Using Opalis to Update Hyper-V VM Integration Components

With the recent release of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, those of you running Hyper-V are probably looking for an easy way to start updating your integration components.  I'd guess that the primary reason for this would be so you could leverage the new dynamic memory feature in your VM's, which for Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 VM’s requires either the IC’s to be updated or the full installation of the service pack.

If you have VM’s that you aren’t ready to apply the full SP – or Windows 2003 R2 / Windows 2008 VM's that you want to update and are looking for a way to shave some serious time off this process, then here’s one way to do it.

I ran across Charles Joy’s blog post on this subject.  He has everything that you need to know – including the entire workflow that you can download and import directly in to Opalis.  You’ll just have to match up the variables and other published data to your environment – but the hard part (the workflow) is done for you.

You can find the blog post HERE.  Scroll to the bottom of the page for the zip file link to download the workflow.

I ran through the process in my own environment (link to short video of my experience).  One thing that I don’t think Charles mentions anywhere in his video or blog is that the VM’s that you are running this workflow against MUST HAVE WINRM enabled.  He makes mention that the powershell script uses WinRM, but I glanced over that and had that component error out on me on a few test runs until I figured out that the VM I was attempting to manipulate didn’t have WinRM configured.

If you are in the same boat – it’s an easy fix.  Simply open a cmd prompt in the VM and type:

winrm quickconfig

Say yes to the prompts and off you go.

Don't forget to check out the Opalis Survival Guide - everything you need to know to get up and running with Opalis!

Enjoy!