{"id":115,"date":"2025-03-24T15:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T15:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/?page_id=115"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T15:59:26","slug":"server-2025-nested-hyper-v","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/server-2025-nested-hyper-v\/","title":{"rendered":"Server 2025 – Nested Hyper-V"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Using “Nested Hyper-V” is useful for many scenarios including learning about the platform, validating installation\/deployment configurations, and testing the effects of Hyper-V Windows Updates in a controlled environment prior to deploying in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nested Hyper-V simply involves deploying Hyper-V as a VM running on an existing Hypervisor as illustrated below. On the left of the diagram is a typical virtualisation deployment with a hypervisor such as Hyper-V installed on a physical server such as a Dell PowerEdge or HPE ProLiant. 3 VMs have been deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the right of the digram a fourth VM has been deployed, into which Hyper-V has been installed. This instance of Hyper-V, running in the VM, is “nested”, as it is running on an existing Hypervisor. The nested instance of Hyper-V can run VMs itself; as the diagram illustrates, 3 test instances of the existing VMs (DC, Files, and DNS) are hosted and operational. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this setup, the nested Hyper-V can have modifications made (such as network configuration changes or Windows Updates installed), to understand the effect that the change has on the Test VMs, without affecting the production instances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Process<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Create VM with sufficient RAM, Storage, and CPU to support hosting of test VMs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Expose CPU Virtualisation to the VM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Install Windows Server on the VM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Login to the VM & Install Hyper-V Role<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Expose CPU Virtualisation (Hyper-V)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From the Hyper-V host, the following PowerShell commandlet can be used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Set-VMProcessor -VMName NestedHyperV01 -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $True<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Expose CPU Virtualisation (VMware vSphere)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    From PowerCLI connected to vCenter, the following commands can be used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    $EnableNestedHV = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec\n$EnableNestedHV.nestedHVEnabled = $true\n(Get-VM -Name NestedHyperV01).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($EnableNestedHV)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Server 2025 Note<\/strong>
    In Server 2025, after installing Windows Server into the VM, it is required to edit the Microsoft boot configuration database that the VM reads on startup. Otherwise, the Hyper-V role will not install. 
    Launch PowerShell or Windows Terminal and enter the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    bcdedit \/set hypervisorlaunchtypeauto<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Restart the VM (Mandatory) & add Hyper-V role:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Install-WindowsFeature -Name hyper-v -IncludeManagementTools<\/code><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Using “Nested Hyper-V” is useful for many scenarios including learning about the platform, validating installation\/deployment configurations, and testing the effects of Hyper-V Windows Updates in a controlled environment prior to deploying in production. Nested Hyper-V simply involves deploying Hyper-V as a VM running on an existing Hypervisor as illustrated below. On the left of the … Continue reading Server 2025 – Nested Hyper-V<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-115","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/115\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtom.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}