Solved Learning how to set up VM in Win 11 Pro

I am trying to set up a virtual machine on my new Windows 11 Pro laptop. I've never tried to set up a virtual machine before, so this is a learning experience.

I've partitioned the SSD drive (as I always do with a new system), establishing three new partitions.

I've downloaded the ISO for Windows 11 and put it on the partition with the C drive:

"Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso"

I went through the creation process, going mostly with the defaults, setting the location for the ISO to the file on the partition with the C drive to use as the source for booting the VM.

I've given a folder on the partition with drive D as the storage space for the VM.

I start the VM, then try to connect to it.

A black window with the following message is shown:

-------------------------------

Press any key to start from a CD or DVD ...

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After pausing for a while, a window pops up with the following message:


Microsoft Hyper-V UEFI
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1: SCSI Disk (0,0)
The Boot loader did not load an operating system.


2: SCSI DVD - (0,1)
The boot loader failed

3: Network Adapter ([a bunch of numbers])
A boot image was not found.

No operating system was loaded. Your virtual machine may be configured incorrectly. Exit and re-configure your VM or click restart to retry the current boot sequence again.

[Restart now]
-------------------------------

Can anyone tell me what it is that I am doing wrong?

Thanks.

What app are you using to create your VM? (ie) VM Ware? VitualBox or Windows Hyper V?
You do not partition your drive, you just allow free space and alot memory during setup.

Take the Windows 11 ISO Image and burn it to a USB Flash drive or DVD with Rufus or the Media Creation tool..
Insert the installer and start the VM It should read the installer from the flash drive or DVD and start the Windows installer. When you start the VM you can choose how much drive space and Memory to alot.
The VM runs within your current Windows OS not as a separate drive.

Thanks for the reply.

I am using Hyper-V.

In my scheme of things, I prefer to isolate the operating system on drive C, then install everything else on partitions. I do that to make backups easier. Also, if I were to put all of the stuff that I have on my partitions into one partition, I would have a big huge mess, so it's also for organizational purposes.

What is different about newly-created partitions from the primary boot partition?

Could it be because Bitlocker has not been imposed upon the drive?

I am hoping that there is an answer to this question.

wally96334 said:

In my scheme of things, I prefer to isolate the operating system on drive C

Click to expand...

In your scheme of things?

Spunk said:

You do not partition your drive, you just allow free space and alot memory during setup.

Click to expand...

If it’s of any interest to you, copy/paste this into your Google search bar.

create a VM Hyper-V site:elevenforum.com

It is a good idea to have separate drives for Windows OS and your Data Files. The actual VM app is installed and runs from your C: drive. You can save your VM Images of your installed OS to your Data partition. VM don't require and do not run in a separate partition. They run in Windows.

I don't know why @antspants didn't just paste the link in his post, Create Windows 11 Virtual Machine with Hyper-V other than letting you know you can search the large Tutorial section this forum.

This is a great tutorial by our resident Hyper-V legend (@Kari). This got me started!


There are a lot of tutorials on many aspects of Hyper-V (over 20) on the tenforums tutorial.

From start to finish, this is how I install Windows to a VM...

Thanks

hsehestedt​

That is a great walkthrough.

I got it done.

I've got the VM running, but it does not respond to keystrokes. My pointing device (touchpad) can move the pointer, and I have "accessibility" and "power" icons in the lower right corner of a stock wallpaper image of a tropical location with a river in the foreground and a mountain in the background. Both icons respond to clicks.

I do not get a login prompt, or any reaction when I press the Windows key.

Any idea as to what I'm missing?

Hmmm, that's odd. With the VM window as the active window, try pressing ALT + CTRL + END. This is like pressing ALT + CTRL + DEL on the physical machine. Does that cause a logon prompt to be shown?

Let me know what happens.

One more thing...

Nothing happens.

I did press CTRL+ALT+DEL and "switch user", which worked for my physical/outer system, then logged back in, but the VM did not react to CTRL+ALT+END.

I have it set on "Use on the virtual machine", and did so at the start.

wally96334 said:

Thanks

hsehestedt​

That is a great walkthrough.

I got it done.

I've got the VM running, but it does not respond to keystrokes. My pointing device (touchpad) can move the pointer, and I have "accessibility" and "power" icons in the lower right corner of a stock wallpaper image of a tropical location with a river in the foreground and a mountain in the background. Both icons respond to clicks.

I do not get a login prompt, or any reaction when I press the Windows key.

Any idea as to what I'm missing?

Click to expand...

CC @hsehestedt

I suspect this is the annoying Windows Hello issue with Hyper-V.

Check if you are using extended mode or basic mode from VM menu in a window (not full screen).

Put it in basic mode, then you should be able to login ok. Then go to account settings and turn off Windows Hello.

You should then be able to login in advanced mode ok.

That was it.

I unchecked "Enhanced Session" on "View" and was able to log in.

THANKS.

cereberus said:

CC @hsehestedt

I suspect this is the annoying Windows Hello issue with Hyper-V.

Check if you are using extended mode or basic mode from VM menu in a window (not full screen).

Put it in basic mode, then you should be able to login ok. Then go to account settings and turn off Windows Hello.

You should then be able to login in advanced mode ok.

Click to expand...

Great catch. I was unaware of that. There is a similar issue with Remote Desktop that I knew about, but not this one.

Just clarify one detail for me: When you say to disable Windows Hello, do you mean in the VM itself?

My reason for asking is that I use hello on all physical machines and my VMs all work perfectly, but I have never enabled it in a VM.

I like to copy files back and forth between my VMs and the host laptop using a flash drive. I haven't found a way to do this with Hyper-V. I found this works on VMs created with both Oracle VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Pro. However, I found out with VirtualBox the flash drives have to be USB 2.0. With VMware Workstation the flash drives can be USB 2.0 or USB 3.0.

Here is how I mount a Sandisk flash drive on a Windows 11 24H2 VM created with VMware Workstation Pro

MisterEd said:

I like to copy files back and forth between my VMs and the host laptop using a flash drive.

Click to expand...

Hyper-V will allow the connection of an external HDD / SSD, but not devices that present as removable. I use thumb drives that present as an SSD to work around this.