I recently got around to setting up a hyper-v system at home so I can experiment with SBS 2008 in the comfort of my own home (it never stops 🙂 !)
This was a great help when swotting up for my recent SBS exam as I break it as much as I wanted to and use snapshots to go back to working system
One of the helpful parts of the streamlined SBS setup process is the answer file (which you HAVE to use if you want to use the migration process)
The official technet documentation says
If you are performing an unattended installation, connect the removable media (such as a floppy disk or a USB flash drive) that contains your answer files. Depending on the contents of your answer files, you may not see some or any of the following installation screens.
If you are using hyper-v you’ll know there is no USB support and I’ll be honest I can’t remember the last time I laid hands on a floppy disk. Also the only floppy drive I have at home is a USB one!
So what did I do?
Well the notes in the technet says removable media so a CD will work perfectly fine
Once you’ve created a CD with the answer file on it, go into the settings of the virtual machine and add a second virtual DVD drive, one for the SBS installation media and one for your answer file
You can use ISOs or DVDs
I actually used an ISO for the answer file and the DVD in the physical DVD drive as I didn’t have the SBS ISO to hand and it was quicker to create the answer file ISO than the either download the SBS ISO or create one from the DVD!
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Thanks for the tip Andy!! I was about to get frustrated when I saw your post here.
Thanks Bill
Glad it helped
was the contents of the iso file just the sbsanswerfile.xml? or were there other files?
i seem to be having a problem getting the vm to recogize the answer file in my vfd to begin with. trying the iso method.
D, yes – just the xml file – nothing else
Wow, thanks for this. I have been searching the net for a couple of hours trying to identify a way around the USB drive as I am getting ready to do a 2008 SBS in hyper V install. Hopefully this will work!
Thanks