Hyper-V: Notes to self … perhaps I will remember next time

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In Hyper-V … you learn something new every day, after spitting like an angry Cobra I mentioned the first snake pits, that I stumbled into in my excursions into the hyper-v world. For one of the VSTS Blue Men at a Bench at a Bus Stop Clipart IllustrationRangers projects, I have spend most of the weekend building base images in hyper-v. As I have yet again stumbled over the same pebble on the pavement … you can stop laughing now Henk and Zayd … I have decided to make a few “notes to self” to remind myself of the “ggggnnnfffffff” moments.

  1. Why does Remote Desktop from the host system to the guest system not work?
    • See next point.
  2. Why can I see the host system from the virtual server, but not visa versa? In other words, why can I ping the host IP from the virtual guest, but the reverse fails?
    • By default, Windows Server 2008, which is the OS of choice this weekend, enables outbound traffic, but blocks all incoming traffic. I should have had a ‘hint’ after the security policies changed by magic recently, as mentioned in my last hyper-v post.
  3. Why does the mouse not work when installing a new hyper-v virtual system? Doing an installation mouse-less can be fun at times …
    • You need to install the Integration Services, once the OS is installed. This means that you have to time-warp to the 80’s and assume you have no mouse.
  4. Can/Should I run Virtual PC and Hyper-V on the same machine?  
    • I am watching a discussion thread in our VSTS Rangers Virtualising VSTS project and will update this post as soon as consensus is reached. At this stage it seems that you can have Hyper-V and VPC on the same machine, but.  should not run VPC while the Hypervisor is running. Consider a dual boot or a second BCD entry that allows you to boot with hypervisor disabled or enabled, the former for VPC and the latter for Hyper-V.
  5. Using Windows Server 2008 trial, how can I extend the trial period?
    • As per Microsoft Help and Support, you can do the following quoted “as is” in italic:
      When the initial 60-day evaluation period nears its end, you can run the Slmgr.vbs script to reset the evaluation period. To do this, follow these steps:
      1. Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.
      2. Type slmgr.vbs -dli, and then press ENTER to check the current status of your evaluation period.
      3. To reset the evaluation period, type slmgr.vbs –rearm, and then press ENTER.
      4. Restart the computer.
    • Refer to https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/948472#top, which also documents the “automation” of the renewal.
  6. What the heck is App-V, now that we have just embraced Hyper-V?

Hope some of these common and uncommon issues and notes will help you as well one day :) Go out there, eradicate the smell, virtualise and ship the virtual image!