Managing FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 with a Local GUI Console Tool

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Manage Hyper-V Server 2012 with a local GUI console tool?

Yep.

I thought Hyper-V Server 2012 was a free optimized version of Windows Server 2012 Server Core with the Hyper-V role pre-installed!

It is … it’s a FREE enterprise-grade bare-metal hypervisor solution that is based on Windows Server 2012 Server Core.

I can’t use a GUI on Server Core! What are you talking about?

Out-of-the-box, you’re absolutely correct … the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 product is intended for local console management via command-line tools, such as PowerShell, and remote management via GUI tools, such as Hyper-V Manager and the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

BUT … the community has heard your requests to provide a local GUI tool for basic management and configuration of Hyper-V Server 2012, and on our CodePlex Open Source repository, you’ll find a newly updated tool for Hyper-V Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 Server Core!

Announcing: Corefig v1.1.1

Corefig is a free Open Source tool that you can download from CodePlex and install locally on your Hyper-V Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 Server Core hosts.

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Corefig v1.1.1 for Hyper-V Server 2012

Once installed, it provides a local GUI console tool that can be used to perform useful tasks such as:

  • Server renaming and domain joining
  • Role and feature management
  • Service control
  • Remote Desktop Host and Remote Management configuration
  • Windows Update settings
  • Display settings configuration
  • Windows firewall settings
  • Driver installation
  • Regional settings ( keyboard, date and time )
  • Add Programs
  • Network card settings, including TCP/IP
  • Proxy configuration
  • Local group membership
  • Share management
  • iSCSI Initiator Configuration
  • MPIO ( Multipath-IO ) Configuration
  • Basic Hyper-V Management: Start, Stop and View Virtual Machines
  • Windows Server licensing and activation

Of course, you can still use the full GUI tools, such as Hyper-V Manager, Server Manager and Failover Cluster Manager, remotely for more sophisticated management and configuration tasks, but it’s certainly handy to have a way to perform these basic tasks from a local GUI tool.

Sounds cool! How do I get it?

Easy! First, you’ll need to download and install a copy of our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 enterprise-grade bare-metal hypervisor.  You’ll find all the steps needed to get started with Hyper-V Server 2012 at:

Once you’ve download and installed Hyper-V Server 2012, you’ll find the latest version of Corefig v1.1.1 at:

Installation is very simple – just 4 easy steps – but, make sure you read and follow the installation steps at:

What do you think of Corefig?

After you’ve downloaded and installed Corefig, feel free to leave your comments and questions in the Corefig discussion forum at:

Hope you enjoy!

- Keith