Manage virtual machines by using Windows Admin Center
The Virtual Machines tool in Windows Admin Center is available in server, failover cluster, or hyper-converged cluster connections if the Hyper-V role is enabled on the server or cluster. You can use the Virtual Machines tool to manage Hyper-V hosts running Windows Server, either installed with Desktop Experience or installed as Server Core. Hyper-V Server 2016 and 2019 are also supported.
Highlights of the Virtual Machines tool in Windows Admin Center include:
- High-level Hyper-V host resource monitoring. View overall CPU and memory usage, I/O performance metrics, and virtual machine (VM) health alerts and events for the Hyper-V host server or the entire cluster in a single dashboard.
- Unified experience that brings together Hyper-V Manager and Failover Cluster Manager capabilities. View all the virtual machines across a cluster and drill down into a single virtual machine for advanced management and troubleshooting.
- Simplified, yet powerful workflows for virtual machine management. Use UI experiences that are tailored to IT administration scenarios to create, manage, and replicate virtual machines.
This article describes some of the Hyper-V tasks that you can do in Windows Admin Center.
Monitor Hyper-V host resources and performance
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Use the Summary tab to get a holistic view of Hyper-V host resources and performance for the current server or the entire cluster. The information includes:
The number of VMs grouped by state: Running, Off, Paused, and Saved.
Recent health alerts or Hyper-V event log events. Alerts are available only for hyper-converged clusters running Windows Server 2016 or later.
CPU and memory usage, with a breakdown of hosts versus guests.
VMs that consume the most CPU and memory resources.
Line charts for input/output per second (IOPS) and I/O throughput, for both live and historical data.
Line charts for storage performance are available only for hyper-converged clusters running Windows Server 2016 or later. Historical data is available only for hyper-converged clusters running Windows Server 2019.
View virtual machine inventory
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Inventory tab. On this tab, you can:
- View a list of the virtual machines running on the current server or cluster.
- View a virtual machine's state and host server if you're viewing virtual machines for a cluster. Also view CPU and memory usage from the host perspective, including memory pressure, memory demand, and assigned memory.
- View a virtual machine's uptime, heartbeat status, and protection status by using Azure Site Recovery.
- Create a virtual machine.
- Delete, start, turn off, shut down, pause, resume, reset, or rename a virtual machine. Also save the virtual machine, delete a saved state, or create a checkpoint.
- Change settings for a virtual machine.
- Connect to a virtual machine console by using VMConnect via the Hyper-V host.
- Replicate a virtual machine by using Azure Site Recovery.
- Select multiple VMs and run an operation on all of them at once. This ability applies to operations that you can run on multiple VMs, such as start, shut down, save, pause, delete, and reset.
Note
If you're connected to a cluster, the Virtual Machine tool displays only clustered virtual machines.
Create a virtual machine
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Inventory tab.
Select Add > New.
Enter the virtual machine name, and choose between generation 1 and generation 2.
If you're creating a virtual machine on a cluster, you can choose a host for the virtual machine. If you're running Windows Server 2016 or later, the tool provides a host recommendation for you.
Choose a path for the virtual machine files. Select a volume from the dropdown list, or select Browse to choose a folder. The virtual machine configuration files and the virtual hard disk (.vhd) file will be saved in a single folder under the
\Hyper-V\\[virtual machine name]path of the selected volume or path.Tip
You can browse to any available Server Message Block (SMB) share on the network by entering the path in the Folder name field as
\\server\share. Using a network share for VM storage requires CredSSP.Choose the number of virtual processors and whether you want nested virtualization enabled. Configure memory settings, network adapters, and virtual hard disks. Choose whether you want to install an operating system from an .iso image file or from the network.
Select Create.
After the virtual machine is created and appears in the list of virtual machines, start it.
Connect to the virtual machine's console via VMConnect to install the operating system. Select the virtual machine from the list, and then select Connect > Download RDP file to download the RDP file. Open the RDP file in the Remote Desktop Connection app. Because you're connecting to the virtual machine's console, you need to enter the Hyper-V host's admin credentials.
Change virtual machine settings
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Inventory tab.
Choose a virtual machine from the list, and then select Settings.
For each of the General, Memory, Processors, Disks, Networks, Boot order, and Checkpoints tabs, configure the necessary settings, and then select the button that saves the current tab's settings.
The available settings vary, depending on the virtual machine's generation. Also, some settings can't be changed for running virtual machines. For those settings, you need to stop the virtual machine first.
Live migrate a virtual machine to another cluster node
If you're connected to a cluster, you can live migrate a virtual machine to another cluster node:
Go to a failover cluster or hyper-converged cluster connection. On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Inventory tab.
Choose a virtual machine from the list, and then select Manage > Move.
Choose a server from the list of available cluster nodes, and then select Move.
Notifications for the move progress appear in the upper-right corner of Windows Admin Center. If the move is successful, the host server name changes in the list of virtual machines.
Conduct advanced management and troubleshooting for a single virtual machine
You can view detailed information and performance charts for a single virtual machine.
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Inventory tab.
Choose a virtual machine from the list. In the pane that opens, you can:
- View detailed information for the virtual machine.
- View line charts for IOPS and I/O throughput, for both live and historical data. Historical data is available only for hyper-converged clusters running Windows Server 2019 or later.
- View, create, apply, rename, and delete checkpoints.
- View details for the virtual machine's .vhd files, network adapters, and host server.
- Delete, start, turn off, shut down, pause, resume, reset, or rename the virtual machine. Also save the virtual machine, delete a saved state, or create a checkpoint.
- Change settings for the virtual machine.
- Connect to the virtual machine console by using VMConnect via the Hyper-V host.
- Replicate the virtual machine by using Azure Site Recovery.
Manage a virtual machine through the Hyper-V host (VMConnect)
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Inventory tab.
Choose a virtual machine from the list, and then select one of these options:
Connect. Interact with the guest VM through the Remote Desktop web console that's integrated into Windows Admin Center.
Download RDP file. Download an RDP file that you can open with the Remote Desktop Connection application (mstsc.exe).
Both options use VMConnect to connect to the guest VM through the Hyper-V host. They both require you to enter administrator credentials for the Hyper-V host server.
Change Hyper-V host settings
On a server, hyper-converged cluster, or failover cluster connection, select Settings at the bottom of the left pane.
On a Hyper-V host server or cluster, the Hyper-V Host Settings group has the following sections. Make the necessary changes.
- General. Change virtual hard disks, virtual machine file path, and hypervisor schedule type (if it's supported).
- Enhanced Session Mode
- NUMA Spanning
- Live Migration
- Storage Migration
If you make any Hyper-V host setting changes in a hyper-converged cluster or failover cluster connection, the change will be applied to all cluster nodes.
View Hyper-V event logs
You can view Hyper-V event logs directly from the Virtual Machines tool:
On the left pane, select Virtual Machines.
Select the Summary tab.
In the Events section, select View all events.
The Event Viewer tool shows the Hyper-V event channels on the left pane. Choose a channel to view the events on the right pane.
If you're managing a failover cluster or hyper-converged cluster, the event logs display events for all cluster nodes. They display the host server in the Machine column.
Replicate virtual machines by using Azure Site Recovery
You can use Windows Admin Center to configure Azure Site Recovery and replicate your on-premises virtual machines to Azure. Learn more.