Use Local Devices and Resources in Hyper-V Virtual Machine

Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 come with Client Hyper-V so you can run a supported guest operating system inside a Virtual Machine. Hyper-V is Microsoft's native hypervisor for Windows. It was originally developed for Windows Server 2008 and then ported to Windows client OS. It has improved over time and is present in the latest Windows 10 release as well. Today, we will see how to forward your locally connected devices to a Hyper-V Virtual Machine.

Note: Only Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions include the Hyper-V virtualization technology.

What is Hyper-V

Hyper-V is Microsoft's very own virtualization solution that allows creating virtual machines on x86-64 systems running Windows. Hyper-V was first released alongside Windows Server 2008, and has been available without additional charge since Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. Windows 8 was the first Windows client operating system to include hardware virtualization support natively. With Windows 8.1, Hyper-V has got a number of enhancements such as Enhanced Session Mode, enabling high fidelity graphics for connections to VMs using the RDP protocol, and USB redirection which is enabled from the host to VMs. Windows 10 brings further enhancements to the native hypervisor offering, including:

1. Hot add and remove for memory and network adapters.
2. Windows PowerShell Direct – the ability to run commands inside a virtual machine from the host operating system.
3. Linux secure boot - Ubuntu 14.04 and later, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 OS offerings running on generation 2 virtual machines are now able to boot with the secure boot option enabled.
4. Hyper-V Manager Down-level management - Hyper-V manager can manage computers running Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.

Use Local Devices and Resources in Hyper-V Virtual Machine

Note: The Enhanced Session feature must be enabled for your virtual machine.

1. Open the Hyper-V Manager from the Start menu. Tip: See How to navigate apps by alphabet in Windows 10 Start menu.  It can be found under Windows Administrative Tools > Hyper - V manager.
2. Click on your host name on the left.
3. Double-click on your virtual machine to open its connection dialog.
4. Click on Start.
5. The Connect dialog will automatically open. There, click on Show Options.
6. Switch to the Local Resources tab.
7. Enable the options Printers and/or Clipboard to made them available in the guest OS.
8. Now, click on the More button.
9. Enable or disable devices you want to use in the virtual machine, then click OK.
10. Now, click on the Connect button to access your VM.

Note: If you enable (check) the option Save my settings for future connections to this virtual machine in the connection dialog on the Display tab, Hyper-V will connect automatically to this VM next time you start it. To undo this change, you can force open this dialog.

Force Open the Hyper-V Connect Dialog

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. Type or copy-paste the following command: vmconnect localhost "VM name" /edit
3. Substitute the localhost portion with your Hyper-V server's address.
4. Substitute the "VM name" portion with your VM name, e.g. "Windows 10".

You are done.

Related articles:

• Create Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection shortcut in Windows 10
• Import Hyper-V Virtual Machine in Windows 10
• Export Hyper-V Virtual Machine in Windows 10
• Change Hyper-V Virtual Machine Default Folder in Windows 10
• Change Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disks Folder in Windows 10
• Remove Floppy Disk Drive in Windows Hyper-V Virtual Machine
• Change DPI of Hyper-V Virtual Machine (Display Scaling Zoom Level)
• Create Shortcut for Hyper-V Virtual Machine in Windows 10
• Enable or Disable Hyper-V Enhanced Session in Windows 10
• How to Enable and Use Hyper-V in Windows 10
• Create Ubuntu Virtual Machines with Hyper-V Quick Create

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