Since day one of introducing Hyper-V
with Windows Server 2008, people on the TechNet forums
were wondering if a stand alone Hyper-V server would
ever be released and how much would it cost. People were
very excited for Hyper-V, but not all of them had a hand
on experience on Windows Server 2008 With Hyper-V ! For
those people who have been waiting, the day had came and
Microsoft released Hyper-V Server 2008, which in
absolutely free !
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 requires specific hardware
( they are the same as Hyper-V that is available with
Windows Server 2008).
You will need the following:
- An x64-based processor
- Hardware-assisted virtualization. This is available in processors that
include a virtualization option; specifically, Intel VT or AMD
Virtualization
- Hardware Data Execution Protection (DEP) must be available and be
enabled. Specifically, you must enable Intel XD bit (execute disable bit) or
AMD NX bit (no execute bit).
Before installing Hyper-V Server 2008 , let me show you a table that will summaries the
differences between Hyper-V Server 2008 and Hype
r-V role that is
available in the different versions of Windows Server
2008.
Download Hyper-V Server 2008 from this link :
http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/how-to-get.mspx
Once you download the ISO image file, burn it to a
DVD disk.
Ready to install Hyper-V Server ? Then boot your
machine with the DVD
disk inserted into the DVD-Rom, make sure
that the DVD-Rom is higher than the Hard disk in the
boot sequence of the BIOS.
- You will be asked to choose the language of the
Wizard, then will select the language that will be
installed for your Hyper-V server 2008, the time and
currency format and the keyboard language. Once you have
made your selections, click on Next
- Click on Install now
- Accept the license terms, by
selecting the checkbox beside I accept the
license terms, then click on Next
- On the Installation type page,
click on Custom (advanced). You
will notice that the Upgrade option
is grayed out, as Hyper-V Server 2008 can not be
upgraded from any previous Windows Operating
Systems.
- Choose the drive/partition that
you wish to install Hyper-V Server on, and then
click Next
- Installing Microsoft Hyper-V
Server 2008 will start, which will include several
restarts during installation
- Once installation is completed,
press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log on.
Click on Other User
Type administrator as a username
and keep the password textbox empty, then hit the
Enter key or click on the
arrow button
- You will be asked to change the
administrator password, click OK
The new
password must meet the following minimum requirements:
- The password is at least six characters long.
- The password contains characters from three of
the following four categories:
- English uppercase characters (from A through
Z)
- English lowercase characters (from a through
z)
- Base 10 digits (from 0 through 9)
- Non-alphanumeric characters (for example: !,
$, #, or %)
Type the new password and confirm it, then
click Enter
You will get a confirmation message that
your password has been changed, click OK
- The administrator account
desktop will be prepared and in few seconds you will
be logged in.
- You will noticed that the desktop of Hyper-V Server 2008 looks as Windows Server 2008 Server Core
but with a new windows called Hyper-V
Configuration. Now you
can use the blue background screen ( Hyper-V
Configuration ), where you can
easily configure your basic server settings, instead
of memorizing different commands as we did with
Windows Server 2008 Server Core.
In the second part of this article, I will
configure Hyper-V Server 2008 ( computer name, domain
membership , etc .. ) and then in the last and third
part of this article, I will show how to connect to it using
the Hyper-V management console using a remote computer.
