The act of migrating a virtual machine from Virtual Server 2005 to Hyper-V is a simple process. The following steps outline the method recommended by Microsoft.
1. Launch the existing virtual machine within Virtual Server 2005 and collect the following machine settings:
a. Memory Amount
b. Disk Type\Size
c. CPU Configuration
d. Virtual Network Configuration
e. Network Adapter Settings; IP Address, DNS, etc.
2. Update your virtual machine in terms of patches. There may be patches specific to virtual machine functionality, for example, if your virtual machine is running Windows 2003, Service Pack 2 is required prior to migrating to Hyper-V. Be sure to include all critical Microsoft patches and any application patches that may be available.
3. Hyper-V Integration Services replaces the Virtual Machine Additions components in Virtual Server, so uninstall these prior to migration. You can uninstall these components using the following steps:
a. Within the virtual machine itself, go to the Control Panel and launch Add\Remove Programs.
b. Click Virtual Machine Additions and choose Remove.
c. Reboot the virtual machine when uninstall completes so it can fully complete the process, and before moving on to Step 4.
4. At this point you should perform a backup; however, you see fit for the virtual server. This will vary depending on the server’s purpose and your preference—file system, file system and operating system, etc. Once your backup is complete, you will need to shut down the virtual machine fully, not in a saved state—shutting down the virtual machine in a saved state will not allow you to manage your undo disks. You will need to discard your Undo Disks prior to the migration.
Warning
You cannot use a SCSI disk to boot a virtual machine in Hyper-V, so if the startup disk of the virtual machine to be migrated is not IDE, you will need to change this prior to migrating.
Warning
Although it is not recommended, you can wait to uninstall the Virtual Machine Additions components after you migrate the virtual machine to Hyper-V, but only on Virtual Machine Additions version 13.813 and later. Attempting to do this with older versions may fail and cause corruption in your newly migrated virtual machine.
Undo Disks and Differencing Disks are similar; however, differencing disks are associated with a single virtual hard disk (VHD), not the virtual machine like the Undo Disks. Therefore, the differencing disks can follow the virtual machine through the migration if you choose.
5. You are now ready to check the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for compatibility. Hyper-V installed an APIC MP HAL when it installs Integration Services on the virtual machine, if you choose to move the virtual machine to Hyper-V without changing the HAL first, you will be prompted to upgrade when you start the install of Integration Services. Microsoft recommends changing this prior to your migration. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Restart the virtual machine and perform steps b and c within the virtual machine to be migrated.
b. Open MSConfig.exe, click the Boot tab, and then select Advanced Options.
c. Select the Detect HAL check box, click Ok, and restart the virtual machine.
6. Having completed all of the preceding steps, you can now shut down the virtual machine to be migrated.
7. Virtual Server 2005 utilizes a series of files for a virtual machine. Depending on the virtual machine itself, the files will be one or more of the following type: *.vmc, *.vhd, *.iso, *.vfd. You will only have one *.vhd file and that is the only one you need to migrate.
8. From here you can use this single *.vhd file to create your new virtual machine in Hyper-V. You may have a virtual server that utilizes multiple VHDs in Virtual Server 2005, you can follow the steps above to migrate each of those disks into Hyper-V.
Is there a difference in migrating Windows Server 2003 VM or Vista VMs? How is the migration process different from the Import and Export functions?