Hyper-V Installation

Hyper-V™ is a new role in Windows Server® 2008 that provides you with the tools and services you can use to create a virtualized server computing environment.

Installing Hyper-V

You can use Server Manager to install Hyper-V.

To install Hyper-V

1.   Click Start, and then click Server Manager. 2.   In the Roles Summary area of the Server Manager main window, click Add Roles. 3.   On the Select Server Roles page, click Hyper-V. 4.   On the Create Virtual Networks page, click one or more network adapters if you want to make their network connection available to virtual machines. 5.   On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install. 6.   The computer must be restarted to complete the installation. Click Close to finish the wizard, and then click Yes to restart the computer. 7.   After you restart the computer, log on with the same account you used to install the role. After the Resume Configuration Wizard completes the installation, click Close to finish the wizard.

Create and set up a virtual machine

After you have installed Hyper-V, you can create a virtual machine and set up an operating system on the virtual machine.

Before you create the virtual machine, you may find it helpful to consider the following questions. You can provide answers to the questions when you use the New Virtual Machine Wizard to create the virtual machine.

·      Is the installation media available for the operating system you want to install on the virtual machine? You can use physical media, a remote image server, or an .ISO file. The method you want to use determines how you should configure the virtual machine.

·      How much memory will you allocate to the virtual machine?

·      Where do you want to store the virtual machine and what do you want to name it?

To create and set up a virtual machine

1.   Open Hyper-V Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager. 2.   From the Action pane, click New, and then click Virtual Machine. 3.   From the New Virtual Machine Wizard, click Next. 4.   On the Specify Name and Location page, specify what you want to name the virtual machine and where you want to store it. 5.   On the Memory page, specify enough memory to run the guest operating system you want to use on the virtual machine. 6.   On the Networking page, connect the network adapter to an existing virtual network if you want to establish network connectivity at this point. Note If you want to use a remote image server to install an operating system on your test virtual machine, select the external network. 7.   On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, specify a name, location, and size to create a virtual hard disk so you can install an operating system on it. 8.   On the Installation Options page, choose the method you want to use to install the operating system: ·      Install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD-ROM. You can use either physical media or an image file (.iso file). ·      Install an operating system from a boot floppy disk. ·      Install an operating system from a network-based installation server. To use this option, you must configure the virtual machine with a network adapter connected to the same network as the image server. 9.   Click Finish.

Install the operating system and integration services

In the final step of this process, you connect to the virtual machine to set up the operating system. As part of the setup, you install a software package that improves integration between the virtualization server and the virtual machine.

Note

The instructions in this step assume that you specified the location of the installation media when you created the virtual machine. The instructions also assume that you are installing an operating system for which integration services are available.

To install the operating system and integration services

1.   From the Virtual Machines section of the results pane, right-click the name of the virtual machine you created in step 2 and click Connect. The Virtual Machine Connection tool will open. 2.   From the Action menu in the Virtual Machine Connection window, click Start. 3.   Proceed through the installation. Notes ·      When you are at the point where you need to provide input to complete the process, move the mouse cursor over the image of the setup window. After the mouse pointer changes to a small dot, click anywhere in the virtual machine window. This action "captures" the mouse so that keyboard and mouse input is sent to the virtual machine. To return the input to the physical computer, press Ctrl-Alt-Left arrow and then move the mouse pointer outside of the virtual machine window. ·      After the operating system is set up, you are ready to install the integration services. From the Action menu of Virtual Machine Connection, click Insert Integration Services Setup Disk. If Autorun does not start the installation automatically, you can start it manually. From a command prompt, type: %windir%\support\amd64\setup.exe.

Installing Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 Server Core


The update that allows the Hyper-V role is for Windows Server 2008 x64 editions, and after installing it you will be able to enable the virtualization role through Server Manager. After the Hyper-V role is enabled, Hyper-V Manager will become available as a part of Administrative Tools. From the Hyper-V Manager you can easily create and configure virtual machines.

BIOS Settings

You must enter the BIOS setup of the server and make sure that “Virtualization Technology” and “Execute Disable” are both set to Enabled.  In most cases, the required BIOS settings can be found in these BIOS sections (actual names may differ, based upon your server's BIOS settings):

• Security > Execute Disable (set to On)
• Performance > Virtualization (set to On)
• Performance > VT for Direct I/O Access (set to On)
• Performance > Trusted Execution (set to Off)

Operating System Version and Architecture

In case you were not the person that has initially installed the server, you'd better make sure it supports Hyper-V and that is has the appropriate license to operate it, before starting to install the role. To find out what kind of Windows Server product is currently installed, you to run the following command:

wmic OS get OperatingSystemSKU

The number that is returned corresponds with Microsoft's list of SKU numbers for Windows Server. Please ensure that your version supports Hyper-V:

• 12 - Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition, Server Core
• 13 - Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition, Server Core
• 14 - Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition, Server Core

If any other number is returned, this means that you should not install Hyper-V on this server

You should also check the architecture of the server installation as well:

wmic OS get OSArchitecture

The architecture should be 64-bit in order to be able to install Hyper-V.

Installation procedure

Below is the step-by-step on installing Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 Server Core:
Note: For regular Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V installations please read my Installing Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 article.

1. Complete the Server Core installation and initial configuration tasks. These include the following tasks:
Note: All the following configuration tasks need to be done from the Command Prompt. Please read my Managing Windows 2008 Server Core Local Settings article.
• Setting the administrative password – Use the NET USER command.
• Configuring the server's computer name – Use the NETDOM command.
• Setting a static IP address on all relevant NICs – Use the NETSH command.
• Activating the server – Use the SLMGR.VBS command.
• Joining the server to a domain (if required) – Use the NETDOM command.
• Configure the firewall for remote administration – Use the NETSH command.
• Enable Remote Desktop for Administration if you want to manage the server running a Server Core installation remotely – Use the SCREGEDIT.WSF command.
2. After you have installed Windows Server 2008, you must apply the Hyper-V update packages for Windows Server 2008 (KB950050). See download links above.
Download the Hyper-V updates, copy them either to the Server Core local hard disk or to a network share and then type the following command at a command prompt:

wusa.exe Windows6.0-KB950050-x64.msu /quiet

Lamer note: Please provide the correct path for the file…To view the list of software updates and check if any are missing, at the command prompt, type:

wmic qfe list

After you install the updates, you must restart the server.Important note: Before you enable the Hyper-V role, ensure that you have enabled the required hardware-assisted virtualization and hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP) BIOS settings. Checks for these settings are performed before you enable the Hyper-V role on a full installation, but not on a Server Core installation. If you enable the Hyper-V role without modifying the BIOS settings, the Windows hypervisor may not work as expected.
3. To install the Hyper-V role, at a command prompt, type:

start /w ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V

Note: The syntax for Ocsetup.exe is case sensitive.
4. Add a user or group to the local Administrators group so that they can manage the Server Core installation remotely. To add a user to the local Administrators group, you must first add the user. At a command prompt, type:

net user <username> * /add

To add a user to the local Administrators group, at a command prompt, type:

net localgroup administrators /add <user>

5. Restart the server to make the changes take effect. At a command prompt, type:

shutdown /r /t 0

6. Use a regular installation of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista SP1 to remotely connect to the Server Core machine and manage the Hyper-V role on it. You can download and install the Hyper-V management tools from the downloads section above. More about that in a future article.