Updated Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 to Support Windows Server 2008

Daniel Petri

Jan 8, 2009

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is in its R2 SP1 version since last year. However, because there were new operating systems and service packs for existing OSs released since VS 2005 was introduces, we have learned that it does not support the following operating systems:

Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)

Although I’ve been able to successfully run these operating systems on my laptop and servers, not getting official support for them is a cause of concern for production environments.

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Luckily for us, Microsoft has released a patch for VS 2005 R2 SP1 that fixes that, along with other issues such as the ones described here:

941125 The Virtual Server service may stop responding when the service is starting if one or more of the virtual machines are configured to automatically start when the Virtual Server service starts.
943666 In Virtual Server 2005 R2, virtual machines that are running Windows Vista guest operating systems display a “Stop 0x000000D1” error message and then restart unexpectedly
943487 The vhdmount.exe tool in Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 may be unable to mount all volumes on a VHD file on a Windows Server 2003-based, a Windows Server 2008-based, or a Windows Vista-based computer

This update also fixes the other issues that were not previously documented in a Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

- You cannot use VMRC to connect to Virtual Server through a proxy server – The Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) client does not support connection to Virtual Server through a proxy server. To connect to Virtual Server, you must be running the Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server firewall client on the local computer, or you must have a direct Internet connection.

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- Cluster options are not available for Virtual Server on Windows Server 2008 – Cluster options for Virtual Server are available on Windows Server 2003. However, cluster options for Virtual Server are not available on Windows Server 2008.

- Floppy disk access from a guest operating system is not supported on Windows Server 2008 – When you use Virtual Server on Windows Server 2008, the guest operating system cannot access the physical floppy disk on the host operating system.

- A physical media change is not reflected in the guest operating system – When you use Virtual Server on Windows Server 2008, the guest operating system may be unable to reflect the change in the physical media. To resolve this issue, you have to reassign the CD or the DVD to the virtual machine from the Administrator Web site.

- You experience issues with the VHDMount.exe tool on virtual hard disks that are configured as dynamic disks on Windows Server 2008 – In Windows Server 2008, you mount a virtual hard disk (VHD) that is configured as a dynamic disk. The dynamic disk contains one or more volumes that are spread across multiple disks. However, the dynamic disk or the volumes do not appear online. In some scenarios, mirrored volumes may be broken into simple volumes.

The host system stops responding – An issue occurs with the VHDMount.exe tool in which the host system stops responding when the host system copies large files.

To download the update go here: VS2005R2 SP1 update
Note: Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.
The update includes support for the following additional guest Operating Systems:

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Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server 2008 Core, Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise and Small Business Server
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 (SP3)

The update includes support for the following additional host Operating Systems for non-production use only:

Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server 2008 Core, Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise and Small Business Server
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 (SP3)

Note: Virtual Server Web Application is not supported on Windows Server 2008 Core host operating system.
Installation requires that you shut down all the guest virtual machines, and manually stop the Virtual Server service:

After doing so, the installation continues without a glitch, although your network connection will temporarily be dropped due to network driver installation.

After applying the update, the product version would be updated to 1.1.629.0, and upgrades the VM Additions to the latest version (13.820) in the Guest OS. You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this update.
For more information on this topic, visit: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 does not support Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, or Windows XP Service Pack 3 – 948515