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Streamline Hyper-V VM Creation: PowerShell Automation for Effortless Virtualization

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SAURAV PADHY
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2 min read

If you are using Hyper-V for virtualization, You can create Hyper-V VMs using Hyper-V Manager GUI.However, creating 500 VMs or more manually is very difficult for clarity and conciseness.I am providing a script that allows you to automate the creation of VMs with just one click for better readability and flow..

Sample PowerShell Script for Automate VM

Requirements

Specs📝:

  • A new VM with 2 CPUs, 8GB RAM and 20GB storage.

  • Set up the Execution Policy

      Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Note Down the Switch

Get-VMSwitch * | Format-Table Name

Script

# Import the Hyper-V module
Import-Module Hyper-V

# Set base variables
$vmBaseName = "VM"
$vmCount = 10 #Set Howmany VM you want to Create Automatically
$vmMemory = 1GB
$vmVhdSize = 1GB
$vmPathBase = "C:\HyperV\VMs"
$vhdPathBase = "C:\HyperV\VHDs"
$virtualSwitch = "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (5) I219-LM - Virtual Switch"  ## Give the Switch Name which You Noted down
$vmGeneration = 1  # Set the VM generation to 1

# Create directories for VMs and VHDs if they don't exist
if (-Not (Test-Path $vmPathBase)) {
    New-Item -Path $vmPathBase -ItemType Directory
}
if (-Not (Test-Path $vhdPathBase)) {
    New-Item -Path $vhdPathBase -ItemType Directory
}

# Loop to create VMs
for ($i = 1; $i -le $vmCount; $i++) {
    $vmName = "$vmBaseName$i"
    $vmPath = "$vmPathBase\$vmName"
    $vhdPath = "$vhdPathBase\$vmName.vhdx"

    try {
        # Create the VM without an OS
        New-VM -Name $vmName -MemoryStartupBytes $vmMemory -Generation $vmGeneration -Switch $virtualSwitch -Path $vmPath

        # Create a new VHD for the VM
        New-VHD -Path $vhdPath -SizeBytes $vmVhdSize -Dynamic

        # Attach the VHD to the VM
        Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $vmName -Path $vhdPath

        # Enable all integration services for the VM
        $integrationServices = Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName $vmName
        foreach ($service in $integrationServices) {
            Enable-VMIntegrationService -VMName $vmName -Name $service.Name
        }

        Write-Host "Successfully created VM: $vmName with integration services enabled"
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host "Failed to create VM: $vmName. Error: $_"
    }
}

Write-Host "Created $vmCount VMs successfully."

After that Save the above script in .ps1 extension.

Ex: createvm.ps1

After that go to the Directory and run the above script in windows powershell of VM executing by:- ./<filename>.ps1

Ex: ./createvm.ps1

Summery:

Creating VM manually is Lengthier task.So, if you are scaling the things you should automate your jobs to streamline the workflow.

WindowsvirtualizationPowershell