How to get Hyper-V 2012 running in VMware Fusion 6.x

By
. .

You want to play with Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 but don’t have the 64bit hardware do it with but you do have a Mac that’s running VMware Fusion 6. If that’s the case then you can install Hyper-V in a virtual machine. This would be for testing or learning purposes only as it’s not supported by VMware. Go through the normal process with VMware Fusion and create a virtual machine.

How to configure the virtual machine settings

After you have the virtual machine created you will to change the OS type and enable the hypervisor functionality in advanced options.

To change the guest OS type to Hyper-V:

1] Shut down the virtual machine.

2] Click Virtual machine > Settings.

Figure 1

3] Select General and change the guest OS type to Hyper-V (unsupported).

Figure 2

Figure 3

4] Select Processors & Memory in the Settings.

5] In the Advanced options of Processors & Memory, select Enable hypervisor applications in the - virtual machine.

6] Start the virtual machine to enable Hyper-V.

Figure 4

The Hyper-V role will not install if an incorrect operating system is selected for the virtual machine OS type. When trying to enable/install Hyper-V in a Windows 8 virtual machine, you see the error:

Hyper-V cannot be installed: A hypervisor is already running

As I mentioned before the Hyper-V functionality inside VMware Fusion is experimental and is unsupported.

How to add the Hyper-V role

Now that the virtual machine settings are configured appropriately the Hyper-V role can be enable/installed. Login to the system then go to “Server Manager” then follow the instructions below.

1] In Server Manager, on the Manage menu, click Add Roles and Features.

Figure 5

2] On the Before you begin page, verify that your destination server and network environment are prepared for the role and feature you want to install. Click Next.

Figure 6

3] On the Select installation type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation and then click Next.

Figure 7

4] On the Select destination server page, select a server from the server pool and then click Next.

Figure 8

5] On the Select server roles page, select Hyper-V.

Figure 9

6] To add the tools that you use to create and manage virtual machines, click Add Features. On the Features page, click Next.

Figure 10

7] On the Create Virtual Switches page, Virtual Machine Migration page, and Default Stores page, select the appropriate options.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

8] On the Confirm installation selections page, select Restart the destination server automatically - if required, and then click Install.

Figure 14

9] When the installation is done the server will restart automatically if you selected the option. If you did not select to automatically restart, then reboot the server.

Figure 15