Migrating VM from VS2005 to Hyper-V

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I've had a lot of customer asking on how to migrate VM from VS2005/VPC 2007 to Hyper-V.

Here are some best practices and steps that I bring to you which should be helpful in doing the migration.

VS2005 Migration Checklist

  • Consider migrating only virtual machines running operating systems that can take advantage of Hyper-V Integration Services.
  • Match HAL's when migrating to Hyper-V. Hyper-V uses APIC, Multi-Processor HAL which is applied when the Integration Services are installed.
  • Only the virtual hard disk can be migrated. All other files are not supported in Hyper-V.
  • Ensure the VMAdditions are uninstalled prior to migrating.
  • It is also recommended that the virtual hard disk be compacted after merging or discarding any differencing disks.
  • Virtual machines must be shutdown prior to being migrated.

It is recommended that only virtual machines running operating systems that are compatible with the Hyper-V Integration Services be migrated.

SUPPORTED GUEST OS ON WINDOWS SERVER 2008 HYPER-V

The only file that will be migrated to Hyper-V is VHD file. Virtual Server Configuration file cannot be used because Hyper-V understand the XML based files.

While preparing the VM for migration to Hyper-V, VMAdditions would need to be unintalled via Add\Remove Programs as they are incompatible with Integration Services in Hyper-V, differencing disks should be merged, VM should be in shutdown state.

If you miss to uninstall the VMAdditions before migrating and they are the latest version (13.813), you can uninstall it in Hyper-V. For earlier versions the VHD would need to be moved back to the Virtual Server Machine for removal of VMAdditions and then re-migrated.

Migrating the Virtual Machines to Hyper-V

To migrate a virtual machine from Virtual Server 2005 to Hyper-V:

  1. In the Hyper-V management interface, select the Hyper-V server that will serve as the Host for the migrated virtual machines in the left-hand pane.
  2. In the right-hand Actions pane, select New, Virtual Machine. This starts the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
  3. Acknowledge the information on the Before You Begin screen. Click Next.
  4. Provide the Name for the virtual machine and select a location for the configuration file. Click Next.
  5. Assign Memory to the virtual machine. Click Next.
  6. Choose not to select a Connection until after the migration is completed. Click Next.
  7. In the next screen choose to Attach a virtual hard disk later. Click Next.
  8. Review the information in the next screen, leave the Start the virtual machine after it is created unchecked. Click Finish.
  9. Move the virtual hard disk you are migrating from Virtual Server 2005 to the desired location on the Hyper-V server.
  10. With the migrated virtual hard disk in the correct location, select the Virtual Machine in the center pane of the Hyper-V Management interface. Next, in the lower right-hand Actions pane select Settings.
  11. In the Settings interface for the Guest, select IDE Controller 0 and choose to Add a Hard Drive.
  12. Installing and Configuring Hyper-V - Migrating Virtual Machines from Virtual Server Note: The VHD must be attached to an IDE Controller as Hyper-V does not support booting from a SCSI controller.
  13. In the next screen, select the radio button Virtual hard disk (.vhd) file and Browse to where the migrated virtual hard disk was placed and choose it. Select Apply and then click OK.
  14. With the Guest still selected in the Hyper-V Management interface, select Start in the right-hand Actions pane for the Guest.
  15. The Guest will start and what you may see on boot is a failure of the W32 Time service to start and new hardware will be found with no drivers present in the OS.
  16. If the VMAdditions were uninstalled prior to migrating the virtual machine, then proceed to install the Integrated Services. If they were not, uninstall them first.
  17. During the installation of the Integration Services, the HAL will be updated first and a reboot will be required. Following the reboot, the installation of the Integration Services will complete and the VM should start without error.
  18. Once the Integration Services have been installed, shutdown the virtual machine, add a Network Card and restart. Configure the network as needed after the reboot and patch the virtual machine as needed.