Q: Rod has this question: "I recently made the switch over to Virtual Server 2005 from VMware. I love the web based interface but am having troubles with enabling SSL. Can I use SelfSSL from the IIS6 Reskit? Could I set up a CA in a virtual machine to...

If you want to use Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT) to migrate a computer running Windows Server 2003 SP1 to a virtual machine, you'll need to copy some system files from your installation of Windows Server 2003 SP1 to the computer running...

Here's a tip from Paul Adare (author of Paul's Digital Lounge and Cigar Bar ). If you want an application to discover it's running in a virtual machine, you can do the following: You could query the registry for the existence of the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft...

Many of you would like to know how Virtual Server is being used at Microsoft. Here's a response from Jeff Woolsey, Lead Program Manager for virtualization. Thanks Jeff! Virtual Server is being used in a variety of ways at Microsoft, including for test...

If you want your applications to install more quickly in a virtual machine, do this: After you install the guest operating system, install Virtual Machine Additions, restart the virtual machine, and then install the applications.

I just posted two scripts from John Kelbley, a technical specialist at Microsoft. They are examples of scripts you can write to perform a warm backup of your virtual machines and restore them to a different instance of Virtual Server. You'll find them...

Here's what Kurt Schmucker, the program manager for Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 says about the release: "As with typical service packs from Microsoft, Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 will be primarily a rollup of fixes we have seen since...

This morning at Microsoft Management Summit 2005, Steve Ballmer announced the availability of Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta. To view an on-demand Web cast of Steve's talk (including Jeff Woolsey's demonstration of Virtual Server 2005 SP1...

I learned how to do this at TechEd 2004 in a lab led by Robert Larson, one of our resident Virtual Server gurus. You can create a “base” virtual machine with the operating system and applications you want, and then copy its .vhd file to use for other...

Title: Course 2288: Using Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 Course Type: Self-paced course Available Offline: Yes Estimated Time to Complete: 5 hours Description: This course prepares students to migrate legacy applications and consolidate server functions...

The virtual machine team is "pedal to the metal" developing and testing an update for Virtual Machine Additions. This update will make Windows Server 2003 SP1 run better in virtual machines running under the release version of Virtual Server 2005. As...

Did you know that you can display your virtual machine from within a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation? Here's how: On a computer with Virtual Server installed, open Microsoft Powerpoint. On a PowerPoint slide, click "Insert," and then click ...

You may have noticed that this blog is now published on TechNet rather than MSDN. It has been moved so it will be more discoverable by IT Pro readers. You may also have noticed that there have been a few minor glitches in the transition. The biggest one...

Althea wants to know what the difference is between Virtual PC and Virtual Server, and when she would use one versus the other. The fundamental difference between Virtual PC and Virtual Server is that Virtual PC is designed for desktop (or "client" or...

Mikko wants to know about best practices for backing up virtual machines. Well Mikko, according to Jeff Woolsey, a Virtual Server Program Manager, there are two ways to backup a virtual machine. Both have pros and cons, so you'll need to determine which...

Compacting your dynamically expanding virtual hard disks (VHDs) reduces the amount of disk space they use. Preparing a disk and compacting it is covered in the Virtual Server 2005 Administrator’s Guide, so I won’t go into it here. What’s new is this:...

If your virtual machines consistently hang or your keyboard and mouse behaves irratically, you can try one or more of the following remedies: First of all, if the virtual machines are hanging, make sure you've got enough available memory and...

So far, I've been scanning internal and external newsgroups to figure out what the "hot" topics are to cover in this blog. But judging by the consistent number of visitors I'm getting, this blog has quite a few regular readers. So I'd like to find out...

You might want to create a “base” virtual machine with an operating system and applications, and then copy its .vhd file to use for other virtual machines. Before you make copies of the .vhd, however, it’s important to run Sysprep in the guest operating...

As you may know, Windows Server 2003 SP1 has been released, and a lot of people will be rushing to upgrade their virtual machines. If you're thinking about doing this, though, plan on postponing it for a bit. Virtual Server 2005 was released many months...

I just posted an article on figuring out how much system capacity a host computer will need in order to run a given set of virtual machines. You can find it in the Deployment section ( http://blogs.technet.com/megand/articles/category/8299.aspx ). ...

From ComputerWorld, "Q&A: Microsoft's Bob Muglia discusses virtualization plans" - http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,102332,00.html Also from ComputerWorld, "Sidebar: Under the Hood: The Soul of a Virtual Machine...

You can easily change your virtual hard disk (VHD) attachment from IDE to SCSI: Shut down the guest operating system. Add a SCSI adapter to the virtual machine, if one isn't already available (under "Virtual Machine" Configuration, click SCSI...

If you want to turn off the beep that sounds when you turn on a virtual machine, you can run the following two commands. The first stops the BEEP service and the second disables it on subsequent reboots. net stop beep sc config beep start= disabled...

If you're connected to Virtual Server over a Terminal Services or Remote Desktop connection, you'll get a "Page cannot be displayed" error if you try to launch the Administration Website from the shortcut on the Start menu. Instead, you can provide this...