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We're setting up three machines to host a total of 12 VMs running 2012 r2. We purchased 6 licenses of 2012 R2, but we're not sure that allows us to install 2012 r2 as a base OS on each box and still have our 12 VMs. Because of this, we installed Hyper-V 2012, which MS provides for free.

The problem we have now is that we need to remotely administer both Hyper-V 2012, which is core, and our 2012 r2 VMs. It appears that we'll need to run both Windows 8 and 8.1 because there seems to be a problem with running the remote management tools for Hyper-V 2012 R2 on Windows 8.

It seems very odd that if you want to manage Hyper-V 2012 and Server 2012 R2 that you would need both a Windows 8 and a Windows 8.1 machine handy. Am I missing something?

Benjamin Peikes
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    I have lost the link, but I am pretty sure Microsoft has said the 2012r2 Hyper-v tools can manage a 2012 Hyper-V host. I have been managing both 2012r2 and 2012 hosts from my Win 8.1 host and I haven't noticed any huge issues. – Zoredache Nov 19 '13 at 21:15
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    Hyper-v 2012r2 is also available and free. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/dn205299.aspx – Zoredache Nov 19 '13 at 21:17
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    Beyond that, a windows 2012 license will allow you one install on a physical server and two virtual instances on top of that physical installation. – Rex Nov 19 '13 at 21:28

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System Center Virtual Machine Manager is the cross-version story for managing Hyper-V. It will simultaneously manage several versions of Hyper-V.

In general, using the built-in 2012 R2 tools with 2012 is going to involve some mismatch and lead to odd results. Microsoft only builds in same-version management tools, not cross-version tools, even when downloading the Remote Server Administration Toolkit (RSAT) for Windows clients.

Along with the person who commented on your question, I recommend that you download Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 and run that instead.

Jake Oshins
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