Connecting Hyper-V Manager to another PC

I just bought a new X201 laptop off ebay and wanted to use it to access my main PC (a MacBook also running Windows 10 Pro) through the Hyper-V Manager. That is to use the Hyper-V manager on the X201 to access not just the local PC but to start/stop and connect directly to the VMs on the other PC.

I'm not on a domain (in which case it would be trivial). I found a couple of links but they were not complete or didn't exactly work on Windows 10.

Hyper-V 2012 R2 and Windows 10 Incompatible? | [H]ard|Forum
Check that the Virtual Machine Management service is running and that you are authorized to connect to the server

In any case this is what you need to do...

I did all these steps on both the server (MACBOOK) and client (X201) as I wanted it to work both ways. Both are running 10 Pro in my case but they need not necessarily - you only need Hyper-V Management tools not the Hyper-V Platform on the client.

1. Enable Anonymous Login in Component Services - without this, you can't connect to your Hyper-V server if you're not in a domain. If you are on a domain it is easy - you can just pick another server in the manager.

dcomcnfg -> computers -> my computer -> properties, "COM SECURITY" tab, "ACCESS PERMISSIONS", select "edit limits", sect "ANONYMOUS LOGON", and tick "remote access" under ALLOW

2. Add your Server (MACBOOK in my case) into hosts file on your client (X201 in my case). Hyper-V looks at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. It will not work if you don't add it here if you are not on a domain.

3. Open up the 3 "Remote Event Log Management" ports on the firewall.



4. Add the server as trusted host using powershell

Code:

PS C:\Windows\system32> set-item WSMAN:\localhost\client\trustedhosts -value MACBOOK -concatenate
WinRM Security Configuration.
This command modifies the TrustedHosts list for the WinRM client. The computers in the TrustedHosts list might not be
authenticated. The client might send credential information to these computers. Are you sure that you want to modify
this list?
[Y] Yes  [N] No  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): Y
PS C:\Windows\system32>

5. Add the credentials of a remote user (I think it must be Admin user)...

Code:

PS C:\Windows\system32> cmdkey /add:MACBOOK /user:hali /pass:xxxxxxxxxxxx

CMDKEY: Credential added successfully.
PS C:\Windows\system32>

6. Then configure WinRM:

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>winrm quickconfig
WinRM is not set up to receive requests on this machine.
The following changes must be made:

Start the WinRM service.
Set the WinRM service type to delayed auto start.

Make these changes [y/n]? y

WinRM has been updated to receive requests.

WinRM service type changed successfully.
WinRM service started.
WinRM is not set up to allow remote access to this machine for management.
The following changes must be made:

Enable the WinRM firewall exception.
Configure LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy to grant administrative rights remotely to local users.

Make these changes [y/n]? y

WinRM has been updated for remote management.

WinRM firewall exception enabled.
Configured LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy to grant administrative rights remotely to local users.
C:\Windows\system32>

7. Then (and careful this is case sensitive)

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>winrm set winrm/config/client @{TrustedHosts="MACBOOK"}
Client
    NetworkDelayms = 5000
    URLPrefix = wsman
    AllowUnencrypted = false
    Auth
        Basic = true
        Digest = true
        Kerberos = true
        Negotiate = true
        Certificate = true
        CredSSP = false
    DefaultPorts
        HTTP = 5985
        HTTPS = 5986
    TrustedHosts = MACBOOK

C:\Windows\system32>

And there you go - my X201 can see my MacBook :)



I can now start/stop and connect directly to VMs from anywhere. Cool huh?

Hope this is useful to someone - VMWare is much easier for this sort of thing but at least Hyper-V is free.

cereberus said:

VMWAre Workstation 12 is free for personal use.

Workstation Player you mean?

You can not connect to a remote server and control their VM's. You would need Workstation Pro which is €250 (I mean USD). That is a bit much for home use.

I'm not anti VMWare at all (I bought their Fusion product as I have OSX things as well) but Hyper-V is free and there are many people here who have more than one PC with Windows 10 Pro who use Hyper-V.

It is very difficult to use Hyper-V to control other servers if you are not on a domain - thus my post.

I was wondering if anyone was interested. I'd write a tutorial if they were but it could be it is only me...

This has always been a gripe of mine with Hyper-V. It is unnecessarily hard to manage. The vmware vsphere offerings are simple. But like you said, vmware often comes at a cost.