Hyper-V is similar to VMware in the respect that it abstracts the hardware from the vitrual machines. This is different from other products such as VMware workstation or Microsoft Virtual PC, where the VMs run on top of the host operating system.
Hyper-V has a few requirements to get everything up and running. First, you need to install Windows Server 2008 x64 (64-Bit). Other versions will not satisfy the Hyper-V requirements. The second requirement is probably going to be the biggest problem for people trying to run older hardware.
Hyper-V requires a processor that supports hardware assisted virtualization. AMD calls this AMD-V, while Intel calls it VT. Some older processors may support this with an update to the motherboard BIOS, others will not. I found that my 3-4 year old Opteron 165 did not support hardware assisted Virtualization. Some research will be required to see if your specific hardware is supported.
The past five months have been crazy! I landed my first network related job, as a network administrator. As soon as I started there was a major project to put a new network in the one building over the summer (cabling and all). That was followed by some slightly smaller projects, such as an upgrade to our main router. On top of that I have been busy with personal projects, including working on my car.
Unfortunately all of this caused many things to fall by the wayside. This site and my CCNA study where two major things that I fell behind with. The past few weeks I have really stepped up my CCNA study. The down side of that is that I have had to review many old topics and my books are now a version behind the current CCNA tests.
I am going to try to update this site more often. One change I am going to make is the renaming of the “VMware Whitebox” section. I have not given up on that, but I have decided to play with some ofther virtualization options. That means I will be setting up and playing with Windows Sever 2008 with Hyper-V! I am hoping to get this setup soon and share my setup here.