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David Overton's Blog » Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools

[updated 7th Dec 2008 with links to more answers]

It has been a while since I posted on the blog - I've been writing a book and installing and upgrading SBS 2008 a few times.  I decided that rather than have a bundle of servers under my desk I would buy one large server (well, quad core anyway) and run my operating systems using Hyper-V server.

 

Let's start with the ingredients that you will need:

  1. Download Hyper-V Server - http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/how-to-get.mspx
  2. Hyper-V Configuration Guide - Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 Configuration Guide
  3. Hyper-V Getting Started Guide - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=26426203-DE3C-4D74-851E-4E1388A81D5F&displaylang=en
  4. Download Management Tool (you probably only need one of the below)
    1. Vista 32-bit - Download the Update for Windows Vista (KB952627) package now
    2. Vista 64-bit - Download the Update for Windows Vista (KB952627) package now
    3. Server 2008 32-bit - Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB950050), 32-bit edition package now
    4. Server 2008 64-bit - Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB950050), 64-bit edition package now
  5. Server with good dose of RAM - mine has 8GB at the moment
  6. Server with multi-core CPU - I bought a new motherboard with an Intel Quad Core 9550 chip - heat is not bad and performance is much better than the P4 I had been using!!
  7. External disk array - I chose this one - http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=898755&Product=EdgeStore+DAS401+4xBay+USB+RAID+1+DAS+Enclosure+via+eSATA - 4 SATA drives that you slot in, 1 eSata cable and a PCI-X eStata card.

So, you download the ISO, burn it to a disk, boot, install in about 5 mins and reboot.  You then follow the configuration guide which is menu driven, but I did have a few problems.

  1. No network card was detected - below
  2. The external disks were not detected
  3. Once the network card was detected, I could not create any Virtual Machines - network issues with remote management
  4. No NAT networking
  5. I wanted to move from my existing OS's already installed to using them in a virtual environment.  This is called a pass-through disk, but how do you set it up?
  6. I created a VHD that was too big and not as a dynamic VHD for performance reasons, but how do you shrink it again?

 

I'll document the fix for all of this, but in this post I'll cover off:

  • No network card was detected

     

    Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008

    Before I delve into the details, it is worth saying that Hyper-V Server is NOT the same at Windows Server 2008 Standard Core Edition.  It has much less and is free with a set of restrictions about scale and functionality.  It is basically a Hyper-V only hosting platform with command line only management of the server.  You need management tools on a Windows Server 2008 or Vista SP1 system to start, stop and manage VMs.

    How I installed my drivers using the installer on the CD

    On the network card issue it took a bit of detective work.  Hyper-V is pure command line for the config, so no device manage etc.  However exploring the CD I found a set of directories for network and under there for the different chipsets.  By reading (yes, reading) the manual for the motherboard I managed to find the setup.exe files for my chipset for VISATA and I ran the setup.exe.  It loaded, ran for a while and then after a reboot, I had network drivers!!

     Setup disk

    [Updated 25/11/2008]

    Inside the Hyper-V server you can't actually see the explorer window above.  What I actually did was to open a command prompt and type the following (assuming that D: is the CD drive)

    D:

    CD d:\network

    Dir

     

    Having identified the folder that was closest to my hardware I then typed:

     

    D:

    CD \network\rtl8111\Vista

    Setup.exe

    I then re-ran the network tool in Hyper-V Server and it saw the network

  • Hyper-V Console

    So, I now had network cards.  I installed the clients onto my Vista box and off I went :-)

     

    ttfn

    David

     

     

     

     

     

    • Posted Thu, Nov 20 2008 4:29 PM by David Overton
    Filed under: , , , ,

    Comments

    DavidB wrote re: Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
    on Thu, Nov 20 2008 5:40 PM

    Is the Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB950050) only for "Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V" (role version) or is it also for "Hyper-V Server 2008" (standalone version)? Is this update only needed for pre-release versions of Hyper-V to bring them up to the released version?

    I am just about to the start this same process on a Dell Precision workstation and will be watching with interest. You will be saving me, and many others, a lot of time. Lead the way. Thank you!

    David Overton wrote re: Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
    on Thu, Nov 20 2008 5:53 PM

    DavidB,

    The update is the tool required to give you the Hyper-V Management tools - it just manages Hyper-V on a local or remote system.

    Maurice Newsome wrote re: Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
    on Fri, Nov 21 2008 7:15 PM

    Looking for a way to simulate configuring Hyper-V and VMM on a 32bit desktop in preparation for the 70-652 exam.  Guidance sought

    David Overton wrote re: Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
    on Sun, Nov 23 2008 1:36 AM

    Maurice,

    the management tools run fine on Vista 32-bit, but you can't simulate Hyper-V - you need a 64-bit box somewhere!

    ttfn

    David

    David Overton's Blog wrote How to resolve errors like "Cannot connect to the RPC service, make sure your RPC service is running" with Hyper-V Server and Hyper-V Manager
    on Sun, Nov 23 2008 1:45 AM

    In my last post on installing Hyper-V for my home setup I said I had a number of issues.  One was

    David Overton's Blog wrote How to resolve errors like "Cannot connect to the RPC service, make sure your RPC service is running" with Hyper-V Server and Hyper-V Manager
    on Wed, Dec 3 2008 1:04 AM

    In my last post on installing Hyper-V for my home setup I said I had a number of issues.  One was

    David Overton's Blog wrote How to get an existing disk to be available inside Hyper-V, how to install RAID Management tools and how to shrink a non-Dynamic VHD
    on Sun, Dec 7 2008 10:14 PM

    Once I had built my Hyper-V Server I still had a few to resolve.  I thought I had better document

    David Overton's Blog wrote How to upgrade (migrate) from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 on the same system without using a swing migration
    on Sat, Jan 10 2009 5:37 PM

    Someone posted this question on a discussion group at work and it got me thinking.  If you bought

    David Overton's Blog wrote How to upgrade (migrate) from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 on the same system without using a swing migration
    on Sun, Jan 11 2009 11:38 AM

    Someone posted this question on a discussion group at work and it got me thinking. If you bought a nice

    Sam wrote re: Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
    on Sat, Mar 7 2009 3:20 PM

    what are your hardware specs, specifically your motherboard. I have been unable to find a compatible one. also did your Server 2008 installation go smooth and did you have to do any BIOS updates?... Thanks!!

    Anonymous wrote re: Getting up and running with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, including getting my external SATA drives working, adding network drivers, enabling the remote management tools
    on Mon, Jun 28 2010 9:47 PM

    Also had no NIC and your setup.exe hint did it for me. Never use a setup.exe, so didn't even think about that ;) Thanks!!

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