Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part II

Introduction
In part I of this article, I pointed to you the prerequisites to install Hyper-V, the differences between Hyper-V and Virtual Server 2005 R2, and then installed Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008. In this part of the article, I will use Hyper-V Manager to create my first Virtual machine and then install on it Windows Server 2008 as a guest operating system.

Once you install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server 2008, a new console will be installed on your machine, and it is called the Hyper-V Manager. Everything related to Hyper-V is done using this MMC console.

1. To open Hyper-V, click on Start > Administrative Tools > Hyper-V Manager
   
   
   
2. The first time you open Hyper-V, an End User license Agreement (EULA) page will open, take a moment to read it and then enable the checkbox beside I have read and agree to the terms of this EULA, then click on the Accept button. If you clicked on the Cancel button, then you will not be able to connect to any server running Hyper-V until you accept the EULA, which will keep popping up whenever you open Hyper-V or even try to connect to a server that has the Hyper-V role installed on.
   
   The Hyper-V Manager console will open
   
   
   
   From the right side pane, under Actions, click on Connect to Server . Hyper-V is installed locally on the machine you are working with, so keep the default selection on Local Computer (the computer this console is running on) and then click on OK
   
   
   
   The server name will be displayed in the left side pane, and now we have more Actions to select from the right side pane
   
   
3. To Create a new virtual machine, From the right side pane, click on New > Virtual Machine
   
   
4. On the Before You Begin  page, click Next
   
   
5. On the Specify Name and Location page, type a meaningful name for your Virtual Machine, as for the location where the virtual machine will be stored, either keep the default location as shown, or change it to another path and then Click Next. I will name the virtual machines as
   ELMAJ-DC-01 and will store it in the D drive inside the Hyper-V folder.
   
   
   
   
6. On the Assign Memory page, specify the amount of memory to allocate to this virtual machine. This depends on how much memory is installed on your system. Either keep the default displayed memory, or increase it. As I'm going to install Windows Server 2008, I am going to set the memory to be 2 GB. Click Next
   
   
   
   
7. Select a Virtual Network from the drop down list on the Configure Networking page. You can keep the virtual machine disconnected by not selecting any Virtual Network, Click Next
   
   
   
8. For Every Virtual Machine, you will need to connect it to a Virtual Hard Disk, on the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, we will need to create a new virtual hard disk, as we do not have any existing virtual hard disk ( you can use existing virtual hard disk if you already have created virtual hard disk before , or if you have downloaded a virtual hard disk from Microsoft site )
   
   I will keep the default settings ( name, location, size ) and click Next
   
   
9. On the Installation Options page,  you have multiple options to choose from where you are going to install the operating system, or you can even postpone this operation by choosing Install an operating system later. Insert the Windows Server 2008 DVD inside the DVD Drive, and select to install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD-ROM, if you have multiple DVD Drives, make sure to select the one which has the Windows Server 2008 DVD into it. Click Next
   
   
10. On the Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard, take a moment to review your selections and then click Finish. If you need the virtual machine to be automatically started after it is created, then select the checkbox Start the Virtual Machine after it is created
    
11. Windows Server 2008 files will start to load
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Select the language to install, Time and currency format and the keyboard language, and then click Next
    
    
13. Click on Install Now
    
    
14. Enter the product key, and keep the checkbox Automatically activate Windows when I'm online to activate your Windows copy when you are online, if you wish not to activate it, as this might be a test lab on your Hyper-V, then deselect this option and then click Next
    
    
15. Accept the license terms and click Next
    
    
    
16. Click Custom (advanced), on the Type of installation page
    
    
17. Select the drive / partition you want to install Windows Server 2008 on it and then click Next. 
    If you want to divide the virtual hard disk into two partitions, you can do this by selecting the drive , and then clicking on the Drive options (advanced) option
    
    To divide the drive into different partitions, click on the New option, enter the new partition size, then click on the Apply button
    
    Once you are done with creating the partitions, select the one that you want to install Windows Server 2008 on it, and then click on Next
    
    
18. Installation will start
    
    
    
    
19. The machine will reboot several times until the installation is completed.
    
    
    
    To create a password and logon to Windows Server 2008, read my article : How To Log On To Windows Server 2008
    
20. One last note, in step # 10 , if you did not select to start the virtual machine after it is created, then to start and connect to the virtual machine, right click on the Virtual machine name inside Hyper-V Manager and click on Start, this will turn on the Virtual machine
    
    
    
    Then right click on the Virtual machine name and click Connect, this will open the Virtual machine window.
    
    

SummaryIn part 2 of this two parts article, I showed you how to use Hyper-V Manager to create your first Virtual Machine, and then installed Windows Server 2008 as a guest operating system. Now that you know how to install and use Hyper-V, start building your own test labs and experience the next level of virtualization. Start using a virtualized computing environment to improve the efficiency of your computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources. Enjoy Hyper-V !

Related Links
Download Hyper-V RTM
Identifying Hyper-V Version
Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part I
Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part II

Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part I

Introduction

Hyper-V is the next level of virtualization, with Windows Server 2008 you no longer need to deploy an application such as Virtual Server 2005 or Virtual PC or other virtualization technology in order to build your virtual machines. 
Hyper-V is one of the new roles available with Windows Server 2008 where you can install it and then start creating your virtual machines, take different snapshots for every virtual machine and much more. You can use a virtualized computing environment to improve the efficiency of your computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources.

In this two parts article, I will show you how to install the Hyper-V role and then in part two I will install Windows Server 2008 as a virtual machine with Hyper-V.

Hyper-V requires specific hardware. You will need the following:

• An x64-based processor. Hyper-V will be available only in the x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008, the x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 Standard, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, and Windows Server 2008 Datacenter.
• Hardware-assisted virtualization. This is available in processors that include a virtualization option; specifically, Intel VT or AMD Virtualization
• Hardware Data Execution Protection (DEP) must be available and be enabled. Specifically, you must enable Intel XD bit (execute disable bit) or AMD NX bit (no execute bit).

Before installing Hyper-V, let me show you a table that will summaries the differences between Hyper-V and Virtual Server 2005 R2

	Hyper-V	Virtual Server 2005 R2
Performance / Scalability
32-bit VMs	Yes	Yes
64-bit VMs	Yes	No
Multi-Processor VMs	Yes	No
VM Memory Support	64 GB per VM	3.6 GB per VM
Resource Management	Yes	Yes
Availability
Guest to Guest Failover	Yes	Yes
Host to Host Failover	Yes	Yes
Host Migration	Yes	Yes
VM Snapshots	Yes	Yes
Management
Scriptable/Extensible	Yes, WMI	Yes, COM
User Interface	MMC 3.0 Interface	Web Interface

Perform the following steps to install Hyper-V

1. Click Start > Server Manager
   
   
2.  From the left side panel inside Server Manager, click on Roles
   
   
3.  The Roles page will open, where it shows you the number of roles you have installed on your machine, Click on Add Roles
   
   
4. The Add Roles Wizard page will open, click on Next
   
   
5. From the list of roles available, select Hyper-V > Click Next
   
   
6. The Introduction to Hyper-V page will open, take a few moments to read it , and then click on Next
   
   
7. The Create Virtual Networks page will open, You can create many virtual networks on your virtualization server to provide a variety of communications channels. For example, you can create networks to provide the following:

• Communications between virtual machines only.
• Communications between the virtualization server and virtual machines.
• Communications between a virtual machine and a physical network by creating an association to a physical network adapter on the virtualization server.
  
  You can either select the Network Adapter that will be attached with the Virtual machines now, or you can do this later using the Virtual Network Manager , Click Next
  You use the Virtual Network Manager to add, remove, and modify the virtual networks. The Virtual Network Manager is available from Hyper-V Manager.
  
  As a best practice, it is recommended that you have at least two network adapters on your machine, so that one of the Network adapters is used by the host, and the other network adapter is used by the guest virtual machines
  
  

8. On the Confirm Installation Selection page, click Install
   
   
   
   Installation will be initialized and once completed, you will be informed that a restart is required, click Close
   
   
   
   
9. You will be asked if you want to restart your server now, click Yes
   
   
10. Once you log on again to your machine, the installation will resume, and then on the installation result page, you will get notified if the installation encountered any errors or it was completed successfully > Click Close
    
    
    
    
    

SummaryIn part 1 of this two parts article, I showed you what are the differences between Hyper-V and Virtual Server 2005, also what are the requirement for Hyper-V, and then finally installed Hyper-V on our Windows Server 2008. In part 2 of this article, I will install Windows Server 2008 as a virtual machine using Hyper-V

Related Links
Download Hyper-V RTM
Identifying Hyper-V Version
Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part I
Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part II

Identifying Hyper-V Version

Introduction: You installed Windows Server 2008, and you intend to Install Hyper-V role, but you are wondering which version of Hyper-V is included with your Windows Server 2008 DVD ? is it the Beta version that is included with the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 ? Or is it the RTM version of Hyper-V?

You might be in a situation also, where you have already installed Hyper-V role, but does not know which version you are running. In this article, I'm going to show you two methods to identify which hyper-V version your Windows Server has .

When Windows Server 2008 was RTM back in February 2008, Hyper-V was included in Beta version.

And then we had two release candidates, RC0 and RC1, till Hyper-V was RTM on June 26- 2008.

If you already had Hyper-V role installed , then you can identify the version you are running by :

• Using the Command line
• Using the Hyper-V Manager Console

Using the Command Line

Open CMD, and then type the following line and hit the Enter key

wmic datafile where name="c:\\windows\\system32\\vmms.exe" get version

and the result would look like :

If you have the RTM version of Hyper-V , the version would be 6.0.6001.18016

If you have Release Candidate 1, the version would be 6.0.6001.18010

If you have Release Candidate 0, the version would be 6.0.6001.18004

and it would be 6.0.6001.17101 if you have the beta version of Hyper-V that was included with the RTM version of Windows Server 2008

Using Hyper-V Manager Console

The second method is by using the Hyper-V Manager console. Open Hyper-V Manager Console, click on Help > About Hyper-V Manager ...

If you have the RTM version of Hyper-V , the version would be 6.0.6001.18016

If you have Release Candidate 1, the version would be 6.0.6001.18010

If you have Release Candidate 0, the version would be 6.0.6001.18004

Finally, if you have the Beta version of Hyper-V that was included with the RTM version 
of Windows Server 2008, then the version would be 6.0.6001.17101

But what if you have installed Windows Server 2008 and intend to install Hyper-V role 
( you have not installed Hyper-V yet ), and you are wondering which Hyper-V version 
your Windows Server 2008 has ! Is it the Beta version that was included with Windows
 Server 2008 that was RTM back in February-2008, or is it the RTM version of 

Hyper-V ( Hyper-V RTM might be slipstreamed with Windows Server 2008 ) ? To 
identify the version of Hyper-V before it is being installed on your machine, then follow the
below steps:

Open Server Manager, expand the Diagnostic node and then click on Device Manager

Expand the System devices node, and select one of the Virtual Machine (vmBus) devices,
 open its Properties, 

click on the Driver tab, and check the driver version.

If you have the RTM version of Hyper-V , the version would be 6.0.6001.18016

If you have Release Candidate 1, the version would be 6.0.6001.18010

If you have Release Candidate 0, the version would be 6.0.6001.18004

and it would be 6.0.6001.17101 if you have the Beta version of Hyper-V that was included
 with the RTM version of Windows Server 2008.

Summary

Either you have installed the Hyper-V role or not yet, you can identify which version 
of Hyper-V your Windows Server 2008 has. This can be done either by using the command
line, the Hyper-V Manager Console, or by checking the driver version of one of the
 vmBus devices.

Related Links
Download Hyper-V RTM
Identifying Hyper-V Version
Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part I
Installing Hyper-V and Deploying Windows Server 2008 as Your First Virtual Machine - Part II