1. A method for migrating a virtual machine from a source host computing system to a target host computing system, the method comprising: maintaining a centralized portion of virtual machine state in a storage that is accessible to the source host computing system and the target host computing system; maintaining a localized portion of the virtual machine state in local storage at the source host computing system, the local storage at the source host computing system being inaccessible to the target host computing system; backing up a backed up portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state in a storage that is accessible to the source host computing system and the target host computing system, wherein a remaining portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state is not backed up in the storage that is accessible to the source host computing system and the target host computing system, the remaining portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state comprises at least one operating system file associated with an operating system, and the backed up portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state comprises an operating system identifier for identifying the at least one operating system file; ceasing operation of the virtual machine on the source host computing system; restoring the localized portion of the virtual machine state to local storage of the target host computing system, wherein a portion of the restored localized portion of the virtual machine state is restored based on the backed up portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state, and restoring of the restored localized portion of the virtual machine state is completed using the operating system identifier included in the backed up portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state to identify the at least one operating system file; and loading the virtual machine on the target host computing system using the restored localized portion of the virtual machine state including the at least one operating system file.