Microsoft's Hyper-V Server 2008 product comes with a wizard, that allows easy configuration of the Server Core-based subsystem.

This tool can be used on normal Server Core installations of Windows Server 2008 too. This blogpost describes what files to copy from a US English Hyper-V Server 2008 installation, where to place them and how to install this wizard to autorun. All in five easy steps! 🙂

Tip!
When you're using a different language change the En-Us bit for the files accordingly:

Step 1

You will need to following files from a Hyper-V Server 2008 installation:

• C:\Windows\System32\hvconfig.cmd
• C:\Windows\System32\en-US\hvconfig.vbs
• C:\Windows\System32\en-US\WUA_SearchDownloadInstall.vbs

Step 2

Copy the files to their respective location on your Server Core installation.
Review the instruction here to get files onto your Server Core box.

Step 3

Open the Registry Editor, by running regedit.exe and browse to the following location:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Create a new String value (REG_SZ) named HVConfig. Right click it and select Modify Data from the context menu. Type C:\Windows\system32\hvconfig.cmd as the data and press the OK button to save.

Close the Registry Editor.

Step 4

Log off by typing logoff on the command prompt. Log on using an account with administrative privileges.

Step 5 (Optional)

Optionally change the contents of hvconfig.vbs to display another header.
Since we're no longer running the script on Hyper-V Server it would be appropriate to change the top banner.

Type the following command:

Notepad.exe C:\Windows\system32\en-US\hvconfig.vbs

Now change the L_Msg005_Text constant to something appropriate.

Tip!
You can also change the color of the screen by changing the second line in HVConfig.cmd. Default color is 17 (White on Blue), but I prefer 47. (White on Red)

Concluding

CoreConfigurator and CoreConfig are great tools, but HVConfig can be used just the same…