Create a virtual machine in Hyper-V

Learn how to create a virtual machine by using Hyper-V Manager and Windows PowerShell and what options you have when you create a virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager.

Prerequisites

Before you create a virtual machine, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• A computer running Windows Server or Windows client with Hyper-V enabled. For more information, see Install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server.
• Membership in the local Administrators group or the Hyper-V Administrators group.
• Sufficient physical memory on the host to allocate to the virtual machine.
• Sufficient disk space for virtual machine configuration files and virtual hard disks.
• (Optional) A virtual switch configured if you want network connectivity for the virtual machine. See Create a virtual switch for Hyper-V virtual machines.
• (Optional) An operating system installation media (.iso file) or an existing virtual hard disk (.vhd or .vhdx) if you want to install an operating system.

Create a virtual machine

To create a virtual machine, use either Hyper-V Manager or Windows PowerShell. Select the method you prefer:

Hyper-V Manager

To create a virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager, follow these steps:

1. Select the Start button, type Hyper-V Manager, and then select it from the list.

   Note

   If you don't see Hyper-V Manager, make sure that the Hyper-V role is installed. For more information, see Install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server.

2. In the left pane, under Hyper-V Manager, select your server.

3. From the Actions pane, select New, then select Virtual Machine.

4. From the New Virtual Machine Wizard, select Next.

5. For the Specify Name and Location page, enter a name for the virtual machine and choose a location to store the virtual machine configuration files. Select Next.

   (Optionally) If you want to store the virtual machine configuration files in a different location, select the Store the virtual machine in a different location check box and then browse to the folder where you want to store the files.

6. In the Specify Generation page, select the generation of the virtual machine. For more information, see Should I create a generation 1 or 2 virtual machine in Hyper-V?. Create a generation 2 virtual machine unless you have a specific reason to create a generation 1 virtual machine. Select Next.

7. For the Assign Memory page, enter the amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine at startup. You can also choose to enable Dynamic Memory. For more information, see Hyper-V Dynamic Memory Overview. Select Next.

   Note

   The minimum amount of memory you can assign is 32 MB and the maximum is 5,902 MB.

8. For the Configure Networking page, select a virtual switch to connect the virtual machine to the network. If you don't have a virtual switch created, you can skip this step and configure networking later. Select Next.

9. In the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, choose one of the following options, then select Next:

   • Create a virtual hard disk - Enter a name for the virtual hard disk, choose a location to store it, and specify its size.

   • Use an existing virtual hard disk - Browse to the location of an existing virtual hard disk (.vhd or .vhdx).

   • Attach a virtual hard disk later - You can attach a virtual hard disk later.

10. For the Installation Options page, choose how you want to install the operating system on the virtual machine. You can choose one of the following options, then select Next:

    • Install an operating system later

    • Install an operating system from a bootable image file - Browse to the location of an .iso file that contains the operating system installation media.

    • Install an operating system from a bootable floppy disk - Select a floppy disk drive that contains the operating system installation media.

    • Install an operating system from a network-based installation server - This option is for using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) or another network-based installation service.

11. After verifying your choices in the Summary page, select Finish.

PowerShell

To create a virtual machine with Windows PowerShell using New-VM, follow these steps:

1. On the Windows desktop, select the Start button and type Windows PowerShell.

2. Right-click on Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator.

3. Use the Get-VMSwitch cmdlet to get the name of the virtual switch that you want the virtual machine to use:

   Get-VMSwitch * | Format-Table Name
   

4. Use the New-VM cmdlet to create the virtual machine. See the following examples:

   Note

   Use the -Version parameter if you need to move this virtual machine to a host running an older Windows Server version. See Supported virtual machine configuration versions.

   • Existing virtual hard disk - To create a virtual machine with an existing virtual hard disk, use the following command where,

     • -Name is the name that you provide for the virtual machine that you're creating.

     • -MemoryStartupBytes is the amount of memory that's available to the virtual machine at startup.

     • -BootDevice is the device that the virtual machine boots to when it starts, like the network adapter (NetworkAdapter) or virtual hard disk (VHD).

     • -VHDPath is the path to the virtual machine disk that you want to use.

     • -Path is the path to store the virtual machine configuration files.

     • -Generation is the virtual machine generation. Use generation 1 for VHD and generation 2 for VHDX. See Should I create a generation 1 or 2 virtual machine in Hyper-V?.

     • -Switch is the name of the virtual switch that you want the virtual machine to use to connect to other virtual machines or the network. See Create a virtual switch for Hyper-V virtual machines.

       New-VM -Name <Name> -MemoryStartupBytes <Memory> -BootDevice <BootDevice> -VHDPath <VHDPath> -Path <Path> -Generation <Generation> -Switch <SwitchName>
       

       For example:

       New-VM -Name TestVM -MemoryStartupBytes 4GB -BootDevice VHD -VHDPath .\VMs\Test.vhdx -Path .\VMData -Generation 2 -Switch ExternalSwitch
       

       This example creates a generation 2 virtual machine named TestVM with 4 GB of memory. It boots from the folder VMs\Test.vhdx in the current directory and uses the virtual switch named ExternalSwitch. The virtual machine configuration files are stored in the folder VMData.

   • New virtual hard disk - To create a virtual machine with a new virtual hard disk, replace the -VHDPath parameter from the previous example with -NewVHDPath and add the -NewVHDSizeBytes parameter. For example,

     New-VM -Name TestVM -MemoryStartupBytes 4GB -BootDevice VHD -NewVHDPath .\VMs\Test.vhdx -Path .\VMData -NewVHDSizeBytes 20GB -Generation 2 -Switch ExternalSwitch
     

   • New virtual hard disk that boots to operating system image - To create a virtual machine with a new virtual disk that boots to an operating system image, see the PowerShell example in Create virtual machine walkthrough for Hyper-V on Windows.

Start and connect to the virtual machine

After you create the virtual machine, you can start it and connect to it. You can use either Hyper-V Manager or Windows PowerShell. Select the method you prefer:

Hyper-V Manager

To start and connect to the virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager, follow these steps:

1. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click the virtual machine and select Connect....

2. In the Virtual Machine Connection window, select Action > Start.

PowerShell

To start and connect to the virtual machine using Windows PowerShell, follow these steps:

1. Start the virtual machine by using the Start-VM cmdlet. Run the following cmdlet where Name is the name of the virtual machine you created:

   Start-VM -Name <Name>
   

   For example:

   Start-VM -Name TestVM
   

2. Connect to the virtual machine by using Virtual Machine Connection (VMConnect):

   VMConnect.exe <ServerName> <VMName>
   

   For example:

   VMConnect.exe localhost "TestVM"
   

Related content

• New-VM

• Supported virtual machine configuration versions

• Should I create a generation 1 or 2 virtual machine in Hyper-V?

• Create a virtual switch for Hyper-V virtual machines