Setting Up Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4 In Hyper-V

Here are the steps to set up Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4 on Windows 10 Hyper-V:

1. Open the Hyper-V manager console as shown in the screenshot below.
   
   Note - If you’re not able to find Hyper-V on windows search, then that’s probably because you haven’t turned that on under “Turn Windows feature on or off” in Control Panel. So please make sure that is turned on.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on “New” and choose “New Virtual machine “option as shown in the screenshot below.
   
   
   
   
3. Click “ Next”
   
   
   
   
4. In the next screen you need to specify the “Name” of the virtual machine and also the “location” to save it. Check screenshot below.
   
   
   
   
5. In the next screen you need to specify which “generation” you’re planning to go with. Now choosing the correct generation depends on certain criteria’s and please check this link for reference. Here, in this scenario I’m planning to go with “Generation 1” as this serves my purpose.
   
   
   
   
6. Specify the “RAM” configuration in the next screen, I’m planning to assign 4000 MB for this Virtual machine .However, if you check the “Dynamic memory” check box, then the Hyper-V will automatically resize the RAM configuration based on the application it hosts/runs.
   
   
   
   Note - Starting in Windows 10/Windows Server Technical Preview, Hyper-V allows you to resize virtual machine memory without shutting down the virtual machine. To know how to do this, please check the screenshot below.
   
   
   
   
   You can notice the “Startup RAM” being enabled for you , which means you’re allowed to change the “Startup RAM “ settings even when the Virtual machine is running .This was not the case in the previous version of Windows server and client Operating systems . This functionality got newly added in Windows 10/Windows server technical preview.
   
   
7. In the next screen, you need to specify the “Network” settings for creating the connection. This is something which has to be done before hand itself before creating the “Virtual machine." You don’t need to worry if you didn’t configure this before creating the virtual machine as this can be done even after creating the “Virtual Machine”.
   
   
   
   
8. Now, if you need to identify which “Virtual switch” to use for your Hyper-V manager, then please check the options below. You need to choose the appropriate one based on your need.
   
   
   a) External Switch will link a physical NIC of the Hyper-V host with a virtual one and then give your VMs access outside of the host, meaning your physical network and internet (if your physical network is connected to internet).
   
   b) Internal switch should be used for building an independent virtual network when you need to connect VMs to each other and to a hypervisor as well.
   
   c) Private switch will create a virtual network where all connected VMs will see each other, but not the Hyper-V host. This will completely isolate the VMs in that sandbox.
   
   
9. In the next screen you need to specify the “storage” size. I’m specifying 40GB as the storage size here.
   
   
   
   
10. Please specify the “installation media” on the next screen. I’m choosing the “Image file” option as shown in the screenshot below as I’ve already saved the image file for Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview (i.e. ISO file) on my hard drive. Browse to the location where you have saved the Image file and add it.
    
    
    
    
11. The next screen will give you a summary of all the specifications you made.
    
    
    
    
12. Finally once that’s done please click on the “Finish” button and that will start the Virtual machine configuration. You can also see the new Virtual machine you’ve created on the “Virtual machine” console as shown in the screenshot below. You can see “Win2K16” below.
    
    
    
    
13. Now, it’s time to go ahead and install the “Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4 “Operating system as we are done with the Virtual machine configuration. For that, please click on “Connect” as shown below and this will turn on the “Virtual machine “.
    
    
    
    
    
14. Post this, just follow the traditional Windows OS installation steps which we have been doing for years till now. Hence, to get started, please click on “Install Now “as shown in the screen below.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. The setup is starting now as shown in the screenshot below.
    
    
    
    
16. Now on the next screen , please choose the appropriate option that suits your need .The first one is server core installation which doesn’t give you a GUI and the next one is the normal ( Desktop experience ) installation which gives you the GUI option.
      
    Server Core option-
    
    
    
    GUI (desktop experience) based installation-
    
    
    
    
17. Choose Custom installation method.
    
    
    
    
18. Choose the drive to perform the installation on the next screen as shown below.
    
    
    
    
19. Click next and this will start the installation, the entire process would take about 20 minutes max, so please be patient until it’s complete.
    
    
    
    
20. Once the installation is done, it will prompt for the administrator password, please go ahead and specify that.
    
    
    
    
21. On the next screen, press “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” to unlock and key in the Administrator password.
    
    
    
    
22. You should be all set by now with the installation and now you can see Windows Server Technical 2016 preview 4 spinning on your new Virtual machine.