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Posts Tagged ‘#WINSERVER’

Upgrading to Windows 2016 Hyper-V. What about the Virtual Machine Configuration?

July 24, 2015 Leave a comment

Well, at some point we will all upgrade to Windows 2016 Server. Server aside, what happens with the virtual machines itself?

One of the good advantages of the upgrade process is that it will not automatically upgrade the Virtual Machine configuration file. The virtual machine configuration version represents what version of Hyper-V the virtual machine’s configuration, saved state, and snapshot files it is compatible with.

get-vm

After installing Windows Server 2016 and then importing or migrating (moving) a Virtual Machine from Windows Server 2012R2 the configuration version will remain the same: in Windows Server 2012R2 the VM configuration version is 5 and my advice for you is that you keep it as version 5 it the workload is important for you and you don’t want any risk. It is not clear yet if it will be possible to upgrade the virtual machine from Technical Preview to RTM.

On the positive side, by not upgrading the VM configuration version, the VM can be moved back to a server running Windows Server 2012 R2, if required. On the negative side, you will not have access to new VM features until you manually upgrade the virtual machine configuration version.

  • Version 5 VM’s can run on both Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016.
  • Version 6 VM’s can run ONLY on Windows Server 2016.

Also, in Windows 2016 Server the configuration changed from file (XML) and BIN + VSV extensions to VMCX (Virtual Machine Configuration) and VMRS (Virtual Machine Runtime State). The new format are also more resistant to storage corruption and more effective in r/w changes to VM configuration.

Summary of the VM configuration version

  • Server 2012 R2 has VM configurations version 5
  • Server 2016 TP1 – version 6.0
  • Server 2016 TP2 – version 6.2
If you decide to upgrade:
update-vmversion
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Categories: Cloud Tags: , , ,

Azure RemoteApp will be generally available on December 11, 2014

December 5, 2014 1 comment

Azure RemoteApp delivers Windows Server session-based applications from Azure.

Azure RemoteApp, enable users to access corporate applications from anywhere and on a variety of devices, scale up or down to meet the dynamic business needs without large capital expense or management complexity, and centralize and protect corporate applications with the security features and reliability of Azure.

Azure RemoteApp will be generally available on December 11, 2014.  Azure RemoteApp instances created during the current public preview period will continue to function as they do today. These instances will automatically transition to a 30-day free trial on December 11, 2014. The limit of two app collections and 10 users per instance will continue to be enforced during the free trial period. To remove these limitations, you can exit the free trial at any point and be charged the rates detailed on the Azure RemoteApp Pricing Details webpage.

For more information, please visit the Azure RemoteApp webpage. For a comprehensive look at pricing, please visit the Azure RemoteApp Pricing Details webpage.

Categories: Virtualization Tags: , , , , , ,

Windows 2012 : switching from Server Core to Server with a GUI

October 26, 2012 7 comments

I already blogged about this, but due the numbers of requests and confusion people are making, here we go again:

The Server Core does not have GUI and have a minimal footprint which helps to secure the server running Hyper-V role, for example. The benefit of using Core version, which is now the default version, is to reduced attack surface, reduced maintenance, consume fewer hardware resources than traditional FULL GUI Server and offer increased stability due to lesser running application.

But there is a trick : while you can switch between Core and Full and vice versa, if you installed Server Core version and then decide to go with a Server with a GUI, the payload that has the interface is not installed and you will need to provide the source path.

A server in Minimal Server Interface mode is about 300 MB smaller than the same server in Server with a GUI mode. A server in Server Core mode is about 4 GB smaller than the same server in Server with a GUI mode

Note: The recommendation/Best Practise is to install the Server Core installation unless you have a particular need for the additional user interface elements and graphical management tools that are included in the “Server with a GUI” option

When you install Windows 2012 Server Core and you want to switch it to Windows 2012 Full GUI version,

For servers with server core as the base installation:

To convert a server core installation  to a full operating system installation (GUI version)

1. Create an folder called C:\w2012\image

mkdir C:\w2012\image

2. Insert the Windows 2012 media into the optical drive and copy install.wim from

copy D:\sources\install.wim  C:\w2012\image

3.  Run the following command to retrieve the name or index number of the image:

Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\w2012\image\install.wim

4. Create an folder called  C:\w2012\MountPoint

mkdir C:\w2012\MountPoint

5. Run the following command to mount the offline Windows image (Note: index:2 = Standard Edition index:4 = Datacenter Edition) :

Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\w2012\image\install.wim /index:4 /MountDir:C:\w2012\MountPoint  /ReadOnly

6. Upgrade the operating system by running the command:

c:\>Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /source:c:\w2012\MountPoint\windows\winsxs  

         or by using Powershell:

PS c:\>Import-Module DISM

PS c:\>Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell –Restart –Source c:\w2012\MountPoint\windows\winsxs

To convert a full operating system installation (GUI version) back to a server core installation

 c:\>Dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer

Categories: Microsoft, Virtualization, Windows 8 Tags: , , , ,

Windows 2012 USB’s to give away at Windows 2012 Road Show . Register now!

October 24, 2012 Leave a comment

That’s right if you attend the Windows 2012 Road Show in Australia, you can end up with an Windows 2012 USB .

Note: The USB contains an trial version of Windows 2012.

What are you waiting for? Register today. Limited seats

Country City When Register   Here
Australia Canberra Monday, November 12, 2012   1:00pm-5:00pm https://ws2012rocks.msregistration.com/abstract.aspx?id=7d701162-706c-474e-a801-3ad70ab0658f&Eventid=197
Australia Sydney Monday, November 19, 2012   1PM-5PM https://ws2012rocks.msregistration.com/abstract.aspx?id=7d701162-706c-474e-a801-3ad70ab0658f&Eventid=196
Australia Melbourne Tuesday, December 11, 2012   13:00-17:00 https://ws2012rocks.msregistration.com/abstract.aspx?id=7d701162-706c-474e-a801-3ad70ab0658f&Eventid=208
Categories: Dell, Microsoft, Virtualization Tags: , , ,