Ben Armstrong’s Virtualization Blog

Hyper-V Program Manager

Moving to a new home...

This is the last blog post that I am going to write as Virtual PC Guy. But do not fear, I am...

Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 01/01/2018

Getting VM Memory Usage and Demand Programmatically

A couple of people have recently asked me how to get virtual machine memory usage and memory demand...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/12/2017

Using Hyper-V Resource Pools to ease migration between different configurations

Today I was asked about the following configuration: A user has a stretched Hyper-V cluster running...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/03/2017

Performance Tuning Windows Server 2016

While we were working on developing Windows Server 2016 – we had a team dedicated to testing the...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/02/2017

Editing a .VMCX file

In Windows Server 2016 we moved from using .XML for our virtual machine configuration files to using...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 04/18/2017

Phone Emulator + Containers + VMs + Networking == Finally working!

I have had a problem for a little while now – the problem is that on my personal laptop I want to...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/20/2017

New Hypervisor Top-Level Functional Specification

At the end of last week we published version 5.0 of the Hypervisor Top Level Functional...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/13/2017

Giving a Workgroup Server an FQDN

Recently I needed to be able to securely, remotely manage a set of Windows Servers that were not...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/10/2017

Hyper-V vs. KVM for OpenStack performance

During the development of Windows Server 2016 we spent a lot of time working on delivering the best...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 02/03/2017

Bulk changing virtual hard disk path

I received this in email today: "I have XCOPY’d a bunch of VHDX files from one volume to another on...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 01/26/2017

PSA - Flickering Laptop Screen with Hyper-V? Update your drivers.

Last year I went out and got an Alienware 13 laptop. Later I got the Alienware Amplifier and put a...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 01/20/2017

Creating a remote PowerShell Direct shortcut

So here is the scenario: I have a remote Hyper-V server running Nano Server. I have PowerShell...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/08/2016

Delay when opening VM Connect on disconnected systems

When I am building Hyper-V systems for big public demonstrations – I often build them with zero...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/07/2016

Project “Lift and Shift”–Phase 1: Triage

This is the first blog post in what is going to be a series that I am tagging “Lift and Shift”....

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 10/11/2016

Scaling out PowerShell with PowerShell Direct

I have spent a bunch of time this week working on various demos for Ignite in Atlanta. While...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 09/16/2016

Hyper-V @ Ignite

I am busily getting ready for my Hyper-V session at Ignite this year – and went to check for other...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 09/13/2016

Script to Inventory VM Guest OSes – Updated

The other day a colleague asked me how to use PowerShell to gather information about what operating...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 09/06/2016

Fixing Network Adapter settings on Checkpoints

Here is an interesting question from the Hyper-V...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 08/23/2016

Hyper-V UI updates for High DPI

In the latest Windows Insider builds (14371 and later) we have made some strategic changes to...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/23/2016

Windows – Read me that virtual machine

After a couple of weeks of playing around with Hyper-V APIs for reading virtual machine screens and...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/17/2016

Find a bitmap on the VM screen

Continuing with my series on how to do interesting automation stuff with Hyper-V – today I want to...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/16/2016

Reading a pixel on a VM Screen

Two weeks ago I provided a code sample that allowed you to capture a Hyper-V virtual machine screen...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/15/2016

Network Device Naming in Hyper-V

In Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 we have introduced a set of new capabilities around managing...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/10/2016

Lock the VM Console when you close Hyper-V UI

There is a little feature that we snuck into Hyper-V recently that is very handy for our security...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2016

Adding yourself to the Hyper-V Administrators group with PowerShell

I am currently setting up a couple of new computers – and thought I would share this little tidbit...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/30/2016

Capturing a Hyper-V VM Screen to a file

Here is an interesting thing you can do with Hyper-V - with a little bit of code you can grab a copy...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/27/2016

Copy files over PowerShell Direct (and more)

We recently updated a number of the capabilities of PowerShell Direct. In Windows 10 Insider builds...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/26/2016

Windows 10, Hyper-V and Wireless - a new way to make this all work

Anyone who has used Hyper-V on a laptop is familiar with the pain of configuring Hyper-V virtual...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 05/02/2016

PowerShell for Docker

For the last couple of months I have been conflicted when working with containers. Do I use...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 04/26/2016

Virtual Holograms

As opposed to real holograms?Anyway, semantic issues aside, this is something that I am really...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 04/11/2016

Ubuntu on Windows

For a while now I have had the fun of being involved with a new technology that we announced today....

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/30/2016

Making and tuning a “safe automated mouse click”

Over the last week I have been talking about the components needed to automate the mouse in...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/18/2016

Checking the mouse button state in Hyper-V

Continuing in my series on Hyper-V automation; as well as being able to get the position of the...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/16/2016

Reading the mouse position of a Hyper-V VM

Last week I showed you how to automate setting the mouse position in a virtual machine.  You can...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/14/2016

Controlling the mouse on a virtual machine

Continuing on my series of how to automate virtual machines - you can also script the mouse on a...

Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 03/11/2016

Typing special characters on a virtual machine

On Monday I showed you how to send a string into a virtual machine.  But what if you need to send in...

Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 03/09/2016

Typing a string on a virtual machine

This weekend I did a bunch of virtual machine automation - and wanted to share some code snippets....

Author: Benjamin Armstrong Date: 03/07/2016

Disable VMConsoleSupport???

In Windows 10 / Windows Server 2016 we have two, rather odd, new PowerShell cmdlets:...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/04/2016

A new home for the Hyper-V TLFS

With every release of Windows - we have released a matching "Hypervisor Top Level Functional...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 03/02/2016

Building your own integration service for Hyper-V

Over time many people have asked me how they can extend Hyper-V integration services.  There are all...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 02/29/2016

Changes to Remote Management using Hyper-V Manager

In Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 we have made some significant changes to the way Hyper-V...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 02/01/2016

Hyper-V Documentation for All!

With the recent release of Windows Server Technical Preview 4 - I now have a huge amount of material...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/20/2015

CimSession now works with Hyper-V PowerShell cmdlets

Yesterday I discussed the fact that there is a new Hyper-V PowerShell module in Windows 10 (the v2.0...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/17/2015

Why are there two Hyper-V PowerShell modules in Windows 10?

If you use get-module in PowerShell on Windows 10 - you will see that there are now two Hyper-V...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/16/2015

Heading to Australia - to speak at Ignite Australia 2015

I am writing this on the plane as I fly towards my home town to spend a week talking about Hyper-V,...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/10/2015

What do you need to develop server applications?

As we are working on Windows and Hyper-V Containers we are spending a bunch of time talking to...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 11/09/2015

Using a hypervisor to secure your desktop - Credential Guard in Windows 10

In Windows 10 we have some cool new technology where we use the Hyper-V hypervisor to provide an...

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 10/26/2015

Windows 10 Build 10565: Creating VMs with different versions

In Windows 10 we introduced the idea that you could have virtual machines with different versions....

Author: Ben Armstrong [MSFT] Date: 10/20/2015

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