I have a question, I have a physical server that’s running raid five, and it has FSMO roles, is the DC, and holds a bunch of other services. I would like to convert this to a hyper V box and the existing server to a hyper V server. Now I’ve done some research and can’t get a definitive answer. Can I install the hyper role on the server, and then just convert the existing server to hyper V or do I need to blow the server away and start from scratch, which I won’t do. The reason I want to do this other than the obvious is I am installing a third-party app which recommends running on its own server. thank you in advance for any help. Oh one last thing I did do a search for this on serverfault but found nothing regarding server 2022.
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convert the existing server to hyper V or do I need to blow the server away and start from scratchTechnically you can take most Windows systems and convert the type of storage that you have to VHDX using Disk2VHD.exe. For the system partition, it may require adjusting the storage drivers and partitions, or you can use a third party tool for it. Those VHDX files can be used/imported on any Hyper-V server.
If you are planning an operating system upgrade as part of this, Windows Server 2025 has a simpler and easier upgrade path depending on the source version.
So you want to install the Hyper-V role on this server and then convert it to a Hyper-V guest? No, that really isn't possible. You can convert this server to a Hyper-V guest, but it can't be a Hyper-V host and host itself as a Hyper-V guest.
Find an interim physical server to install the Hyper-V role on. Then convert this server to a Hyper-V guest and host it on the interim Hyper-V server. Then rebuild this physical server as a new Hyper-V host, and then move the newly converted Hyper-V guest to the newly created Hyper-V host.