How to Setup Hyper-V on Server 2012

Microsoft's virtualization environment, Hyper-V, has been growing up right before our eyes. Hyper-V for Windows Server 2012 has a number of new and improved features that bring it up to date and help it compete with its rivals like VMWare, et al. Let's take a look at setting up Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012.

Installing the Hyper-V Role

Open Server Manger by clicking on the Server Manager icon on the task bar.

On the Welcome Tile, under Quick Start, click on Add roles and features to start the Add Roles and Features Wizard. If there's no Welcome Tile, it might be hidden. Click View on the menu bar and click Show Welcome Tile.

Read and click Next.

Select Roll-based or feature-based installation and click Next.

Select Select a server from the server pool and select the server on which you want to install Hyper-V. Click Next.

Under Roles select Hyper-V and click Next.

If you have not already installed the features required for Hyper-V, the following box will pop up explaining which features and roles will be installed along with Hyper-V.

Click Add Features.

Back to the Select server roles dialog. It should now show Hyper-V as checked. You also might notice that Hyper-V specific steps have been added to the wizard on the left hand side of the window. If everything looks ok, click Next.

The Select features dialog shows the features, if any, that will be added along with the Hyper-V role. Click Next.

Read and click Next.

Create a virtual network switch. Click the check box of one or more Network Adapters to create the virtual switch or switches.

Port-Channel 2 is shown selected here. After you've selected the appropriate Network Adapters, click Next.

Live migration enables the moving of virtual machines from one host server to another without impacting the virtual machine's availability. This can be configured later. If you're uncertain about these settings, leave them as is and click Next.

Enter your default paths for virtual hard disks and virtual machine configuration files. The default path for these files should be set to a non-system physical drive to help keep the system drive from running out of space and to maximize performance.

After entering your paths, click Next.

Review what's being installed and click Install.

Click Close when the installation completes. You should now see the Hyper-V Manager under Administrative Tools.