Useful Hyper-V utilities (for the Core guys)

When setting up demos, labs or just showing customers how to do various stuff in Hyper-V / Server Core / Windows sometimes things get screwed up. Or you need to disable/enable something that’s been turned on/off. In Core this can of course be a challenge, and I’ve lately run across a few different utilities and built in commands that might help you get through your 8 hours with slightly less hassle.

netcfg.exe
Netcfg can be used to enumerate and show adapters, networking services and protocols. Installation and removal of the same components can also be done with netcfg.

When run in a command prompt just running netcfg won’t show you anything, but to get the syntax you’ll need the netcfg /?.

netcfg [-v] [-e] [-winpe] [-l ] -c -i
-winpe installs TCP/IP, NetBIOS and Microsoft Client for Windows preinstallation envrionment
-l provides the location of INF
-c provides the class of the component to be installed (p == Protocol, s == Service, c == Client)
-i provides the component ID

The arguments must be passed in the order shown.

Examples:
netcfg -l c:oemdirfoo.inf -c p -i foo
…installs protocol ‘foo’ using c:\oemdir\foo.inf

netcfg -c s -i MS_Server
…installs service ‘MS_Server’

OR

netcfg [-v] -winpe
Examples:
netcfg -v -winpe
…Installs TCP/IP, NetBIOS and Microsoft Client for Windows preinstallation environment

OR

netcfg [-v] -q
Example:
netcfg -q MS_IPX
…displays if component ‘MS_IPX’ is installed

OR

netcfg [-v] [-e] -u
Example:
netcfg -u MS_IPX
…uninstalls component ‘MS_IPX’

OR

netcfg [-v] -s
where,
-stprovides the type of components to show
ta == adapters, n == net components
Examples:
netcfg -s n
…shows all installed net components

OR

netcfg [-v] -b
Examples:
netcfg -b ms_tcpip
…shows binding paths containing ‘MS_TCPIP’

General Notes:n”
-v Run in verbose (detailed) mode
-e Use servicing environment variables during install and uninstall
-? Displays this help information

See the pictures for listing adapters and protocols.

hvremote.wsf
Hvremote lets you configure remote administration of Hyper-V hosts either it be the server or the client that’s not in a domain and so on. On the download page for hvremote they have an excellent 10-second guide so I’m not gonna give you the syntax, I’ll just send you straight over there: http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/HVRemote.

nvspbind
Nvpsbind lets you enable or disable network protocol bindings on adapters by using the command line. In Server Core or Hyper-V Server this isn’t possible otherwise since the control panel applet isn’t available (that’ll be the ncpl.cpl). Check this out for more information!

nvspcrub.js
And if you use the above utility a little too much, or just happen to remove the Hyper-V role from a Core-box you might need this script to rescue you. It’ll reset the network configuration and remove the Hyper-V networking components. Read more and download!