Using Virtual Machine Connection (stand alone)

While you are probably used to connecting to a virtual machine from the Hyper-V manager snap-in, it is possible to just run the Virtual Machine Connection directly.  On a computer where you have the Hyper-V management tools installed, go to the Hyper-V directory under Program Files and you will find vmconnect.exe.  Launching this program will display a dialog that allows you to specify the Hyper-V server and virtual machine to connect to.

vmconnect.exe also supports having the Hyper-V server and virtual machine name passed as command line parameters.  This way you can easily make your own shortcuts for controlling specific virtual machines - with a command like this:

"C:Program FilesHyper-Vvmconnect.exe" localhost "Test virtual machine"

You can also connect to a virtual machine using its GUID, which is useful if you have multiple virtual machines with the same name, by running:

"C:Program FilesHyper-Vvmconnect.exe" localhost -G {insert your GUID here}

One thing that you should be aware of is that while the Hyper-V manager snap-in almost always runs elevated, Virtual Machine Connection does not.  So to avoid authentication issues you will either need to run it "As Administrator" or you will need to add your personal account the the Hyper-V Administrators role under the Authorization Management tool.

Cheers,
Ben