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Virtual Server and Differencing Disks

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Another trick I use in Virtual Server is the use of differencing disks.  A differencing disk is one that inherits it's contents from a parent disk, a powerful tool when used to the ful.  For example, I have a blank installation of Windows Server 2003 SP2 on a VHD.  I have set that VHD to be read only and use it as a parent disk for a number of virtual machines.  NOTE:  I'm not a licencing expert, make sure if you follow these steps you have licences for all the virtual machines.

How To Create a Differencing Disk

In the Virtual Server website under "Virtual Disks" hover over "Create" then click "Differencing Virtual Hard Disk".  Enter the location of the differencing disk you want to create in the top box and select the parent disk you wish to use from the bottom box.  Job done.

From here create a new machine using the newly created hard disk.  A very easy way to create junk machines for testing, if you mess one up delete it and create another.

Regards,
Jason

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