Week 31 of my MCSE studies was my first week back after a break for Christmas, and it was a fantastic week! I started my third and final pass through the KnowledgeNet 70-410 Live Learning course, finished the 70-411 Microsoft Training Guide, started my second pass through the 70-410 Microsoft Training Guide, and did some maintenance to the lab hardware. I also setup 16 virtual machines and one Hyper-V host in preparation for the final push through the 70-410 material before taking the exam. Not only did I learn a lot from the courses, but I also learned quite a bit from setting up Hyper-V and getting virtual machines setup on that particular host. All in all, I had a great time this past week!
Cool Stuff
The coolest thing from week 31? Wow. I'm not sure if it's going to be an easy task to pick just one thing. If I had to pick, it would have to be the 'gotcha' that I discovered while working on setting up some virtual machines on Hyper-V.
I had downloaded the Windows Server 2012 R2 as a VHD in order to speed up the deployment of the lab. I was initially dismayed that I couldn't set up a Generation 2 virtual machine with the VHD, since Gen. 2 VMs can only use the newer VHDX virtual hard drive files. No big deal, I had just found the link in Hyper-V Manager to edit and convert virtual hard drives. I converted the downloaded VHD file to a VHDX, and set up a new Gen. 2 VM. Once again, disappointment. I got a boot failure message. I tried a couple of other things, including re-converting the VHD, but nothing worked. I could get the Gen.2 VM to boot.
A little digging around on the Web revealed the issue. When converting a boot VHD to a VHDX file, a Gen. 1 VM will boot, but a Gen. 2 VM will not. This is due to the difference in boot partition layout and it's incompatibility with UEFI firmware in Gen. 2 VMs. So, in short, if you are using a virtual hard drive converted from a VHD to VHDX, a Gen. 1 VM can use it as either a boot drive or a data drive, but a Gen. 2 VM can only use it as a data drive.
So, while I was disappointed that I couldn't use the converted VHDX file to set up a Gen. 2 VM, I was quite happy that I had discovered this little 'gotcha', and was able to put it into my list of lessons learned.
PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I was torn between two PowerShell cmdlets this week, but I ultimately chose the one most closely related to the topic I discussed in 'Cool Stuff'.
Convert-VHD
For example, if I wanted to convert the VHD file "Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhd", located in the "E:\ISO" folder, to a VHDX file, I would use the following:
Convert-VHD -Path E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhd -DestinationPath E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhdx
After waiting for a few minutes, I would have a new vhdx file alongside the original.
To convert a VHD file to a VHDX, remove the original file after the conversion, and change it to a Fixed disk vs. a Dynamic disk, I would use the following:
Convert-VHD -Path E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhd -DestinationPath E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhdx -DeleteSource -VHDType Fixed
Simple enough. Just remember, you cannot boot a Generation 2 virtual machine from a VHDX file that has been converted from a VHD file.
Stats
Total time studying: 25 hrs.
- 70-411: 8 hrs. 15 min.
- 70-410: 15 hrs. 25 min.
- Lab Maintenance: 1 hr. 20 min.
Resources used:
In Closing
This has been one of the best weeks so far! I had a great time, learned a lot, and regained some of the confidence that I had lost over the past few weeks. I am really looking forward to continuing my studies and learning more as I prepare for the 70-410 exam. Also on the plan for the week is to get an Office 365 subscription and sign up for the one month free trial of Microsoft Azure. I look forward to telling you all about my experiences in my next weekly post.
Have a fantastic week everyone!
In Closing
This has been one of the best weeks so far! I had a great time, learned a lot, and regained some of the confidence that I had lost over the past few weeks. I am really looking forward to continuing my studies and learning more as I prepare for the 70-410 exam. Also on the plan for the week is to get an Office 365 subscription and sign up for the one month free trial of Microsoft Azure. I look forward to telling you all about my experiences in my next weekly post.
Have a fantastic week everyone!
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