameters

<table style="width:100%;" class="Blue_Table">
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <th style="width:20%;">
          <p>Parameter</p>
        </th>
        <th style="width:20%;">
          <p>Description</p>
        </th>
        <th style="width:20%;">
          <p>Type</p>
        </th>
        <th style="width:10%;">
          <p>Required</p>
        </th>
        <th style="width:10%;">
          <p>Position</p>
        </th>
        <th style="width:10%;">
          <p>Accept Pipeline Input</p>
        </th>
      </tr>
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <td>
          <p class="Table_Text_Bold"><span class="Table_Text_Bold">ForceStopSessions</span></p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>Defines action that Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 will perform if the related sessions exceed the <code>WaitForSessionsTimeoutMinutes</code> value to finish. The following values are available:</p><ul><li><code>true</code> — the related sessions are stopped, the maintenance session is created and started.</li><li><code>false</code> — the maintenance session is canceled.</li></ul><p>Default: <em>False</em></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p><code>SwitchParameter</code></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>False</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>Named</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>False</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <td>
          <p class="Table_Text_Bold"><span class="Table_Text_Bold">ForceStopSessionsTimeoutMinutes</span></p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>For the <code>ForceStopSessions</code> parameter set to <em>true</em>.</p><p>Specifies a timeout in <em>minutes</em>.</p><p>The cmdlet will use this timeout to wait for the related sessions to stop after Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 forced them to stop.</p><p>Default: <em>10</em></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p><code>Int32</code></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>False</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>Named</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>False</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <td>
          <p class="Table_Text_Bold"><span class="Table_Text_Bold">Repository</span></p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>Specifies an array of backup repositories. The cmdlet will create and start a maintenance session for these backup repositories.</p><p>Accepts the <a href="vborepository.md"><code>VBORepository</code></a> object.</p><p>To get this object, run the <a href="get-vborepository.md"><code>Get-VBORepository</code></a> cmdlet.</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p><a href="vborepository.md"><code>VBORepository[]</code></a></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>True</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>Named</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>True (ByValue)</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <td>
          <p class="Table_Text_Bold"><span class="Table_Text_Bold">WaitForSessionsTimeoutMinutes</span></p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>Specifies a timeout in <em>minutes</em>.</p><p>The cmdlet will use this timeout to wait for the related sessions to finish before starting the current session. Related sessions are the sessions that Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 creates to perform different activities, such as data backup and backup copy, data management, data restore and data retrieval.</p><p>Default: <em>60</em></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p><code>Int32</code></p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>False</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>Named</p>
        </td>
        <td style="width:10%;">
          <p>False</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>

`<CommonParameters>`

This cmdlet supports Microsoft PowerShell common parameters. For more information on common parameters, see the [About Common Parameters](http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=113216) section of Microsoft Learn.

## Output Object
The cmdlet returns the [`VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession`](vborepositorymaintenancesession.md) object that contains details on a maintenance session when Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 suspends operations on a backup repository.

## Examples

::: example
### Starting Maintenance Session for Backup Repositories

This example shows how to start a maintenance session for the *Repository 01* and *Repository 09* backup repositories.

```
$repository1 = Get-VBORepository -Name "Repository 01"
$repository2 = Get-VBORepository -Name "Repository 09"
Start-VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession -Repository $repository1, $repository2
```

Perform the following steps:

1. Run the [`Get-VBORepository`](get-vborepository.md) cmdlet. Specify the `Name` parameter value. Save the result to the `$repository1` variable.
2. Run the [`Get-VBORepository`](get-vborepository.md) cmdlet. Specify the `Name` parameter value. Save the result to the `$repository2` variable.
3. Run the `Start-VBORepositoryMaintenanceSession` cmdlet. Set the `$repository1` and `$repository2` variables as the `Repository` parameter value.

:::

## Related Commands

[`Get-VBORepository`](get-vborepository.md)