Windows Server 2012 Install the Hyper-V Role

Hyper-V Requirements

In order to install the Hyper-V role into Windows Server 2012 the server you have installed Windows Server 2012 on must have a minimum set of hardware specifications and features. 

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) must be a 64Bit CPU with a minimal speed of 1.4GHz. The processor must also include a virtualization option—specifically, processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology. The Hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must be available and enabled. Specifically, you must enable the Intel XD (“execute disable”) bit or the AMD NX (“no execute”) bit. If the CPU supports these features you must still ensure they are enabled in the server’s firmware BIOS configuration.

The server must also have at least 512MB of memory and one network adapter. When sizing the memory for your server considers that the host’s operating system will occupy a portion of the memory and each virtual machine installed will occupy additional memory. If the physical memory is not sufficient the data will be written to the hard disk drive instead of physical memory. The ramifications of writing this data to the hard disk drive (paging) is severely impacted performance. The hard disk drive write and read speed is much lower than the physical memory, so saving frequently accessed data that would normally be saved in RAM requires significantly more time to write and retrieve. In sizing memory for a production server to host virtual machines I would not recommend less than 8GB or physical memory, but ideally 16GB - 32GB would be ideal for small to medium workloads.

Install the Hyper-V Role

Since Microsoft's introduction of their Power Shell command line configuration engine, they have added many script commands and features that enable an administrator to quickly and easily perform many functions from the command line that were previously only possible in the graphical interface. The installation of roles and features is one of the items supported by this expanding tool.

To install the Hyper-V role, open a Power Shell window using the task bar icon Microsoft has conveniently located right next to where the Start button used to be. The command to install the role on the server you are logged into or any server in your Active Directory domain is:

Install-WindowsFeature –Name Hyper-V -ComputerName servername
-IncludeManagementTools –Restart

After the command completes and the software has been installed the server will reboot, so do not have any unsaved work open when you run the command. After the server boots and you can login, make sure you run the Windows Update tool to install any missing patches for the role you just installed.