Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 on a USB flash drive?


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Ive searched Technet and Ive only found some (limited and difficult) information about this for 2008 but Im SURE it is possible for 2012 R2.

Is there any way to install Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 on a USB flash drive and boot from that?

Thank you and I apologize for not being able to find it.

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Generally no. The USB drivers are loaded too late for the OS to boot off a USB drive.

 

But it is possible (look on google for it) to modify the INF file(s) to set the USB drivers to loaded earlier so you can then complete booting.

I did this along time ago for Windows XP. The instuctions may or may not work for 2012r2.

 

Also, if you get this to work, you cannot place pagefile.sys on a removable drive so it will need to go elsewhere.

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You can definitely do it with client windows (but youll need to disable secure boot and boot from the single NTFS Partition) that is unless you have a usb that shows up as a fixed disk.

As for server in theory it should work unless theres a licence lockdown, give it a go.

 

Just dump the wim onto the NTFS formatted usb then make it bootable using the link below.

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824910.aspx

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/bios-booting/ht/bootsect-nt60.htm

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I thought USB pendrives lacked wear leveling? Wouldn't that kill the pendrive in no time?

That depends heavily on how Hyper-V handles itself on a USB drive. ESXi writes data that needs to be persisted to the USB drive once every 10 minutes and everything else is done purely in memory to minimize wear on the USB drive.

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