The Ultimate Hyper-V PowerShell Commands Cheat Sheet

PowerShell is a powerful scripting language that can be used to manage various aspects of Hyper-V, Microsoft’s virtualization platform. Below are some common Hyper-V tasks and the corresponding PowerShell code to perform them. Remember to run PowerShell with administrator privileges when managing Hyper-V, as some tasks may require elevated permissions.

 

List all virtual machines:

Get-VM

 

Start a virtual machine:

Start-VM -Name “YourVMName”

 

Stop a virtual machine:

Stop-VM -Name “YourVMName” -Force

 

Create a new virtual machine:

New-VM -Name “NewVM” -MemoryStartupBytes 2GB -NewVHDPath “C:\Path\to\YourVM.vhdx” -NewVHDSizeBytes 50GB

 

Set the amount of memory for a virtual machine:

Set-VMMemory -VMName “YourVMName” -DynamicMemoryEnabled $true -MinimumBytes 512MB -MaximumBytes 4GB

 

Attach a virtual DVD drive to a virtual machine:

Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName “YourVMName” -Path “C:\Path\to\YourISO.iso”

 

Get information about a virtual machine:

Get-VM “YourVMName” | Format-List *

 

Export a virtual machine:

Export-VM -Name “YourVMName” -Path “C:\Path\to\ExportFolder”

 

Import a virtual machine:

Import-VM -Path “C:\Path\to\ExportFolder” -Copy -GenerateNewId

 

Get a list of virtual switches:

Get-VMSwitch

 

List all virtual hard drives (VHDs):

Get-VHD

 

Create a new virtual hard drive:

New-VHD -Path “C:\Path\to\YourNewVHD.vhdx” -SizeBytes 100GB -Dynamic

 

Attach a virtual hard drive to a virtual machine:

Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName “YourVMName” -Path “C:\Path\to\YourExistingVHD.vhdx”

 

Remove a virtual hard drive from a virtual machine:

Remove-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName “YourVMName” -ControllerType SCSI -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 1

 

Snapshot a virtual machine:

Checkpoint-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -SnapshotName “YourSnapshotName”

 

Revert a virtual machine to a specific snapshot:

Restore-VMSnapshot -VMName “YourVMName” -Name “YourSnapshotName”

 

Export all virtual machines:

Get-VM | Export-VM -Path “C:\Path\to\ExportAllVMs” -NamePrefix “Exported”

 

Get information about virtual machine network adapters:

Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName “YourVMName”

 

Change the number of virtual processors for a virtual machine:

Set-VMProcessor -VMName “YourVMName” -Count 4

 

Enable Nested Virtualization for a virtual machine:

Set-VMProcessor -VMName “YourVMName” -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true

 

Get information about running virtual machines:

Get-VM | Where-Object { $_.State -eq ‘Running’ }

 

Get a list of all checkpoints (snapshots) for a virtual machine:

Get-VMSnapshot -VMName “YourVMName”

 

Remove a checkpoint (snapshot) for a virtual machine:

Remove-VMSnapshot -VMName “YourVMName” -Name “YourSnapshotName”

 

Rename a virtual machine:

Rename-VM -VMName “OldVMName” -NewName “NewVMName”

 

Change the boot order of a virtual machine:

Set-VMFirmware -VMName “YourVMName” -FirstBootDevice “CD”

 

Enable or disable Hyper-V Integration Services:

Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName “YourVMName” | Enable-VMIntegrationService -Name “GuestServiceInterface”

Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName “YourVMName” | Disable-VMIntegrationService -Name “GuestServiceInterface”

 

List all Hyper-V checkpoints on the host:

Get-VMSnapshot -ComputerName “YourHyperVHost”

 

Create a new Hyper-V virtual switch:

New-VMSwitch -Name “YourSwitchName” -SwitchType External -NetAdapterName “YourPhysicalNIC”

 

Set up a virtual machine to start automatically with the host:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -AutomaticStartAction Start -AutomaticStartDelay 120

 

Configure Hyper-V replication for a virtual machine:

Enable-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” -ReplicaServerName “TargetHyperVHost” -ReplicaServerPortNumber 80 -AuthenticationType Kerberos

 

Display Hyper-V host information:

Get-VMHost

 

Set CPU weight for a virtual machine:

Set-VMProcessor -VMName “YourVMName” -RelativeWeight 200

 

Check the status of Hyper-V replication:

Get-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName”

 

Start Hyper-V replication for a virtual machine:

Start-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” -ReplicaServerName “TargetHyperVHost” -ReplicaServerPortNumber 80 -AuthenticationType Kerberos

 

Stop Hyper-V replication for a virtual machine:

Stop-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” -ReplicaServerName “TargetHyperVHost”

 

Configure Hyper-V Replica frequency:

Set-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” -ReplicationFrequencyInSec 300

 

Check Hyper-V virtual machine integration services status:

Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName “YourVMName”

 

Configure Hyper-V virtual machine automatic checkpoints:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -CheckpointType Standard -CheckpointFileLocation “C:\Path\to\Checkpoints”

 

Set up Hyper-V dynamic memory for a virtual machine:

Set-VMMemory -VMName “YourVMName” -DynamicMemoryEnabled $true -MinimumBytes 512MB -MaximumBytes 8GB

 

Export Hyper-V virtual machine configuration settings:

Export-VM -Name “YourVMName” -ConfigurationOnly -Path “C:\Path\to\ConfigurationExport”

 

Clone a virtual machine:

New-VM -Name “ClonedVM” -VMPath “C:\Path\to\ClonedVM” -Generation 2 -Copy -ReferenceSnapshotName “YourSnapshotName”

 

Assign a static MAC address to a virtual network adapter:

Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName “YourVMName” | Set-VMNetworkAdapter -StaticMacAddress “00:15:5D:00:01:23”

 

Configure Hyper-V host networking settings:

Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object { $_.InterfaceDescription -eq “Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter” } | Set-NetIPInterface -DHCP Disabled

 

Enable Nested Virtualization at the host level:

Set-VMHost -EnableEnhancedSessionMode $true

 

View Hyper-V virtual machine events:

Get-WinEvent -LogName Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin

 

Change the startup memory for a virtual machine:

Set-VMMemory -VMName “YourVMName” -StartupBytes 2GB

 

List all Hyper-V checkpoints on a virtual machine:

Get-VMSnapshot -VMName “YourVMName” | Select-Object VMName, Name, CreationTime

 

Enable Hyper-V replication compression:

Set-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” -ReplicationEnableCompression $true

 

View Hyper-V host processor information:

Get-Processor | Format-List *

 

Configure Hyper-V Smart Paging file location:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -SmartPagingFilePath “C:\Path\to\SmartPagingFile”

 

Configure Hyper-V host for Live Migration:

Enable-VMMigration -MaxReceiveInterval 500 -AuthenticationType CredSSP

 

Set up Hyper-V replication for multiple virtual machines:

Get-VM -Name “VM1”, “VM2” | Enable-VMReplication -ReplicaServerName “TargetHyperVHost” -ReplicaServerPortNumber 80 -AuthenticationType Kerberos

 

Enable Hyper-V Enhanced Session Mode for a virtual machine:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -EnhancedSessionModePolicy Allowed

 

List all checkpoints with details for a virtual machine:

Get-VMSnapshot -VMName “YourVMName” | Format-Table VMName, Name, CreationTime, ParentSnapshotId -AutoSize

 

Configure Hyper-V host for automatic stop action:

Set-VMHost -AutomaticStopAction TurnOff -AutomaticStopActionTime 120

 

Check Hyper-V virtual machine replication health:

Get-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” | Measure-VMReplication

 

Modify Hyper-V virtual machine resource metering:

Enable-VMResourceMetering -VMName “YourVMName”

 

Set a Hyper-V virtual machine to automatically start with the host:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -AutomaticStartAction Start -AutomaticStartDelay 60

 

Configure Hyper-V host for shared virtual hard disks:

Enable-ClusterStorageSpacesDirect

 

Remove a Hyper-V virtual switch:

Remove-VMSwitch -Name “YourSwitchName”

 

Configure Hyper-V virtual machine automatic start and stop time:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -AutomaticStartAction Start -AutomaticStartDelay 120 -AutomaticStopAction ShutDown -AutomaticStopDelay 60

 

Enable or disable Hyper-V Secure Boot for a virtual machine:

Set-VMFirmware -VMName “YourVMName” -SecureBootTemplate MicrosoftUEFICertificateAuthority

 

Configure Hyper-V virtual machine VLAN ID for network isolation:

Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName “YourVMName” | Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -Access -VlanId 100

 

Check Hyper-V virtual machine replication health:

Get-VMReplication -VMName “YourVMName” | Measure-VMReplication

 

Set Hyper-V host power plan to High Performance:

powercfg /s SCHEME_MIN

 

Adjust Hyper-V virtual machine memory buffer:

Set-VMMemory -VMName “YourVMName” -Buffer 20%

 

Enable Hyper-V host Dynamic Optimization:

Enable-ClusterScheduling -DynamicOptimization $true

 

Set Hyper-V host energy efficiency mode:

powercfg /query SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_SLEEP STANDBYIDLE

powercfg /change standby-timeout-ac 0
powercfg /change standby-timeout-dc 0

 

Configure Hyper-V virtual machine automatic checkpoints:

Set-VM -VMName “YourVMName” -CheckpointType Production

 

Set Hyper-V host storage migration performance options:

Set-ClusterParameter -Name CSVEnableBlockCache -Value 1

 

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BackupChain only needs to be installed on the host and each license includes unlimited live virtual machine backup on these main platforms:

• Hyper-V Backup on Windows Server 2022 – 2008 as well as Windows 11 – 8 hosts
• VMware Backup on all Windows platforms
• VirtualBox Backup on all Windows platforms
• Cloud Backup for Virtual Machines