When I reboot a Server 2012 R2 VM, the virtual machine connection GUI immediately goes to a ctrl alt del screen displaying the date and time so you can't see the reboot status.

How do you turn off this feature?

What part of the GUI are you talking about?  Have you opened a connection to the VM with the VMconnect capability of the Hyper-V Manager console?  Or are you looking at the little thumbnail of the VM?  The thumbnail view is not updated in real time so you will not see the activity there.  However, if you have connected with VMconnect, you will see everything as it is happening.

It is not a thumbnail. 

I open Hyper-V Manager, connect and login to a Server 2012 R2 server, use the GUI to restart the computer for an application installation or any other reason and, as soon as it exits the desktop for the reboot, the date and time lock screen pops up and you can't see the rest of the reboot progress.  It says press ctr alt del to log on, but you can't because the VM is really still rebooting in the background, just hidden to you.

You have to just check back later and wait for the real login screen to appear.

With older operating systems, you can see the reboot progress through Hyper-V Manager in a similar view as if you are sitting in from of a monitor of a physical machine. 

I do this all the time and have never seen what you are describing, that's why I was asking if you were talking about the thumbnail view.

Now, if you are talking about running on 2012 R2 Hyper-V and a 2012 R2 Generation 2 VM, it often takes just a couple seconds to reboot, so there is nothing to see.  Maybe that's what is happening?  If you want to make sure this is what is happening you could BCDEDIT your BCD file and put a pause in there.  That would show you that it is going through the process.  It is just really fast now so if there is not something that will cause the process to slow down or cause a display, you simply will not see anything.

No, that's not what's happening.  I see this behavior often and not from just one Hyper-V server.

Sometimes the reboot is very fast, but it is not always rebooting that fast because the CTL ALT DEL to login does not respond until the boot is really complete.  A lock screen wallpaper/splash screen pops up when the virtual machine is still in the process of rebooting.  

For instance, when rebooting after installing Windows updates, the updates continue installing during the reboot process and can take a few minutes or more to complete depending on how many updates are installing.  However, when I reboot a Server 2012 R2 guest, the lock screen pops up almost instantly making it look as if the server is ready for a user to log in even though the system is not ready.  You cannot log in because it is still in the process of booting and finalizing the installation of updates. 

• Edited by MyGposts 4 hours 31 minutes ago

Hi Mygposts,

Are there any events of Hyper-V? They may help to analyze the problem.

Here is the guide for Hyper-V event log:
Looking at the Hyper-V Event Log:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/02/02/looking-at-the-hyper-v-event-log.aspx

Best Regards,

Leo

I don't know what I would be looking for in the event log.  It has always been this way on every Hyper-V server I have ever seen.  I tried it on a 2012 R2 server at work and I see this.  I tried it on a Windows 8.1 Pro workstation running Hyper-V client locally at home and I see the same thing.  

I always thought it was just a feature that was supposed to make the experience "nicer" to not have to see the what's going on "behind the curtain," but I find it annoying that the VM looks like it is ready for me to log in, but it is not.  So, I have to wait and try again a few seconds or a minute later to see if it is actually ready.

When I reboot a 2012 R2 Server VM, as soon it exits Windows  The CTL ATL DEL screen instantaneously appears before the the machine has even gone down in preparation for a restart and I see this screen.

 If I go to the ctr alt del menu and click on it, it doesn't respond because the VM is actually still in progress rebooting.  

Sometimes that screen appears for a few seconds, then goes away and I see the black Hyper-V screen when the computer is on the startup side of the restart process and sometimes that lock screen just stays up and hides all of the restart progress.

I wanted to know if there is a configuration setting somewhere to just show the full and complete reboot progress in the connection screen Window and not display a logon image until the computer is actually ready to be logged into.

• Edited by MyGposts 53 minutes ago

No, that's not what's happening.  I see this behavior often and not from just one Hyper-V server.

Sometimes the reboot is very fast, but it is not always rebooting that fast because the CTL ALT DEL to login does not respond until the boot is really complete.  A lock screen wallpaper/splash screen pops up when the virtual machine is still in the process of rebooting.  

For instance, when rebooting after installing Windows updates, the updates continue installing during the reboot process and can take a few minutes or more to complete depending on how many updates are installing.  However, when I reboot a Server 2012 R2 guest, the lock screen pops up almost instantly making it look as if the server is ready for a user to log in even though the system is not ready.  You cannot log in because it is still in the process of booting and finalizing the installation of updates. 

• Edited by MyGposts Tuesday, July 07, 2015 2:30 AM

No, that's not what's happening.  I see this behavior often and not from just one Hyper-V server.

Sometimes the reboot is very fast, but it is not always rebooting that fast because the CTL ALT DEL to login does not respond until the boot is really complete.  A lock screen wallpaper/splash screen pops up when the virtual machine is still in the process of rebooting.  

For instance, when rebooting after installing Windows updates, the updates continue installing during the reboot process and can take a few minutes or more to complete depending on how many updates are installing.  However, when I reboot a Server 2012 R2 guest, the lock screen pops up almost instantly making it look as if the server is ready for a user to log in even though the system is not ready.  You cannot log in because it is still in the process of booting and finalizing the installation of updates. 

• Edited by MyGposts Tuesday, July 07, 2015 2:30 AM

I don't know what I would be looking for in the event log.  It has always been this way on every Hyper-V server I have ever seen.  I tried it on a 2012 R2 server at work and I see this.  I tried it on a Windows 8.1 Pro workstation running Hyper-V client locally at home and I see the same thing.  

I always thought it was just a feature that was supposed to make the experience "nicer" to not have to see the what's going on "behind the curtain," but I find it annoying that the VM looks like it is ready for me to log in, but it is not.  So, I have to wait and try again a few seconds or a minute later to see if it is actually ready.

When I reboot a 2012 R2 Server VM, as soon it exits Windows  The CTL ATL DEL screen instantaneously appears before the the machine has even gone down in preparation for a restart and I see this screen.

 If I go to the ctr alt del menu and click on it, it doesn't respond because the VM is actually still in progress rebooting.  

Sometimes that screen appears for a few seconds, then goes away and I see the black Hyper-V screen when the computer is on the startup side of the restart process and sometimes that lock screen just stays up and hides all of the restart progress.

I wanted to know if there is a configuration setting somewhere to just show the full and complete reboot progress in the connection screen Window and not display a logon image until the computer is actually ready to be logged into.

• Edited by MyGposts Tuesday, July 07, 2015 6:08 AM

I don't know what I would be looking for in the event log.  It has always been this way on every Hyper-V server I have ever seen.  I tried it on a 2012 R2 server at work and I see this.  I tried it on a Windows 8.1 Pro workstation running Hyper-V client locally at home and I see the same thing.  

I always thought it was just a feature that was supposed to make the experience "nicer" to not have to see the what's going on "behind the curtain," but I find it annoying that the VM looks like it is ready for me to log in, but it is not.  So, I have to wait and try again a few seconds or a minute later to see if it is actually ready.

When I reboot a 2012 R2 Server VM, as soon it exits Windows  The CTL ATL DEL screen instantaneously appears before the the machine has even gone down in preparation for a restart and I see this screen.

 If I go to the ctr alt del menu and click on it, it doesn't respond because the VM is actually still in progress rebooting.  

Sometimes that screen appears for a few seconds, then goes away and I see the black Hyper-V screen when the computer is on the startup side of the restart process and sometimes that lock screen just stays up and hides all of the restart progress.

I wanted to know if there is a configuration setting somewhere to just show the full and complete reboot progress in the connection screen Window and not display a logon image until the computer is actually ready to be logged into.

• Edited by MyGposts Tuesday, July 07, 2015 6:08 AM

Hi Mygposts,

As Tim mentioned, I'm afraid I haven't seen this neither. As far as I know, there is no related configuration in Hyper V.

How about the hardware performance of the host? Low level hardware performance may cause the problem.

We may use performance monitor to analyze:
Windows Performance Monitor:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749249.aspx

Best Regards,

Leo

I have experienced this issue if I reboot a VM while in an enhanced session. I find that if you change to a basic session before rebooting the problem goes away. I'm not sure of the particulars as to why. My assumption is that the enhanced session is a pseudo RDP session and, because of that, you aren't able to see the "true" console. A basic session is more aligned with using a physical console.

• Marked as answer by MyGposts 4 hours 8 minutes ago

I have experienced this issue if I reboot a VM while in an enhanced session. I find that if you change to a basic session before rebooting the problem goes away. I'm not sure of the particulars as to why. My assumption is that the enhanced session is a pseudo RDP session and, because of that, you aren't able to see the "true" console. A basic session is more aligned with using a physical console.

That sounds like what it is.  

Surprised nobody else had ever heard of this.

• Edited by MyGposts 4 hours 9 minutes ago