Ben Armstrong’s Virtualization Blog
Hyper-V Program Manager
Hyper-V Poster Updates
There are a number of things happening with the ever popular Hyper-V architectural posters at the...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/24/2013
Faster Live Migration in Windows Server 2012 R2
There are a number of interesting new features in Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2. One of the ones...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/21/2013
Figuring out your NUMA topology with Hyper-V
I was recently asked how you should go about determining the NUMA topology of a physical computer,...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/14/2013
Configuring Hyper-V Replica Resynchronization
If you have Hyper-V Replica enabled on a virtual machine, and Hyper-V is not able to send all disk...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/08/2013
Virtualizing Exchange on Hyper-V
I was recently given a pointer to the following white paper that goes through all the best practices...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/07/2013
Replicating Virtual Machines to Multiple Folders
Hyper-V Replica allows you to configure where replicated virtual machines will be stored. You...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/25/2013
Hyper-V Replica and Active Directory
Continuing the story of how I am using Hyper-V Replica in my house – we arrive at the...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/23/2013
Planned or unplanned failover with Hyper-V Replica?
As you hopefully know – I have been running Hyper-V Replica in my house for about a year now....
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/16/2013
Looking at Replica Delta in Hyper-V with PowerShell
If you have used Hyper-V Replica, you will know about the replica status column. This is the...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/11/2013
Keeping VM Configurations in Sync with Hyper-V Replica
Yesterday I posted about my new home setup, which makes heavy use of Hyper-V Replica. When you first...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 08/28/2013
Hyper-V in my House - 2013
A while ago I talked about how I was using Hyper-V in my house. These days I have a quite different...
Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 08/27/2013
Bulk Registering Virtual Machines with PowerShell
I recently rebuilt a Hyper-V server – where all of my virtual machines were shutdown first and...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 08/21/2013
Hyper-V WMI v2 Porting Guide
I have been getting more and more questions about how to use the Hyper-V v2 WMI namespace recently...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 08/19/2013
Why does Hyper-V create a snapshot every time I apply a snapshot?
I was asked this question today. My first response was: “It doesn’t”. But after a bit of...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 07/17/2013
Important Hyper-V Update–July 2013 rollup
The Windows Server 2012 July 2013 update rollup is an important one to install on Hyper-V servers....
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 07/16/2013
Configuring wide screen resolutions in a Hyper-V virtual machine
I recently had to do some demonstrations on my laptop – which has a 1366 x 768 display. This...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 07/09/2013
Why is the virtual machine spending so much time at “2%” when starting?
Yesterday I gave a presentation on new features in Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2. As part of...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 06/26/2013
Heading to TechEd Europe
I am currently on my way to TechEd Europe (writing from the airport right now). I will be in Spain...
Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/23/2013
Creating a Virtual Machine with WMI v2
Most people use the built in Hyper-V PowerShell cmdlets to control Hyper-V these days. That...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 06/20/2013
Hyper-V Management Pack Extensions 2012
I have just learned about this - and it looks quite handy. The Hyper-V Management Pack Extensions -...
Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/20/2013
Hyper-V Replica and Name Resolution
I have been running Hyper-V Replica in my house for a while now. A while ago I noticed that...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 06/14/2013
Going to TechED? See you there!
Next week I am heading off to TechED. What will I be talking about? It’s a secret…...
Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/28/2013
Rename the guest OS to match the virtual machine name on Hyper-V
When you are managing a large number of virtual machines, it can get tricky to keep track of...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 05/13/2013
Using PowerShell to configure live migration networks in a Hyper-V cluster
A long time ago, Didier Van Hoye asked me how to configure the networks that should be used for live...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 05/02/2013
Installing ICs offline in Hyper-V
There is a great post over on the virtualization team blog about how to install the Hyper-V...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 04/18/2013
5th Grader using Hyper-V
A colleague at Microsoft just sent me a pointer to this video of his 5th grade son showing you how...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 03/18/2013
Changing the Hyper-V Server login experience
I have been spending some time working with the free version of Hyper-V server recently (available...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 03/13/2013
Dynamic Memory Pro Tip–be reasonable with your startup ram
Hyper-V now allows you to configure a startup, minimum and maximum memory limit. If you are...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 02/26/2013
Backing up Hyper-V virtual machines from the command line
Last week I posted about how you can now use Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2012 to backup...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 02/25/2013
Windows Backup and Hyper-V in Server 2012
Here is something new in Windows Server 2012 that I have not seen much discussion of yet: ...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 02/18/2013
PowerShell snippet: “start a virtual machine and wait for a bit”
Over the last year there are a couple of PowerShell functions that have become a common set of many...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 02/13/2013
Management Pack for Hyper-V 2012
Last week we released the System Center 2012 Management Pack for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012. You...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 01/21/2013
System Center 2012 SP1 now Available
Yesterday we announced the general availability of System Center 2012 SP1 – which is great...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 01/16/2013
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 includes Support for Hyper-V
Last week, Red Hat announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 (details...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 01/14/2013
Starting a saved virtual machine–with a missing virtual hard disk
I came across a person with this problem on our forums recently: If you have a virtual machine that...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 12/12/2012
Convert-WindowsImage Script
In the past I have pointed out the excellent WIM2VHD tool, that allows you to take Windows...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 12/10/2012
Everything you want to know about Network Teaming in Windows Server 2012
I was recently given a pointer to the following document:Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming (LBFO)...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 12/07/2012
Hyper-V 2012 Books
The Hyper-V MVPs have been very busy lately – specifically a number of them have been heads...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 11/30/2012
The Great Big Hyper-V Survey of 2012
Some of the Hyper-V MVPs are currently running “The Great Big Hyper-V Survey of 2012”....
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 11/27/2012
Virtual Machines Fail to Start with Error 0x80070569
We have received some reports from people who are seeing an error 0x80070569 when they try to start...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/30/2012
Compacting Virtual Hard Disks in Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012
Recently the “Ask the Core Team” blog did a great post about compacting a dynamically...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/10/2012
Get Files Out of a Running Virtual Machine
Recently, I needed to copy some files out of a virtual machine – which I did not want to...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/05/2012
Using PowerShell to Convert a VHD to a VHDX
Yesterday I showed you how to convert a VHD file to a VHDX using the Hyper-V Manager user interface....
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/03/2012
Converting a VHD to a VHDX
In Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8 we have introduced a new virtual hard disk format called...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/02/2012
Checking Out System Wide Disk Operations in Hyper-V
Recently I was working on a Hyper-V server, and was about to restart it, when I remembered that I...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 10/01/2012
VHDX Specification Available
In Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8 we have introduced a new virtual hard disk format called...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/27/2012
My Life Running on Hyper-V
In my job, as a program manager, I spend a lot of time talking to people who are planning or...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/25/2012
Windows Server Posters–in an App!
It seems like all I am talking about right now is our posters – but this is too cool to not...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/20/2012
Moving from VMware to Hyper-V
While I was at TechED Australia I had many people come up to me and ask me about the best way to...
Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 09/19/2012