How to Manage Hyper-V Server Core with Windows Admin Center

Follow the tasks in this guide to learn how to set up Windows Admin Center, then use it to manage Hyper-V in Server Core.

To make managing Hyper-V hosts easy from the WAC computer, the computer should be joined to the same domain as the Hyper-V servers.

Task 1: Create a WAC Account in AD

You require an AD account to connect hosts to the Windows Admin Center. Create the account and set the password to never expire.

This account needs to have admin permission for any Hyper-V host managed by the Windows Admin Center. The easiest way to grant the account admin access is to add it to the Domain Admins Active Directory group.

Task 2: Set up Kerberos Constrained Delegation

For WAC to manage a server, Kerberos Constrained Delegation must be set up to allow the Windows Admin Center server computer object access to manage the servers.

Execute the script in a DC by opening PowerShell as Administrator.

Before running the script, change the items I have in bold.

$wac =  "WAC Server"
$Managedservers = "Server1", "Server1"
ForEach ($Managedserver in $Managedservers) { 
Set-ADComputer -Identity $Managedserver -Add @{'msDS-AllowedToDelegateTo'=@("WSMAN/$wac.domainname.com")}
}

Task 3: Install Windows Admin Center

Download the Windows Admin Center and install it with default settings. When the installation is completed, the installer displays the URL to sign in to the Windows Admin Center.

Click the URL, then, sign in with a domain account. Sign in and close the notification. After signing in, configure the account you created earlier as the connection account.

Task 4: Connect the Hyper-V Servers

Follow the numberings on my screenshots below to add a Hyper-V host to the Windows Admin Center.

Task 5: Configure the Hyper-V Servers

Task 5.1: Install the File Server Role

1. Open the Hyper-V Server in the Windows Admin Center. Then, click Roles and Features in the Tools menu section.
2. After that, locate File and Storage Services and expand it. Next, expand File and iSCSI Services then, check File Server, and click Install.

Task 5.2: Confirm Hyper-V Module for PowerShell is Installed

1. Complete step 1 in Task 5.1.
2. Then, select Roles and Features, expand Remote Server Administration Tools > Role Administration Tools and confirm that Hyper-V Module for PowerShell is installed.

Task 5.3: Confirm Inbound Connections on Port 445

The Windows Admin Center uses the SMB file sharing protocol for copying files to a managed host. For this to suceed, you must configure Windows Firewall on the managed host to allow inbound connections on port 445.

Here are the steps to perform this task in WAC:

1. Open the managed Hyper-V host in WAC, then, click Firewall in the Tools menu.
2. On the details pane, click the Incoming rules tab.
3. Finally, locate the File Server Remote Management (SMB-In) rule is set to allow access on this port.

Repeat Tasks 5.1 to 5.3 for all Hyper-V hosts managed by the Windows Admin Center.

Task 6: Update Drivers in WAC Managed Hosts

Before you proceed with the steps below, download and Unpack the Driver.

Task 6.1: Copy the Drivers to the Managed Hosts

Before proceeding with the steps in this sub-task, Install OpenSSH on the remote host.

When you install a driver on a WAC managed host, WAC locates the driver on the host. So, the first step is to copy the driver to the host with these steps:

Run these commands on the computer the driver is located

1. Open PowerShell as administrator. Then, create a folder in the remote host. When you execute the commands below, PowerShell will request the password for the account specified in the Get-Credential command.

$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName  -Credential (Get-Credential  labvictor)
$ScriptBlock = {
New-Item -Path c:Drivers -Name "NetAdapterDriver" -ItemType Directory -Force
}
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock

2. Then, copy the driver folder to the destination.

scp.exe -r "E:DriversRealtek USB GBE Ethernet Controller Driver*" administrator@Hostname:"C:DriversNetAdapterDriver"

The driver files will be copied to the C:DriversNetAdapterDriver folder on the remote host.

Task 6.2: Install the Driver via the WAC

1. With the managed host open in WAC, choose the Devices menu. Then, on the details pane, locate the device category for the device you want to update its driver and expand it.

In my example, I want to update the network adapter driver on my Windows Server Hyper-V hosts.

2. Click on the device and click Update driver.

3. On the Update driver wizard fly out, Choose Install drivers from a specific folder, then, click Browse.

4. Then, on the second Select the folder that contains updated drivers flyout, navigate to the folder you copied the drivers in Task 6.1, choose the folder and click OK.

5. Back on the Update driver wizard, check the Include subfolders checkbox and click Next.

When you click Next, WAC will look for drivers in the folder and subfolders. If it finds relevant drivers, it displays their INF files.

6. Check the checkbox before the INF file and click Apply and wait for the driver to install.

Repeat Task 6.1 and Task 6.2 to update drivers on all Hyper-V hosts. You can use this method to update other drivers.

Task 7: Install Windows Update

Open the Hyper-V host in Windows Admin Center. Then, click the Updates sub-menu in the Tools menu, select the updates to install, choose the Restart option and click Install updates.

Conclusion

The Windows Admin Center (WAC) provides a GUI interface to manage Windows Server Core installation. In this guide, I have explained how to install WAC and use it to manage a Windows Server Core Hyper-V host.

I hope you found the guide helpful. Let me know your thoughts by responding to the “Was this page helpful?” below.