Windows 10: W2K19 Server VM vs W10 Pro VM

Hi folks : Seems crazy that on KVM/QEMU on a 64 GB RAM HOST - W2K19 server only needs as default 2 vCPU's (out of 16 available on my machine) and 2GB RAM whilst the recommended config for W10 PRO is 4 vCPU's and 4GB RAM. As I've mentioned elsewhere the W2K19 SERVER really performs well even though it's still at 1809 Level but of course is LTSC. Note though apart from Photoshop, office and serving some media files e.g via SKY GO etc I'm not really running anything seriously demanding on Windows so no extreme gaming etc -- perhaps then not a totally fair comparison - but for people just doing bog standard Office stuff and Internet surfing with a few apps like photoshop it just shows how much better W2K19 Server is than W10 Pro. Shame Ms couldn't have built on this with their W2K22 server which as I've previously posted is a "Dogs Dinner" (and that's being grossly unfair to dogs). Running as a VM : Cheers jimbo

:)

 

W10 VM on W2K19 VM on KVM Host !! nested VM's

Hi folks

So far got HYPER-V to run on a Virtual machine creating a lower level W10 VM - The W2K19 machine is itself a VM running on under KVM/QEMU

So far only got Gen 1 to work -- with Gen 2 machine starts but no video - will look at that later

but here's the Gen 1 VM

So LVL 0 --> Host (Arch linux KVM kernel 5.10.7)
LVL1 W2K19 server with HYPER-V enabled
LVL2 W10 Pro running as a VM on LVL1 VM





Now to sort out networking !!!!! to the main Host

This gets to be quite fun

BTW you need in the host to enable nested virtualisation of course and set the CPU to passthru (in the cpu use host-passthru in the dropdown if using virtual machine manager .

Cheers
jimbo

 

on a VM creating W2K19 server as workstation - working well

Hi folks

playing around with these servers is actually quite addictive and great for "wasting time" -- apart from being also a great learning tool on how these things are managed etc they work great as a desktop workstation !!!

Gave up on W2k22 server as workstation - too many problems

Got W2k19 server working though as a VM - it's really efficient IMO certainly compared with W10 HOME and still better than W10 PRO -- also no networking problems whatsoever !!!

1) changed admin user name (administrator) to my user name
2) got rid of alt-ctrl-del key for logon
3) got rid of "nag screen" when you reboot the system
4) disabled the "maintain server app " at start up
5) sound working fine (just enable the service)
6) changed the password enforcement so you can use any (or none)
7) installed manually some themes for better desktop -- Ms store not available for this server so manually install themes
8) allowed installs from anywhere
9) enabled RDP
10) enabled SMB1 -- needed to access some boxes on my LAN
11) installed filezilla, office 2019, project pro and visio

Still to do -- install a VM on this VM to test 2nd level VM !! and try language packs. I'll see if I can get a HYPER-V VM running on this VM later.

Only snag so far - not really a snag -- Macrium won't install unless you buy the server version --too expensive so as it's a VM I just save the VM files.





Note though the bootable stand alone iso works - create it on W10 and then set as the boot device on the W2K19 server VM to copy / image disks.

Cheers
jimbo

 

W10 Activation in VMs

I have Windows 10 Pro and want to install W10 on a Virtual Machine using Hyper-V.

I've downloaded an ISO and booted into the VM, but when presented with the product key entry I'm not sure if I should skip it, or enter the product key for my current machine (i.e would that disable the already licensed machine...?)