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I am installing Windows Hyper-V Server Core 2019 to a 512GB NVMe SSD via USB on a new Dell Precision 3660 tower. The installation proceeds as normal, first copying installation files to the NVMe, restarting, doing the spinning dot churn for setting up the system, and another automatic restart. After that second restart though, the spinning dots appear but never spin - the system just hangs and no drive activity is indicated on the front panel. Restarts have not yielded any results. I have tried setting Windows to start in Safe Mode, and, while it gets somewhat farther, it alerts that "Windows cannot complete installation in Safe Mode. To continue installing Windows, restart the computer".
Restarts with "Enable Boot Logging" does not yield any logs, presumably because startup never advances past the point where the logging is initialized.
I have successfully installed Windows 11 to that same machine subsequently, and also, as a test, added the Hyper-V feature, created a VM and installed Hyper-V Server Core 2019 to it! This installs fully with no issue.
Since I now have 2 instances of Hyper-V Server Core installations (the baremetal one and the virtualized one on Win11), I've compared the C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC\setupact.log and it shows that WinDeploy never manages to launch again subsequent to the restart, and hence OOBE never starts either. No errors are reported and the logs are identical up to the point where the failed one ends.
Screenshot 2023-05-03 160108.jpg
Does anyone have any ideas on why this isn't working, or leads as to where I can search next for the source of the error?
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Hello Brian,
Thank you for your question and for reaching out with your question today.
A possible workaround for you to try is to install Windows 2019 in BIOS (Legacy) mode instead of UEFI. This can result in Hyper-V not causing the boot loop and therefore installing successfully.
If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer.
Thanks,
In the Dell Boot Configuration menu, it says "Boot Mode: UEFI only" and "Legacy Boot mode is not supported on this platform", so I'm not sure if there's some other way to do that?
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Have you found a solution? I have the same problem on a new Dell Precision 3660
Not exactly. I was able to get it to boot and load the OS after turning off virtualization technology in UEFI settings. This allowed me to configure the server and create VMs; however, since VT was disabled, it wouldn't be able to run VMs. Re-enabled VT in UEFI and the OS booted and VMs were able to run.
I bought another machine and tried to replicate the same steps and was not able to repeat the accidental success... second machine is still sitting under my desk 😕
Thank you for your reply. I will try disabling VT in UEFI and see what happens.
You were right. After turning off VT, the system boots normally and can be used, but immediately after turning on VT in UEFI it hangs at the Dell logo. I don't have any more ideas how to solve this problem. I'll probably switch to Proxmox.
You were right. After turning off VT, the system boots normally and can be used, but immediately after turning on VT in UEFI it hangs at the Dell logo. I don't have any more ideas how to solve this problem. I'll probably switch to Proxmox
Good to know that I'm not alone in this issue. I've decided to simply install Win 11 and host VMs via the Hyper-V feature on that instead.