In Windows Server 2016, Hyper-V 2016, Microsoft has created PowerShell Direct. PowerShell Direct allows us Hyper-V administrators to communicate with a VM from the Hyper-V host regardless of the network configuration, firewall settings, security policies,  and/or remote management settings. Provided the VM meets the basic criteria (see below), we can communicate with the VM with simple PowerShell! (Sweet)

*Yes, you could always log in to the VM as well…….<lame>*

PowerShell Direct Requirements:

In order to make use of PowerShell Direct, the following conditions need to be met:

1. Hypervisor must be either Windows 10, or Windows Server 2016
2. Virtual Machine must be either Windows 10, or Windows Server 2016
3. Must have valid user credentials for the VM
4. The VM must reside on the same Hypervisor
5. The admin logged into the Hypervisor must be a Hyper-V administrator

Example:

In my example, my Hypervisor is Windows 10, and my guest VM is also a Windows 10 machine. (Sorry too lazy to get my server up =) )

Here are some cmdlets you will need to know:

• Get-VM will provide a list of all the VMs on your Hyper-V host
  • Get-VM
• This will establish the connection between you (the host) and the guest VM:
  • Enter-PSSession -VMName <VMName>
• If you want to run a block of code, rather than single line:
  • Invoke-Command -VMName <VMName> -ScriptBlock { commands }

I got that error as I shutdown the VM too quickly…

As you can see, there was no Network Adapter on my VM. Also in the screenshot above, no information was provided when I queried an IPCONFIG.

Also, I was able to shutdown the VM from my host. 🙂

I hope you’re excited as I am! Cheers!

For more information on Hyper-V 2016 and/or PowerShell Direct, see HERE.