Configuring Virtual Machines

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

To use Hyper-V to run server workloads in a virtualized environment, you need to create the virtual machines to run the different guest operating systems and applications. You use the New Virtual Machine Wizard to create the virtual machines. The wizard helps you create a virtual machine with a configuration that you choose for the virtual machine name, memory, networking, and storage. The New Virtual Machine Wizard is available from Hyper-V Manager.

After you create a virtual machine, you can customize it by configuring the virtual machine settings. For example, you can:

  • Add or remove virtual hardware, such as a storage controller or a network adapter.

  • Add or remove virtual hard disks.

  • Modify the startup order of devices in the basic input/output system (BIOS).

You can change these settings and many others from Hyper-V Manager.

To configure 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. In the navigation pane (left pane), click the item you want to configure.

  5. Do one of the following:

    • To add another instance of an item, such as a SCSI controller, select the item and then click Add. Some items may require additional configuration after you add them, such as network adapters.

    • To modify an item, make your changes to the configuration and then click OK.

    • To remove an item, select it if necessary, and then click Remove.

  6. To make more changes, click the next item that you want to configure and repeat step 5. When you are finished with the configuration, click OK.

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. For more information, see Using Authorization Manager for Hyper-V Security (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=142886).

Additional references