Install a Guest Operating System

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Virtualization

Before you can install the guest operating system, you need to do the following:

  • Obtain the installation media for the operating system.

  • Configure the virtual machine to use a virtual drive to access the installation media, if you did not specify the location of the installation media when you created the virtual machine. For instructions, see Configure Disks and Storage. If you want to perform a network-based installation, you must add a legacy network adapter to the virtual machine and connect it to a physical network adapter.

After you have the installation media and have configured the virtual machine appropriately, you can install the guest operating system.

To install the guest operating system

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

  2. Connect to the virtual machine. From the Virtual Machines section of the results pane, using one of the following methods:

    • Right-click the name of the virtual machine and click Connect.

    • Select name of the virtual machine. In the Action pane, click Connect.

  3. The Virtual Machine Connection tool opens.

  4. From the Action menu in the Virtual Machine Connection window, click Start.

  5. The virtual machine starts, searches the startup devices, and loads the installation package.

  6. Proceed through the installation.

Note

When you are at the point where you need to provide input to complete the process, move the mouse cursor over the image of the setup window. After the mouse pointer changes to a small dot, click anywhere in the virtual machine window. This action "captures" the mouse so that keyboard and mouse input is sent to the virtual machine. To return the input to the physical computer, press Ctrl+Alt+Left arrow and then move the mouse pointer outside of the virtual machine window.

Hyper-V includes a software package that improves integration between the physical computer and the virtual machine. This package contains integration services and virtual machine drivers. For more information about which operating systems are supported, see the deployment content for Hyper-V at the Windows Server 2008 TechCenter (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=108560).

Note

The following instructions assume that you are installing an operating system for which the software package is available.

To install integration services and virtual machine drivers

  1. Connect to the virtual machine. From the Virtual Machines section of the results pane, using one of the following methods:

    • Right-click the name of the virtual machine and click Connect.

    • Select the name of the virtual machine. In the Action pane, click Connect.

  2. The Virtual Machine Connection tool opens.

  3. From the Action menu of Virtual Machine Connection, click Insert Integration Services Setup Disk. This action loads the setup disk in the virtual DVD drive.

  4. Depending on the operating system being installed, you may need to start the installation manually. Click anywhere in the guest operating system window and navigate to the CD drive. Use the method that is appropriate for the guest operating system to start the installation package from the CD drive.

  5. After the installation finishes, all integration services and virtual machine drivers are available for use.

Additional considerations

  • 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.

  • The use of Virtual Machine Connection within a Terminal Services session is not supported. This type of usage can result in unpredictable keyboard behavior. To fix this behavior, close both Virtual Machine Connection and Remote Desktop Connection, and then run Virtual Machine Connection directly from the local computer.

Additional references