Manage virtual machines in Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode

This article shows you how to perform foundational virtual machine (VM) lifecycle tasks in Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode. For example, you can create single or multihost VMs, locate VMs with global search, view VM details and state, start (power on) a VM, and live migrate a VM between standalone Hyper-V hosts.

Virtualization Mode focuses on virtualization infrastructure and presents resources through a navigation hierarchy. Before managing VMs, ensure you install Virtualization Mode and add at least one Hyper-V host as a Compute resource in a Resource Group. For more information about Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode concepts, see What is Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode?.

Prerequisites

Before you can add resources in Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

• At least one Resource Group exists and contains one or more Hyper-V hosts added with the Compute profile. For more information about adding resources, see Add resources in Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode.

• You're accessing the Virtualization Mode gateway site using an account that has the Gateway Administrator role or equivalent permissions and have local Administrator rights on each Hyper-V host.

• To create a virtual machine, use any guest operating system that your Hyper-V host supports. For more information about the supported guest operating systems, see Supported Windows guest operating systems for Hyper-V and Supported Linux and FreeBSD virtual machines.

Create virtual machines on one or multiple hosts

You can create a VM on a single host or a cluster. To create a VM, follow these steps:

1. In the resource pane, expand the resource group and select the target Hyper-V host or cluster.

2. Select Virtual Machines from the tools pane for the host or cluster.

3. To create a VM, select the Add button at the top of the Virtual Machines tool pane, then choose New.

4. For the New virtual machine panel, complete the following information:

   Setting	Guidance
   Name	Enter a VM name following organizational naming conventions.
   Generation	Select Generation 1 or Generation 2.
   Host	For clustered VMs, select the target host from the Host dropdown.
   Path	Choose the storage location for VM files from the populated dropdown.
   Virtual processors	Specify number of virtual processors.
   Enable nested virtualization	Select this option if the VM runs Hyper-V or other hypervisors.
   Processor compatibility	Select this option to enable live migration across different CPU versions.
   Startup memory (MB)	Specify the startup memory in MB.
   Use Dynamic Memory	Select this option to enable dynamic memory allocation.
   Virtual switch	Select the virtual switch for network connectivity.

5. To add a virtual hard disk and boot image, select Add under the Storage section, then complete the following information:

   Setting	Guidance
   New disk	Choose to create a new virtual hard disk or use an existing one. Specify size and location as needed.
   Operating system	Select from installing an operating system later, or specify an ISO image. The ISO image must be located on your Hyper-V host.

6. Select Create to begin creating the VM.

View virtual machine details and state

Virtualization Mode supports up to 1,000 hosts and 25,000 virtual machines per instance. Search in Virtualization Mode lets you locate virtualization resources across the resource hierarchy using the following criteria:

• Search queries resolve against virtualization resources, such as hosts, resource groups, and VMs.
• Use plain-text search with wildcards. For example, entering web-0* returns web-01 and web-02 if they exist.
• Only resources in the resource hierarchy are searchable. Deleted resources, attributes, or attached objects, such as virtual hard disks, aren't searchable.

When you select a VM, you see its overview page with identity, current power state, and available actions. You can perform connection, power, and management actions from this page. To locate a VM by using search:

1. From the search bar at the top of the Virtualization Mode gateway site, type the leading portion of the VM name (for example, web-0).

2. Select the VM from results to go directly to the VM overview.

3. Review the VM overview page for details:

   • Confirm displayed name and current power state (for example, Off).
   • Review available actions (start, migrate) presented for the VM.

From the VM overview, you can perform common connection, power, and management actions. The following image is an example of the VM overview page. You can also manage the VM settings such as memory or processors, as shown in the following screenshot:

Start and connect to a virtual machine

To start and connect to a VM, follow these steps:

1. From the resource pane, select the VM to go to the VM overview page.

2. From the VM overview, select Power, then choose Start.

3. When the VM is running, select Connect, then choose Connect.

4. If this is your first time connecting to a VM on this host, you're prompted to enable Remote Desktop connections in the host server settings. Select Go to settings.

   

5. From the Server settings page, under Remote Desktop, select Allow remote connections to this server, keep the default option for Network Level Authentication, then select Save.

6. Go back to the VM overview page, and repeat the Connect action to open a Remote Desktop session to the VM.

Live migrate a virtual machine

Live migration moves a running VM from one standalone Hyper-V host to another without planned downtime. To live migrate a VM:

1. Select the running VM on the source host.

2. From the VM overview, select Manage, then choose Move.

   

3. For the Move a virtual machine panel, complete one of the following steps:

   1. Select the Destination type as Failover Cluster. Select the Cluster if necessary, then Member server as the destination host.

   Or

   1. Select the Destination type as Server, then select the Server as the destination host.

   

4. Verify the VM moves to the destination host in the resources pane.