Hyper-V: Offer all available integration services to virtual machines

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

This topic is intended to address a specific issue identified by a Best Practices Analyzer scan. You should apply the information in this topic only to computers that have had the Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer run against them and are experiencing the issue addressed by this topic. For more information about best practices and scans, see Best Practices Analyzer.

Operating System

Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Product/Feature

Hyper-V

Severity

Warning

Category

Configuration

Issue

One or more available integration services are not enabled on virtual machines.

Note

When running a scan on Windows Server 2012 R2 the status of the Guest services integration service is not scanned as part of this rule.

Impact

Some capabilities will not be available to the following virtual machines: <list of virtual machine names>

Resolution

If this is intentional, no further action is required. Otherwise, consider offering all integration services in the settings of these virtual machines.

The availability of some integration services can be managed through the settings of the virtual machine. You can offer these integration services to a virtual machine by modifying the appropriate settings.

By default, membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. However, an administrator can use Authorization Manager to modify the authorization policy so that a user or group of users can complete this procedure. For more information, see Using Authorization Manager for Hyper-V Security (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=142886).

To offer all integration services to a virtual machine

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

  2. In the results pane, under Virtual Machines, select the virtual machine that you want to configure.

  3. In the Action pane, under the virtual machine name, click Settings.

  4. Under Management, click Integration Services.

  5. In the list of integration services, select the check box for each service you want to offer to the virtual machine. If a check box is unavailable, that particular integration service is not supported by the guest operating system that runs in the virtual machine.

Additional references

Integration services improve the integration between the physical and virtual computing environments and include components that run in the guest operating system. Each supported guest operating system has a set of integration services that are specific to that operating system. For more information, see About Virtual Machines and Guest Operating Systems (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=181247).