tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/07/29/linux-integration-services-v2-1-now-available.aspx'; Over on the virtualization team blog – Mike Sterling has just announced the availability of the Linux Integration Services v2.1.  And there is a lot to announce here.  Along with the previous support for our high perf.. more »

tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/07/16/hyper-v-links-for-friday-night.aspx'; Well, the week is over so I thought I would quickly share some links. Vijay has posted a great article on how to install the SP1 beta on our standalone Hyper-V Server product.  So now you really have no excuse to not be looking at d.. more »

If you are thinking about trying out dynamic memory in the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta release – here are some handy resources to read before you get going: This paper talks about what dynamic memory is, what it does and how it does it. It is a good read for those curious to understand what is happening under the covers. This article steps yo.. more »

tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/07/12/dynamic-memory-beta-supported-guest-operating-systems.aspx'; At TechEd this year we announced that dynamic memory would be supported for virtual machines that were running the following guest operating systems: Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter .. more »

tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/07/12/windows-server-2008-r2-sp1-beta-now-available.aspx'; Starting today you can download the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta release.  For Hyper-V this specifically means that you can start evaluating the following new Hyper-V features: Dynamic Memory – the new feature tha.. more »

Over the last couple of weeks I have been playing around with some new (for me) server technology. This has been a lot of fun – and I have been learning a lot. However, a couple of days ago things started to go wrong. Specifically I started seeing all sorts of strange problems with my Hyper-V server. Virtual machines started going offline ra.. more »

For a while now I have been seeing random people complaining about the fact that they cannot install Windows Virtual PC on Windows 7 Home Editions (Basic or Premium). This always struck me as odd – as I was sure that this was a supported configuration – but I did not reply as I did not have the time to try this configuration myself and confirm that.. more »

Here is a good question: If you are using iSCSI for all of your storage needs; should you use a software iSCSI initiator inside the virtual machine to connect the iSCSI storage directly to the virtual machine, or should you connect the iSCSI storage to the management operating system (in the parent partition) and then store virtual hard disks / use .. more »

Recently I have had a couple of different people approach me with this problem: They are developing software to manage / work with virtual machines – and they need a way to associate custom data with a virtual machine. The problem that they face is how to do this in a way that will survive if the virtual machine gets backed up, failed over, live mi.. more »

tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/06/17/increased-number-of-virtual-machines-supported-in-a-cluster-hyper-v-r2.aspx'; When we released Windows Server 2008 R2 we stated that we would support up to 384 virtual machines running on a single instance of Hyper-V – but only up to 64 virtual machines running on a node of.. more »

A while ago I made an open offer to people to contact me if they had experienced issues using Hyper-V backup . A number of you contacted me with reports of large registry files in the parent partition – that would slow down system boot over time. Well, after a lot of investigation we have figured out the cause and a hotfix is now available. You ca.. more »

While I did not realize it - my presentation on Dynamic Memory at TechEd US 2010 this week was recorded - and is now available for all to see: Which means that everyone can see how my demo went off the tracks for a moment! (sigh).  Apart from that - there is lots of good information about dynamic memory in there.  You can also download a .. more »

I had a great time today at TechEd talking about Dynamic Memory in Hyper-V R2 SP1.  I am going to do some detailed posts about it in the coming days – but for now I am just posting the presentation files that I used today (click on the title of this post to get the files). Cheers, Ben.. more »

When I was getting ready to head out to TechEd this week I copied a bunch of my Windows Virtual PC virtual machines onto a USB disk. 60 of them to be precise. But then I had the problem of how to get them all registered. Sure, you can register a virtual machine with Windows Virtual PC by just double clicking on the .VMC file for the virtual machine .. more »

I am now on the ground in New Orleans, have a hotel room and have registered at the show. I thought I would quickly share my schedule so that you can track me down: Monday, Jun 07, 2010, 5:30pm – 7:30pm At the server virtualization booth in the Exhibition hall Tuesday, Jun 08, 2010, 1:30pm – 2:45pm Talking about Dynamic Memory in Room 295 Tues.. more »

If you are at TechEd US 2010 this year and are interested in virtualization – we have quite a full schedule for you. Here is the summary of all of the virtualization sessions that are going on this week: VIR 206: Virtualization 360: Microsoft Virtualization Strategy, Products, and Solutions for the New Economy VIR02-Int (Interactive Session): Hy.. more »

I think I may have just seen my favorite localization bug report to date. A tester recently opened a bug against our Czech localization of Hyper-V – where the sentence: The guest operating system (guest) is the operating system that runs inside the virtual machine Hostovan operačn systm (host) je operačn systm, kter běž uvnitř virtulnho počtače.. more »

tweetmeme_url = 'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/06/01/talking-about-dynamic-memory-at-teched-us-2010.aspx'; Next week I will be hanging out in New Orleans.  As well as doing my share of booth duty – and walking around talking to people about virtualization – I will be presenting on Dynamic Memory.  Here are the details: .. more »

After a bit of turbulence, it looks like we are up and running on the new blog engine. I am really happy about this – as it makes it a lot easier for me to customize the look and feel of the blog without having to hack things up too much. For the time being – things should look pretty much the same as they use to – but there are some changes that I.. more »

I have a blogged about this before - but we maintain a list of all updates / hotfixes that have been released for Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2.  We update this list regularly - and have just rolled out the latest updates.  You can review the list here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff394763(WS.10).aspx You should make sure to ch.. more »