Connecting Windows Server 2003 VM To External Network In Hyper-V

October 3, 2014

Now I have installed Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition with SP2 on a new VM. I set up the Network Adapter to use the same virtual switch (“External WiFi”) that I’ve been using for my VM’s. But this time, my Windows Server 2003 VM cannot connect to the network.

According to the many sources I found online, I need to add a Legacy Network Adapter to the Windows Server 2003 VM.

Adding the Legacy Network Adapter Device to the VM

Add a Legacy Network Adapter Hardware to the Windows Server 2003 VM via Hyper-V Manager (Hyper-V Manager > {MyVMhere} > Setting)

Adding a Legacy Network Adapter to a Virtual Machine in Hyper-V

Then connect that to the Virtual Switch:

Connecting a Legacy Network Adapter to an External Virtual Switch in Hyper-V

Installing the Adapter to the VM

We need to copy some NIC driver files from an existing x64 machine — files from Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Sp1 worked just fine:

1. Create a floppy disk from the Hyper-V Manager. Mount that to an existing VM. Here’s how to create and use a Virtual Floppy Disk.

2. On the existing VM, copy the files from %windir%System32DriverStoreFileRepositorydc21x4vm.inf_amd64_aaa5f1eb8c006024into the floppy disk. Then, dismount/unmount the floppy disk.

Files needed to install Legacy Network Adapter to a Windows Server 2003 VM in Hyper-V

3. Mount the same floppy disk to the Windows Server 2003 x64 VM.

4. Then install the Legacy Network Adapter to the Windows Server 2003 x64 VM.

Installing Legacy Network Adapter to Windows Server 2003 x64 VM in Hyper-V

You should now be able to do your Windows Server 2003 x64 Updates.

Legacy Network Adapter in Windows Server 2003 x64 in Hyper-V

I hope that saves you some time.

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Categorised as: Microsoft, Server OS, Windows Upgrade

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