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Hyper-V & Virtualization

Hyper-V install, virtual switches, VM creation, checkpoints, nested virtualization, live migration, replica, and the storage and networking decisions that decide whether a Hyper-V host is fast or sad.

3 articles • follow them in order

  1. 1
    Systems Admin

    Configure Nested Virtualization on Hyper-V

    Learn how to configure nested virtualization on Hyper-V so you can run Hyper-V inside a virtual machine. This step-by-step guide covers connecting to the guest VM, attempting Hyper-V role installation (and understanding the error), shutting down the VM, running Set-VMProcessor -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions on the physical host, restarting the VM, installing the Hyper-V role successfully, and verifying the nested Hyper-V Manager is operational. Includes best practices for memory allocation, performance overhead, and processor compatibility.

    7 min Read step 1 →
  2. 2
  3. 3
    Systems Admin

    Manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints

    How Hyper-V checkpoints actually work (differencing-disk chain), when to use them (lab rollback, patch dry-run, demo reset, short-term oh-no insurance), why they aren't a backup, the Production vs Standard distinction (default Production - app-consistent via VSS - safe for most workloads except DC/SQL/Exchange replicas), the GUI flow for create / revert / apply / merge, the Edit Disk wizard for manual merge of orphaned chains, the PowerShell equivalents (Checkpoint-VM, Restore-VMSnapshot, Remove-VMSnapshot), and 7 common pitfalls (don't snapshot a DC, USN rollback, long-lived checkpoints, disk-space crunch, revert vs running VM).

    10 min Read step 3 →