# Installing Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 on Intel NUC Skull Canyon


I recently acquired an Intel NUC (Next Unit Computing) Skull Canyon for using as portable demo and presentation lab. I will mostly run Windows 10 demo VMs and some Windows Server 2016/System Center 2016 VMs on this powerful Mini PC. I decided that I wanted to run Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 as the Host for my VMs, and this blog post will detail how I got it up and running.

## Setting up the hardware

In addition to the Intel NUC Skull Canyon, I needed to add Hard disk and Memory. The hardware configuration I choose to start with with was:

- Intel NUC Kit NUC6i7KYK ([http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc6i7kyk-features-configurations.html](http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc6i7kyk-features-configurations.html "http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc6i7kyk-features-configurations.html"))
- Samsung 850 EVO M.2 500 GB SSD
- 2 x 16 GB KINGSTON SO.DIMM DDR4 2400 MHz

[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb1.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image1.png)
After adding the Hard disk and Memory, and connecting the NUC to my Home Network via Cable and a HDMI monitor, I was ready to boot it up for the first time. The monitor displayed that the NUC wasn’t able to find a bootable volume, which is expected. That will come next:

## Setup Hyper-V Server 2016

I needed to add a bootable volume for which I could install Hyper-V Server 2016, and prepared an USB stick for which I would boot up the installation media for Hyper-V Server 2016. The following blog post from Thomas Maurer had the information I needed to create the selected bootable USB media: [http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2015/12/how-to-create-windows-windows-server-bootable-usb-media-for-deployment-on-uefi-based-systems/](http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2015/12/how-to-create-windows-windows-server-bootable-usb-media-for-deployment-on-uefi-based-systems/ "http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2015/12/how-to-create-windows-windows-server-bootable-usb-media-for-deployment-on-uefi-based-systems/")
When booting the NUC, Hyper-V Server 2016 setup started:
[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb2.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image2.png)
After some installation configuration choices, the setup was quickly finished.
[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb3.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image3.png)
After installation and changing the Administrator account password before first time logon, the Server Core configuration was ready for to start configure the Hyper-V Server Host.
I first did these changes:

- Renamed the Computer Name, in this case I renamed the Computer to ELVEN-NUC-HV1
- Renamed the Workgroup name (optional)
- Enabled Remote Desktop (All clients, less secure). This setting can be reversed after I have configured all the Remote Management scenarios I need to.
- Under Configure Remote Management, I also Enabled the Server to Response to Ping, that could be useful when setting up the Server.
- I also downloaded and installed any pending updates.

[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb4.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image4.png)
My next step was to configure the Hyper-V Host Server for Remote Management via Hyper-V Manager.

## Configure the Hyper-V Host for Remote Management

I want to use my Windows 10 machine and Hyper-V Manager to remote manage this Hyper-V Host, as described in this link: [https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyperv\_on\_windows/user\_guide/remote\_host\_management](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyperv_on_windows/user_guide/remote_host_management "https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyperv_on_windows/user_guide/remote_host_management").
As this will be my home/portable lab, the Hyper-V Server will not be in a domain, so I need to use the instructions at the end of the above article for Manage a Hyper-V host outside your domain (or with no domain).
This is the steps I went through to set that up:

### Configure FQDN for the Hyper-V Host

I want to set the FQDN for the Hyper-V Host so that:
```powershell
Computername = ELVEN-NUC-HV1
```
Desired Primary DNS Suffix = nuc.group
In Command Prompt, I first add the FQDN of the computer with the Netdom command:
**netdom computername %computername% /Add:ELVEN-NUC-HV1.nuc.group**
Second, I add the FQDN of the computer to primary:
**netdom computername %computername% /MakePrimary:ELVEN-NUC-HV1.nuc.group**

### Add the FQDN and IP address to the Hosts file

To be able to access the Hyper-V Server from my Windows 10 client, I add the IP address (I have created a DHCP reservation for it on my Router) and the FQDN in my Hosts file in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc directory.
[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb5.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image5.png)

### Configure Remoting on the Hyper-V Server

On the Hyper-V host to be managed, start PowerShell.exe, and run the following as an administrator:
**Enable-PSRemoting**
```powershell
Enable-PSRemoting will create the necessary firewall rules for private network zones.
```
To make sure that the connection are in the private network zone, I check with the command:
**Get-NetConnectionProfile**
In my case, as this server is in a workgroup, I must specifically change the network zone from public to private:
**Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex 4 -NetworkCategory Private**
When checking after that, the connection is now Private:
[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb6.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image6.png)
After that I run the following command:
**Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role server**

### Configure the Client

On my Windows 10 client machine, I run the following commands in a PowerShell (Run As Administrator) session:
```powershell
# Start the WinRM Service
```
**Start-Service WinRm**
```powershell
# Add the Hyper-V Server as Trusted Host
```
**Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value "elven-nuc-hv1.nuc.group"**
```powershell
# Add the Hyper-V Server to the list of servers to delegate credentials to
```
**Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role client -DelegateComputer "elven-nuc-hv1.nuc.group"**
If you later when adding the Server to Hyper-V Manager, get this error message, you need to follow these instructions on the client via GPedit.msc:
Configure the following group policy: \* Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | System | Credentials Delegation | Allow delegating fresh credentials with NTLM-only server authentication \*
Click Enable and add **wsman/elven-nuc-hv1.nuc.group**
[![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb7.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image7.png)

```powershell
##
```
## Add the Server to Hyper-V Manager

Finally, we should be ready to add the Server to Hyper-V Manager:

1. Select Connect to Server, specify name and Connect as your Admin user:
   [![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb8.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image8.png)
2. And now I can successfully configure the Hyper-V Server:
   [![image](/uploads/2016/10/image_thumb9.png "image")](/uploads/2016/10/image9.png)

I can now start adding VMs to the Server, that might be a topic for a later blog post ![Winking smile](/uploads/2016/10/wlemoticon-winkingsmile.png)