Hyper-V RC1 Release Available on Microsoft Download Center!

Apologies for a lack of a new post on the WMI scripts, look for a new double part post Wednesday morning.  I was a bit busy with Hyper-V RC1!

As of 2AM PSTI am very happy to be the first (I think) to announce Hyper-V RC1 is now available for public download via the Microsoft Download Center.  I want to personally thank the great team of Testers, Developers and Program Mangers that make up the Hyper-V Team, there are several improvements in RC1 that they worked very hard on.


Windows Server 2008 x64 Hyper-V RC1 Update - KB950049 This is the Hyper-V RC1 package for Windows Server 2008 x64. This package must be installed on Hyper-V server’s (physical machines).  It includes the Hyper-V Server components for Full and Core installs, the Hyper-V Integration Components for Server 2008 x64 (see note below for RC1 improvements over RC0) and the Hyper-V Management Components for Full Windows installs.
Note This package is permanent. Once installed, it cannot be uninstalled. So you can’t got back to RC0 or Beta after installing RC1.


Windows Server 2008 x86 Hyper-V RC1 Update – KB950049 This is the Hyper-V RC1 package for Windows Server 2008 x86. This package includes only the Hyper-V Management Components for Full Windows installs and the Hyper-V Integration Components for Server 2008 x86 (see note below for RC1 improvements over RC0)It does not contain the Hyper-V Server components, Hyper-V is x64 only!
Note This package is permanent. Once installed, it cannot be uninstalled. So you can’t got back to RC0 or Beta after installing RC1.


Hyper-V Management For Windows Vista SP1 -KB949587

I highly recommend John Howard's 5 part post on Hyper-V Remote Management.
Windows Vista SP1 – x86 Update Windows Vista SP1 – x64 Update


Hyper-V RC0 to RC1 Upgrade Considerations
*Saved-state files are not supported between RC0 and RC1 releases of Hyper-V.  All virtual machine saved states should be discarded before upgrading to RC1, or prior to resuming virtual machines after upgrading to Hyper-V RC1. 

*Online snapshots contain virtual machine save-states and thus online snapshots taken with Hyper-V RC0 are not supported after updating to Hyper-V to RC1.  Either apply any online snapshots and shut down the VM or discard the virtual machine save state associated with the snapshot before or after the update to Hyper-V RC1.

*System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Beta does not support Hyper-V RC1.

*New Integration Components (ICs) must be installed for your supported guest operating systems.  Integration Components are specific to the build of Hyper-V.  RC1 Integration Components for all supported Windows Operating Systems are provided using the ‘Action’ -> ‘Insert Integration Services Setup Disk’ action.

RC1 Integration Components for all supported Windows Operating Systems are now part of the IC Setup Disk. This now includes Windows Server 2008!   Simply install the Hyper-V RC1 Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 the same way you do all other Windows ICs (‘Action’ -> ‘Insert Integration Services Setup Disk’). 
Note You need to close the found new hardware wizard before setup will begin on all Windows Operating Systems.


Improvements Over Hyper-V RC0 In addition to bug fixes and stability improvements we also made some additional changes largely based on feedback from customers, I might have missed a few I’ll add to this list if so…
   *Integration Components For Windows Server 2008 guest’s included in Integration Services Setup Disk
   *New Graphics for Hyper-V Manager and Virtual Machine Connection – including a “Now” icon in the snapshot pane
   *IPv4 Address Migration - when creating a new Virtual Network bound to an adapter with a static IPv4 address the IPv4 settings are migrated to the new virtual adapter

Enjoy and Happy Virtualizing!
- Taylor Brown
- Hyper-V Test Team

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