proit Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binaryzero Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Def unsupported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Qat Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPreston Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangesOfCourse Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I'm running Hyper-V 2012 R2 from a USB stick but its in my lab environment. I don't think its supported in a production environment. Here are the steps I used: http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/installing-and-running-hyper-v-from-a-usb-stick/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescob Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I thought USB pendrives lacked wear leveling? Wouldn't that kill the pendrive in no time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted March 3, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 3, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binaryzero Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 You're trying to do something the software wasn't designed to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Observer Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I think MS needs to look into this. was of space just install hyper-v server core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binaryzero Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Usually VMs are stored on storage arrays, not local disk of servers in enterprise environments - which the current software supports no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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