Configuring Hyper-V VM Size

Name

The display name of the VM.

Description

Used to provide more information about the VM profile.

Series

The lab series that VM profile will be available to.

Organization

The organization that the VM profile will be available to.

Platform

Select the virtualization platform that the VM profile will use.  Available platforms include: Hyper-V, ESX, Azure and AWS. Each platform will have different options available. The next set of options on the basic information tab are different, based on the Platform used. This document will provide details for selecting Hyper-V.

Size

Select the size of the VM. These size profiles will set the amount of RAM, number of processors, and will govern the number of NICs allowed to be configured on the machine.

Generation

Select the generation of hypervisor the VM profile will use.

- Generation 1: provides the standard visual hardware to the virtual machine dating back to the original release of Hyper-V
- Generation 2: provides support for new features such as Secure Boot, and PXE boot using a standard network adapter, while dropping support for legacy devices like IDE and floppy drives. Guest operating system must be running at least Windows Server 2012 or 64-bit versions of Windows 8.

Operating System

Enter the operating system that the VM will use.

Username

Enter a username for the VM.

Password

Enter a password for the VM.

Screen Width

Enter the screen width that the VM will use, measured in pixels.

Screen Height

Enter the screen height that the VM will use, measured in pixels.

Boot Order

Configure the boot order of the VM. Selecting the up/down arrows moves items in boot order. The number beside the item designates it's order in the boot sequence.

Enabled

Check to enable the VM profile for use in lab profiles.

Host Integration Enabled

Enables Hyper-V Integration Services on the VM. This includes time synchronization with the host, heartbeat detection and graceful shutdown.

Use Enhanced Session Mode

Enables a connection similar to an RDP connection. Enhanced session mode leverages guest services to enabled additional features such as: automatic VM logon, redirection of clipboard, audio, drives, devices, printers, and smart cards. If ESM is enabled and the HTML5 controller utilized, the virtual machines will show a login prompt whenever switching from one to another.

Enable Dynamic Screen Resizing

Allows the VM to automatically resize its resolution based on the size of the lab window. It is, however, limited to the resolution options available in the display settings of Windows. If the lab window is larger than the VM, there will be a gray space around the VM in the lab window. NOTE: this requires Integration services to be installed on the VM. This can be installed by selecting the gear icon at the top of a launched lab, and selecting Install Integration Services and following the prompts.

Enable Secure Boot

Available only on Gen 2 VMs. Enables Secure Boot.

Enable Nested Virtualization

Allows the VM profile to perform nested virtualization and run another VM on the VM.

Enable Trusted Platform Module

Available only on Gen 2 VMs. Enables TPM.

Add Network Adapter

Select to add a network adapter, and configure adapter settings.

Specify ethernet (MAC) address

Allows the MAC address to be set to a unique value, or generate a random MAC address.

Is legacy adapter

Allows the network adapter to operate as a legacy adapter without a Hardware ID.

Enable spoofing of MAC address

Allows the network adapter's MAC address to be spoofed.

Enable virtual LAN (VLAN) identification

Allows a custom VLAN ID to be assigned.
Note: VLAN IDs are configured differently for Hyper-V and ESX. The VLAN ID is set on the VM profile for Hyper-V and set on the Networks tab of the Lab Profile for ESX.

Monitoring mode

Enables Hyper-v port mirroring, to monitor network traffic. Monitoring the source or destination traffic is supported.

Hardware ID

Automatically generated.

Add Hard Disk

Select to add a virtual hard disk for the VM to use. A new virtual hard disk (VHD) can be created, or an existing VHD can be used.

Add SCSI Adapter

Allows a SCSI adapter to be added to the VM profile. Multiple SCSI adapters are supported. The first SCSI adapter has an ID of 0, and subsequent  SCSI adapters added to the VM profile will have an ID incremented by 1.

Add DVD-ROM Drive

Select to add a DVD-ROM drive for the VM to use and configure it's channel.

Available channels include:

- Primary 0
- Primary 1
- Secondary 0
- Secondary 1

BIOS GUID

This controls the BIOS GUID set within the virtual machine's configuration. The value should include the curly braces, e.g. {46486DC1-B2A6-456E-B091-9816D6F61F30}. Setting a custom BIOS GUID is optional and under normal circumstances, this does not need to be used and can be left blank.

UUID

This controls the UUID set within the virtual machine's configuration. The UUID is a 128-bit integer. The 16 bytes of this value are separated by spaces, except for a dash between the eighth and ninth hexadecimal pairs. Setting a custom UUID is optional and under normal circumstances, this does not need to be used and can be left blank.
An example UUID looks like this: 00 11 22 33 44 55 66 77-88 99 aa bb cc dd ee ff.

Allow Updates in Lab Client

This must be enabled for differencing disk capture or start states on the VM, in a lab.

Connect via Remote Desktop Connection (external to lab client)

Allows the VM to be connected to by an RDP connection. This is used in conjunction with the Has Virtual Machines Pool checkbox on the Virtual Machines tab of a lab profile. A VM profile is required for each concurrent user, otherwise each user will receive the same RDP file and only 1 user will be able to connect to the VM at a time.

Enable Host Compatibility

Turning off host compatibility will give you access to the most recent CPU instructions sets. Disabling Host Compatibility prevents use of Start States and the ability to move virtual machine between hosts, which reduces the available host pool. Only supported for Hyper-V (Sets "limitProcessorFeatures" flag to Off). Host Compatibility is enabled by default.