I’m seeing lots of people adopting the Technical Previews of Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 around me, and running Virtual Machines (VMs) on the built-in Hyper-V hypervisor seems to be among the scenarios tested thoroughly.

Microsoft has issued a KnowledgeBase article detailing an update in the Integration Components (ICs) for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2 installations running as Virtual Machines on top of  Windows 10 and Windows Server 10.

Note:
Although Microsoft has not ended support on Windows 8 (Windows 8.0 RTM), they are not releasing this update for Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012. Support on Windows 8.0 ends on January 12, 2016 (24 months after the general availability of Windows 8.1)

Issues addressed

This update addresses these issues:

• Support for backing up virtual machines (VMs) that use shared virtual hard disk (VHDX).
• Better usage of Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) requestor.
• Provider flags not to require Auto-recovery phase.
• Stability and reliability improvements.

KB3037623

The updated Integration Components are part of KB3037623.

To install this update, you must have April 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (2919355) installed in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2. Or, install Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

This update replaces KB3004908 for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2 installations running as Virtual Machines on top of Windows 10 and Windows Server 10.

Concluding

This is a pretty nice update for anyone testing Hyper-V with downlevel Operating Systems in Virtual Machines in Hyper-V on Windows 10 Technical Preview and Windows Server 10 Technical Preview.

Enjoy!

Related KnowledgeBase articles

3004908 Hyper-V integration components for Windows virtual machines that are running on Windows Technical Preview hosts
3037623 Hyper-V backup integration components for VMs on Windows 10 Technical Preview or Windows Server Technical Preview hosts