Today, we're going to install Windows Server 2016 in a virtual machine using
Hyper-V in Microsoft's Windows 10. Windows 10 Professional and Windows 10
Enterprise actually include the Hyper-V feature, and I'm going to show you how to
enable it. Unfortunately, if you have Windows 10 Home, you'll need to upgrade
to use this feature. My goal is to set up the VM such that I can log into it using
remote desktop from any computer in the house, and be able to access network
files to which I have permissions. This video is a companion piece to a
previously published video, where I installed Windows 10 as a VM in a
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V. The procedure for enabling Hyper-V is
different in Windows 10 and Windows Server, which is why I'm making both
videos. As I mentioned in my previous video, anyone who has installed Windows
knows that the real-time installation, just by itself, can take more or less an
hour. So the title of this video is referring only to the runtime length of
the video itself. I'll be fast-forwarding through the boring parts, so feel free to
pause the video at any time, or play it back at a slower speed. There are a
number of hardware requirements, and the easiest way to find out if your PC meets
those requirements, is to look at your system information - by going to the
search box and typing system info, and click on System Information. I'll
maximize the application, and widen the columns. I'm using Windows 10
Professional. You'll want to go all the way down to the bottom of the list and
look at the last four line items. If you see a Yes after all four lines, you're
good to go. However, if you have any No's, then you'll need to address those before
you continue. For this video, I'll assume you meet the requirements. Let's close this window.
Now let's search for Hyper-V. We need to add this feature, so the
search will know that I'm looking for a way to add it. Let's click on the returned
result, which pops up a list in which I can select Hyper-V. This includes the
management tools and the services that Hyper-V needs. We'll click OK, and wait
for the install to complete. You'll then need to reboot the computer to
finalize the installation, so let's do that now.
OK, we're back. Let's now
search for Hyper-V again, which now returns the newly installed Hyper-V Manager.
With our computer highlighted, let's select New -> Virtual Machine, which
launches the wizard. Let's click Next to bypass the intro screen, and give our VM
a name: Testbed 2016. You can place it in a different location if you want, but
I'll keep the default. Let's click Next. Here, we choose either Generation 1 or 2.
Depending on your guest operating system, Generation 2 supports secure boot,
shielded virtual machines, and storage spaces direct, but I don't plan on doing
any of those, so I'll keep the default of Generation 1.
This is where we specify the amount of memory that we want to give the VM. For
the purpose of this tutorial, I'll set it to 2 GB by typing in 2048, but
if you have a lot of memory, you can assign more.
I'll leave the dynamic memory box checked, which allows Hyper-V to feed the
VM memory as it needs it.
Let's click Next.
For our networking settings, we have two choices, but it doesn't really matter
what you choose, because we'll need to configure a virtual switch later. You can
leave it as Not Connected or select Default Switch. I'll take this
opportunity to show you how my network is currently set up. Searching for
network, let's go to Network Status, and click on the Network and Sharing Center.
You can see I have a normal Ethernet connection...
and if I open it up and look at its TCPIP properties...
I have it set to a static IP address of .106. I'll go ahead and close out of all these windows.
On the next screen, we configure our virtual hard disk. I'll keep the default
name, but I do have a special location where I'd like to store it.
Let's click browse, and navigate to the F:/temp folder...
where I have a VM sub-folder. So let's select that.
I'll assign the size of the hard drive 100 GB. Here, I can specify an ISO
image for the Windows Server 2016 installer. Let's select the DVD radio button...
select Image File, and browse to the location that contains the ISO, which
I have in my F:/temp folder...
and then click Next. We're done with the wizard, so let's click Finish.
We're now ready to launch the VM viewer. Let's double-click the new entry for our
VM here. To start the machine itself, click on the green start button on the
toolbar. The VM boots directly into the Server 2016 ISO file.
Let me move the window up a bit.
Now it's just a matter of installing Windows, which means
entering the product key, selecting the correct version of Windows Server - which
by the way should be the desktop experience if you want to remote into
the VM - and then accepting the license terms, entering the admin password,
rebooting. and waiting - but mostly waiting. So let's take a break, and I'll be back
after Windows is fully installed. In the meantime, I'll start up the toaster oven.
Alright, we're back. Let's exit out of this screen and close the Server Manager.
We don't have any network connection right now, so we need to shut down
Windows in order to configure the virtual switch.
Let's go to the Virtual Switch Manager, where you'll want to create an External
virtual switch that goes through our single network adapter. Click OK and
confirm Yes on the pop-up.
Now in the settings for the VM, we need
to navigate to the Network Adapter and change the drop-down to our newly
created Virtual Switch.
Now if I go to the Network and Sharing Center...
you can see that my connection is going through the Virtual Switch. That means
that both the host and the guest are sharing that switch. If you have more
than one network adapter installed on your machine, you'll probably want to
configure only one adapter as your virtual switch.
Let's close these out, and go back to our VM viewer, and restart the VM.
I'll fast forward until it boots up completely.
OK, we're at the login screen, where I need to send the
control-alt-delete keystrokes to the VM...
after which I enter my password to log in.
Let's close Server Manager...
and take a look at our network settings. We do have
a connection as indicated by the networking icon, but let's click on
Ethernet to check the properties for TCPIP.
It's obtaining an IP address using the DHCP server, but I want it to be a static
IP, so let's assign it .253...
then use Google's DNS servers for now.
We'll close out of the networking screens.
I'll verify that I can access the network folder by launching File Explorer...
and entering a known network folder location.
I'll enter my credentials...
and it looks like we're connected. Let's change our remote settings by hitting
the Start menu, selecting the Settings icon, and searching for remote desktop.
Click on Allow Remote Access to Your Computer...
which launches the remote system properties.
Click Allow Remote Connections to This Computer, and click OK.
Now, we should be able to start the Remote Desktop Connection from Windows
10, where we can enter the VM's IP address of
192.168.1.253...
Enter the username and password to the
Windows Server 2016...
click Yes...
and we've successfully connected to the VM, and see the desktop in full 1080p.
I'll also confirm I have internet access by starting Internet Explorer from the VM.
Let's attempt to go to Microsoft.com. Now the server version of Windows locks
down the browser by default, so I'll need to click out of a bunch of confirmation
dialog boxes, but you can see that we do have an internet connection.
Let me shut down the VM to show you some of the settings that you can configure for the VM.
On the lower right side of the Hyper-V Manager, click Settings.
You can change the size of the memory...
edit the dynamic memory settings...
change the number of CPU cores...
add virtual hard drives...
and mount or unmount the DVD drive.
I hope you enjoyed - Thanks for watching!