Today, we're going to install Windows 10 in a virtual machine using Hyper-V in
Microsoft's Windows Server 2016. My intent is to set up a Windows 10 VM so
I can log into it using remote desktop from any computer in the house.
I'd also like to share files so I'll make sure I can access my network
folders from inside the VM. Before we start: anyone who has installed Windows 10
knows that the real-time installation, just by itself, can take more or less an
hour. So when I say it's going to take ten minutes, I'm referring to the length of
this video. I'll be skipping through the boring parts, so feel free to pause the
video at any time, or play it back at a slower speed if the pace is too fast. So
what are the requirements for running Hyper-V? With regards to the operating
system, you'll need the Standard or Datacenter edition of Server 2016. I'm
using the Datacenter version, but the procedure for enabling Hyper-V and
installing VMs is the same for both editions. On the hardware side, you'll
need VM monitor mode extensions, at least 4 GB of RAM, a 64-bit processor
with second-level address translation, and virtualization support turned on in
the BIOS. How can you find out if your PC meets those requirements? The easiest way
is to look at your System Information by going to the Start menu,
type in System Info,
and click on the first returned search result.
I'll maximize the window and expand the columns.
You can see I'm using the Datacenter edition of Windows. The most important
line items are at the bottom, which are the last four that are prefixed with
Hyper-V. If you see a Yes after all four lines, you're good to go. For this video,
I'm going to assume that you meet the requirements. I'll go ahead and close
this out. The first thing you'll need to do is start the Server Manager.
From the Manage menu, select Add Roles and Features - because in Windows Server
2016, Hyper-V is a server role that you need to add. In a future video, you'll see
the procedure for Windows 10 is a little different, because it's installed as a
new feature as opposed to a new role. In the Add Roles wizard, let's click Next to
leave the introduction, and we'll keep this selection as a Role-based
installation, and click Next. I only have one server to worry about, whose static
IP address ends with dot 130. On the next screen, what you'll want to do is click
on Hyper-V, and add those features. This will take a couple seconds, after which
you'll see the Hyper-V options appear.
There's no other features to install, so
we can click Next here. This is the introduction screen for the Hyper-V
section of the wizard, so let's continue - and what you'll want to do is click on
the network adapter listed here. Now, I only have one network card in my machine,
but many of you will probably have two or more. In my case, the virtual switch
will be shared by the host, and any or all VMs. Let me quickly show you my
network settings by going to the Network and Sharing Center. So you can see I have
my single Ethernet connection here, but if you had two, you could make one of them
your virtual switch while leaving the other alone.
Let's close out of these,
then click Next. I'm not planning any migration, so I'm going to skip to the next
screen. These are the locations of the virtual hard disk files, and the Hyper-V
configuration files. Feel free to change these if you like, as you'll probably
want to place the virtual hard drive, at least, on an SSD. As we visit the last
screen, we finally arrive at the Install button, but before I click it, I know I'm
going to be required to reboot after the Hyper-V installation, because I've done
this a couple times before. So I might as well check the box to automatically reboot.
I'll now click Install,
and since this will take a while, I'll pause the
video here. When we come back after the reboot, we'll be back in Windows Server
2016 with the Hyper-V role and management tools added.
OK, we're back.
Our notifications show that Windows has successfully added the new features; we
have a new entry for Hyper-V in the Server Manager; and if we go to the Start
menu, under Administrative Tools, you can see we have the Hyper-V Manager.
After making sure the server is selected, we can now select
New -> Virtual Machine, which brings up a new wizard. From the intro screen, we'll
click Next. We'll name this Windows 10 Testbed. Now you can place this in a
different location, but I'll keep the default and click Next. Here, we need to
specify either Generation 1 or Generation 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 anything fancy, so I'll
stick with Generation 1. Here you assign the amount of memory you want to give to
the VM. For the purposes of this video, I'm going to assign just 2 GB of
memory by typing 2048, but you can change this later on after we create the VM.
You'll want to enter a number to meet your use case requirements for the
virtual machine. You can check the dynamic memory box to have Hyper-V
assign memory as the VM needs it, but I'll leave it unchecked. Here, we need to
select the network connection. You'll notice that one of my options is a
virtual switch, which is something that happened during the Hyper-V install. If
you recall, I had a normal Ethernet connection with a static IP address of
dot 130. Let's return to the Networking and Sharing Center to see how that has
changed. This used to be just a normal Ethernet card, but now it's a virtual
switch with an IP address assigned from the DHCP server.
I do want a static IP address, so I'll go into the TCPIP properties and reset that to dot 130.
I'll close out of these networking dialog boxes.
Now we can go to the next screen, where I can define the file that holds the
virtual machine. I'll leave it in the default folder, then I'll assign the size
of the hard drive a 100 GB.
We'll install Windows 10 from an ISO
file, which I have handy on my D drive. Let's go ahead and browse for that. It's
an older ISO image of Windows 10 but that's fine.
That'll be my virtual DVD drive into which the VM boots when I start the
machine. Let's click Next, and then Finish.
So that creates the virtual machine. Let's double-click this entry, which
starts the VM viewer, which I'll move over. To actually turn on the machine, you
click the green start button on the toolbar, which boots into the Windows 10
ISO file. At this point, this becomes an exercise in installing Windows 10,
including the entry of the product key, the selection of the Windows 10 Edition,
acceptance of terms, creating an account, rebooting, and waiting, and rebooting, and
waiting. So I'll fast forward and return when Windows is fully installed. In the
meantime, I'll heat up some lunch in the toaster oven.
OK, after three reboots,
we're back. I've finished my lunch -
and dinner.
Let's allow network discovery
then go into the network settings.
If I open the connection...
go into its properties...
and open its TCPIP settings...
you'll see that it's a DHCP configuration.
I prefer my VM to have a
static IP, so I'll change this to dot 131, and Google's 8.8.8.8 and
8.8.4.4. Remember, this is a connection going through the virtual switch.
Let's close out of these windows.
We should now be able to connect to a
location on the local network.
Using File Explorer, let's point to a known folder on the network...
enter the credentials to access it.....
and voila, we're in.
Now let's configure the remote desktop settings. I'll go to
the Start menu, go to settings...
and type in Remote Desktop to search for those options...
and select Allow Remote Access to your computer.
Let's select Allow Remote Connections,
and then OK.
I should now be able to go to my host PC,
start Remote Desktop connection,
connect to 192.168.1.131...
enter my account information...
click Yes...
and we now have a full-screen view into the VM. I can start Microsoft Edge and
confirm that I have internet access as well.
Before I end this video, I wanted to
show you the VM settings. After shutting down the virtual machine, let me navigate
to the virtual switch settings. In Windows Server 2016, Hyper-V creates one
for you, going through your network adapter.
If you go to the settings for the VM itself, there's quite a few settings you
can change, like the size of the memory, the dynamic memory setting, the number of
cores on the CPU, additional virtual hard drives, and so on.
I hope you enjoyed! - Thanks for watching.