Install Win Server 2012 by VirtualBox or VMware

Install Win Server 2012 by VirtualBox or VMware

Install Win Server 2012 by VirtualBox or VMware

Download Windows Server 2012 R2 VHD and Run It on VirtualBox or VMware Workstation

the article is taken from the following link Source

Do you want to try Windows server 2012 R2 VHD on VirtualBox or VMware?, this guide is for you. Using pre installed virtual hard disks always ease our job by avoiding ISO download, installation and configuration. You can find out more information about download link of Windows 2012 R2 server VHD and how to attach it to VirtualBox or VMware in this guide.

R2 version has come up with several major changes. Hyper-V hypervisor has been improved well with few great features. They called that ‘Start Button is back’, but believe me, it’s not. The start menu/button icon is useless in this version.

Install Win Server 2012 by VirtualBox or VMware

 

Each aspect of server functions have been improved significantly in 2012 R2. You can find out them all inMicrosoft Site here.

If you want to know the included changes in Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V hypervisor, refer this nice presentation here.

Download Windows 2012 R2 VHD

1) You can download either server core or with GUI here at official evaluation center (Microsoft account it required).

Download page

2) Extract the exe file you have downloaded. Since this is made for Hyper-v server to import directly, you will find more files and folders inside it.

We need the VHD file only which resides inside ‘Virtual Hard Disks’ folder.

How to Run Windows Server 2012 R2 VHD on VirtualBox.

3) You must have latest version of VirtualBox. VirtualBox supports Windows 8.1 (2012 R2) from 4.2.16 version only. Better upgrade to latest version, otherwise you might get an error message says ‘Your PC needs to restart’ in black screen.

4) Create a new virtual machine. Select Windows 2012(64bit) as client OS.

Instead of creating new hard disk, select existing virtual hard drive option. Browse the extracted VHD file which is located inside ‘Virtual Hard Disks’ folder.

2012 R2 VM in Virtualbox

5) There should not be any issue once you have started virtual machine.

Administrator password is R2Preview! , as of now. You could find more information here from Microsoft site.

Here is the working virtual machine on VirtualBox.

working 2012 R2 on VirtualBox

How to Use Windows Server 2012 R2 VHD in VMware Workstation.

6) VMware workstation or VM Player do not support VHD disk files for direct import. Therefore, VHD file needs to converted to VMDK format. There are few free tools available for this purpose in Windows OS platform.

WinImage is a tool (free for 30 days) can be used to convert VHD to VMDK in Windows 8 or 7. Also, StarWind’s V2V converter is available for free after registration.

Download WinImage here. It’s a small application.

From Disk menu select ‘Convert Virtual Hard Disk image’. Browse the VHD file you need to convert and select default option in next screen to make fixed size volume.

WinImage converter

In the saving dialogue box, select VMDK file format from drop down and press save. This will start the conversion process of VHD to VMDK.

save as vmdk

If you want to know more about how to use WinImage for this process, refer this guide.

7) Once the disk has been converted successfully, create a new virtual machine in VMware workstation.

Select ‘I will install OS later’ option because we are not going to install OS.

Os later

8.)  Select Windows Server 2012 as guest OS.

Windows 2012 server guest os in vmware

9) Once the new VM is created successfully, follow below step to delete default vmdk file.

removed vmdk file

After deleting, let’s attach our Windows server 2012 R2 VMDK file which was converted from original VHD.

Press Add and select hard drive. Make sure to select existing disk option as shown below.

existing disk option

Browse and attach the converted 2012 R2 VMDK file.

attached vmdk

10) You can modify other hardware settings ( such as RAM and processor cores) if you wish. Then power on the virtual machine.

I’m sure it will start smoothly. VMware tools for Windows 2012 R2 also works fine in VMware workstation 10. I could able to install and use few extra features such as full screen, unity mode and improved display performance.

windows server 2012 R2 VHD on Vmware

By using this method, you can use same VMDK (which converted from original Windows server 2012 R2 VHD) on VMware ESXi or vSphere hypervisor hosts.

Share your experience about these steps to install and run Windows server 2012 R2 VHD on VirtualBox or VMware workstation.

 

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

the article is taken from the following link Source

http://www.sysprobs.com/install-run-windows-2008-r2-x86-sun-virtualbox

This article shows how to install Windows server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox. Normally, Windows 2008 R2 server available for 64 Bit only, so obviously your computer processor and mother board shoud support 64 Bit architecture and VT.

Even though you are running 32 Bit Operating Systems, such as 32 Bit Windows 7 ,Vista and XP as host, still it’s possible to run 64 Bit operating systems as guest on X86 VirtualBox. To make sure your computer processor and motherboard support this feature read this post. The mentioned post is having tools to check AMD and Intel processors. Once result shows that your PC is 64 Bit is ready then you can proceed the installation of Windows server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox.

Follow the steps to Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox.

1)      Create New Machine.

2)      If you are using VirtualBox 3.1.0 or earlier versions, then you can’t find Windows 2008 R2 OS as guest OS, so select Windows 2008 64 Bit. Later versions have  2008 R2 64 Bit selection.

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

3)      Set memory size to 1024MB, and create a new hard disk with 20GB space.

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

Select Dynamically Expanding storage option. Set the disk size and location of disk file in next screen.

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

4)      Press Finish to complete disk creation and virtual machine creation.

5)      Click on storage option in virtual machine configuration settings.

Install Windows 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

6)      Press ‘Empty’ IDE controller as mentioned below to insert Installation DVD or ISO image. If you have installation DVD, then insert it to host DVD drive select ‘Host Drive- Drive letter’ mentioned below. So when you boot Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine, it will read your host physical DVD drive. Here, I have ISO file and mounting it by clicking on Folder arrow button.

Windows 2008 R2 X86 Sun VirtualBox

7)      Make sure following settings are correct under system setting of virtual machine. Click on System to view the settings.

Install Windows 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

Processor – 1 and Enable PAE/NX enabled.

Desktop virtualization software

Hardware Virtualization Enable VT-x/AMD-V should be enabled.

Desktop virtualization software

8)      Now start the Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Installation will go smoothly if all settings are correct. I’m not explaining any installation steps.

r2installation

9)      As usual, VirtualBox worked very faster and installation finished very quickly. The working Windows server 2008 R2 on VirtualBox is below.

Install Windows 2008 R2 on VirtualBox

10)   Install VirtualBox additions to get better mouse integration, display settings, folder share, network speed and more. It’s always recommended to install or update VirtualBox additions in virtual machines. Restart the virtual machine after VirtualBox additions installation.

virtualbox_additions

There you go, R2 64 Bit Server operating is now on your computer by X86 Sun VirtualBox. Enable seamless mode of virtual machine, so you can work on Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine from host OS desktop. Read more here about seamless mode.

We will be using this R2 server installation on VirtualBox for later related posts. Do not forget to subscribe our RSS feeds to keep in touch with sysprobs.