Running Hyper-V on Nano in Windows Server 2016 TP3

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In Windows Server 2016 we are delivering a new way to run Hyper-V - on Nano server.

This is a great way to deploy Hyper-V - as you get full Hyper-V functionality with only a 500MB disk footprint.  To get up and running you can follow the directions here: https://aka.ms/nanoserver

I followed these directions - and as you can see it is quite easy to do.  First I mounted the Windows Server 2016 TP3 CD image and ran the following commands:

The end results was a bootable Nano VHD that was ready to run Hyper-V.  I used BCDEDIT to setup VHD boot on one of my servers, rebooted and was presented with this screen:

Logging in showed me the network details of the server - so I could then connect remotely to manage the server.  Management is done using Hyper-V Manager and PowerShell.  Finally, as well as being able to run all the Hyper-V management tools remotely - we are also including the Hyper-V PowerShell cmdlets on Nano server itself.  This means you can connect to your Nano Hyper-V server with PowerShell Remoting and run your commands directly there.

Right now I have a 4 node Hyper-V cluster running on Nano Server - and it can do everything my deployments on full server can.

Cheers,
Ben

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 08, 2015
    Thanks for sharing! Much appreciated! Any news related to the Windows-10-VM-disconnects-every-2-minutes-in-enhanced-session-mode-when-being-logged-on-with-a-local-account-without-password (Windows 8.1 Client Hyper-V main node) issue (see also blogs.msdn.com/.../what-s-new-in-hyper-v-in-windows-10.aspx)? Thank you! :)

  • Anonymous
    September 08, 2015
    Can Hyper-V on Nano Server be managed by SCVMM?

  • Anonymous
    September 08, 2015
    Will it be supported to run Nano-server on a SD-card? (like ESXi etc etc)

  • Anonymous
    September 09, 2015
    Obviously, this bug is reproducable on other Hyper-V platforms as well... answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-other_settings/windows-10-client-hyper-v-enchanced-session-keeps/adb7ba2b-9662-46d3-8397-bda905aa69f0

  • Anonymous
    September 13, 2015
    Hope someday we can run Nano on physical hardware without the need for using a VHD too.

  • Anonymous
    September 21, 2015
    BTW - Nano Server can also be managed with 5nine Manager for Hyper-V: channel9.msdn.com/.../5Nine-Manager-and-Nano-Server

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2015
    The comment has been removed