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Virtual Machine Additions are a very important component of Virtual Server 2005 (and Virtual PC 2007). Running VM Additions on a VM is not a must, but you’d better do it as soon as possible, even as the first thing to do right after finishing the installation phase of the OS itself.
Note: if for some reason, you’re using VMware products to virtualize Windows Server 2008 Server Core, you might be interested in reading my Installing VMware Tools on Windows Server 2008 Server Core Installations article.
Virtual Machine Additions adds the following enhancements to a guest operating system:
You can use several methods to install the VM Additions:
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Additionally, if you’ve got Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) installed, you can also:
Let’s see how each method is carried on:
If you’ve got VMRC Plus installed you can easily install VM Additions by performing these steps:
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To install Virtual Machine Additions through the Virtual Server administrative website please follow these steps:
To perform an unattended installation, place the Virtual Machine Additions image file (.ISO) to a location where it can be accessed by the virtual machines. Logon to the VM and in a command prompt window from within the VM type the following command:
setup.exe -s -v"/qn [Reboot=ReallySuppress]"
The script to install Virtual Machine Additions in a running guest OS is fairly straightforward, but for a good scripting guide I suggest you look at Desmond Lee’s excellent article:
Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online – Feature Article: Scripting Basics for Virtual Server 2005 R2, Part 2
First, it is recommended that you add the Virtual Machine Additions to your VMM Library. This will allow you to use the same ISO image for all of your virtual machines.
To add Virtual Machine Additions to your VMM Library:
To install Virtual Machine Additions on an existing virtual machine:
Coming from this blog – VMM Beta 2: Installing VM Additions:
Here is a PowerShell script you can run on the VMM server that will do that. It assumes that you have an ISO called VMAdditions.iso in a library share managed by VMM. The VM Additions are installed with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 in the <yourinstalldrive>’Program Files’Microsoft Virtual Server’Virtual Machine Additions folder. So you first either copy this ISO to the library for use on all VMs, or modify the script to use the copy local to the host your VM is on.
Copy the following text and save it as Install-VMAdditions.ps1:
# Install-VMAdditions.ps1 $vm = $args[0] if ($vm.Status -eq ‘Running’ ) { $vmadditions = get-iso | where { $_.Name –eq ‘VMAdditions’ } Set-VirtualDVDDrive –VirtualDVDDrive $vm.VirtualDVDDrives[0] -Link –ISO $vmadditions } else { write-host "The VM must be Running before you can install VM Additions." }
To use this script:
$vm = get-vm –Name “My VM” C:'Scripts'Install-VMAdditions.ps1 $vm
The VM Additions installer will launch automatically inside the guest OS.
Notes:
If you move a virtual machine that was created with Microsoft Virtual PC to Virtual Server, we recommend that you reinstall Virtual Machine Additions, even if it was installed in Virtual PC. This is because the version of Virtual Machine Additions included with Virtual Server has been updated.
Current VM Addition versions are:
Links:
VMM Beta 2: Installing VM Additions
Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online | Feature Article: Scripting Basics for Virtual Server 2005 R2, Part 2
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