Managing FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 with a Local GUI Console Tool

Manage Hyper-V Server 2012 with a local GUI console tool?

Yep.

I thought Hyper-V Server 2012 was a free optimized version of Windows Server 2012 Server Core with the Hyper-V role pre-installed!

It is … it’s a FREE enterprise-grade bare-metal hypervisor solution that is based on Windows Server 2012 Server Core.

I can’t use a GUI on Server Core! What are you talking about?

Out-of-the-box, you’re absolutely correct … the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 product is intended for local console management via command-line tools, such as PowerShell, and remote management via GUI tools, such as Hyper-V Manager and the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

BUT … the community has heard your requests to provide a local GUI tool for basic management and configuration of Hyper-V Server 2012, and on our CodePlex Open Source repository, you’ll find a newly updated tool for Hyper-V Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 Server Core!

Announcing: Corefig v1.1.1

Corefig is a free Open Source tool that you can download from CodePlex and install locally on your Hyper-V Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 Server Core hosts.

Corefig v1.1.1 for Hyper-V Server 2012

Once installed, it provides a local GUI console tool that can be used to perform useful tasks such as:

• Server renaming and domain joining
• Role and feature management
• Service control
• Remote Desktop Host and Remote Management configuration
• Windows Update settings
• Display settings configuration
• Windows firewall settings
• Driver installation
• Regional settings ( keyboard, date and time )
• Add Programs
• Network card settings, including TCP/IP
• Proxy configuration
• Local group membership
• Share management
• iSCSI Initiator Configuration
• MPIO ( Multipath-IO ) Configuration
• Basic Hyper-V Management: Start, Stop and View Virtual Machines
• Windows Server licensing and activation

Of course, you can still use the full GUI tools, such as Hyper-V Manager, Server Manager and Failover Cluster Manager, remotely for more sophisticated management and configuration tasks, but it’s certainly handy to have a way to perform these basic tasks from a local GUI tool.

Sounds cool! How do I get it?

Easy! First, you’ll need to download and install a copy of our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 enterprise-grade bare-metal hypervisor.  You’ll find all the steps needed to get started with Hyper-V Server 2012 at:

• DO IT: Get started with FREE Hyper-V Server 2012

Once you’ve download and installed Hyper-V Server 2012, you’ll find the latest version of Corefig v1.1.1 at:

• DO IT: Download Corefig v1.1.1 for Hyper-V Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 Server Core

Installation is very simple – just 4 easy steps – but, make sure you read and follow the installation steps at:

• READ IT: Installing Corefig for Hyper-V Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 Server Core

What do you think of Corefig?

After you’ve downloaded and installed Corefig, feel free to leave your comments and questions in the Corefig discussion forum at:

• FEEDBACK: Corefig Discussion Forum

Hope you enjoy!

- Keith

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Hi Paras, You can view the status of VMs with this tool, but creating and managing VM configurations would still need to be done with PowerShell ( locally at the console ) or Hyper-V Manager ( remotely from an Admin workstation ).  If you're interested in the PowerShell commands for creating and managing VMs, I'm publishing an article this week that will provide step-by-step details. Best regards, Keith

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thanks Keith. A Great tool to manage Hyper-V as a bare metal server , just want to confirm can we also create and manage virtual machines on Hyper- V server 2012 with the help of this tool.

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2013
  Looks good Keith. How does this work with "remote" access. Do you have to use KVM-IP or be connected physically to the machine. I'm thinking of the standard datacentre type setup, where currenty I rdp to our servers. We're about to upgrade to Hyper-V server, so will lose the rdp ability.

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2013
  Wow very handy tool, thanks

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2013
  For server core 2012 I have just published PSHVM30 located at PSHVM.codeplex.com an all GUI free hyperv manager written in powershell. I have a version that intergrates with corefig1.1 and a stand alone version. Pretty much everything you need to manage your vhost from the console and more.