Free Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008

Coming next month, a virtualization server (sometimes called a host) that you can download for free (as in Beer). Watch the Hypre-V Server page for more news. Scenarios for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 (notice that it is NOT called Windows Hyper-V Server) include:

  • Test and Development
  • Basic Server Consolidation
  • Branch Office Consolidation
  • Hosted Desktop Virtualization (VDI)

Note that Hyper-V Server comes with no UI, just like running the Hyper-V role on Windows Server 2008 on a Serve Core installation. Among the things you DON'T get in Hyper-V Server:

  • Hassle tying to activate from the command line - No Activation!
  • No clustering
  • No Quick Migration
  • No large memory support (large meaning >32GB)
  • No multi-proc support > 4 proc on the host
  • No ability to run any other workload/Windows Server 2008 role

Read the system requirements for Hyper-V Server.

For more info: Read the Hyper-V Server FAQ.