Hi, In my effort to automate installation process I would like to be able to install software (for example, SQL or SharePoint) on a VHD without the need to have it up and running. this will allow me to automate this process in a fairly quick manner. Is this behavior supported on Windows Server 2012?

Hi, In my effort to automate installation process I would like to be able to install software (for example, SQL or SharePoint) on a VHD without the need to have it up and running. this will allow me to automate this process in a fairly quick manner. Is this behavior supported on Windows Server 2012? Hello, What do you mean exactly? A VHD is for VMs and not for applications. To automate the deployment of software, you can use SCCM 2012 to do it. More here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/configuration-manager-2012.aspx This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Designing and Providing Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer

I would just add that the only thing you can do with a VHD, is to mount it with diskpart while the OS is close, but you can only do basic task (copy a file on the partition, How to Compact a Dynamic VHD with Diskpart, etc...) MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring Want to follow me ? | Blog: http://www.jabea.net | http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjas/

Hi, In my effort to automate installation process I would like to be able to install software (for example, SQL or SharePoint) on a VHD without the need to have it up and running. this will allow me to automate this process in a fairly quick manner. Is this behavior supported on Windows Server 2012? Short Answer : No. What you are trying to achieve is not possible to accomplish at present, even with WS 2012 ! May be with future editions of Windows, we may get such functionalities I also agree with the suggestions provided by Mr X and Philippe (yagmoth555).Regards, Santosh I do not represent the organisation I work for, all the opinions expressed here are my own. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights. Whenever you see a helpful reply, click on Vote As Helpful & click on Mark As Answer if a post answers your question.