I was able to run the vhd before I updated to Windows 8.1 pro just fine. I cleaned up all my old VMs and attempted to download a new copy and cannot get a VM to power on. I assume Gen 1 since it is a VHD file and not a VHDx file. For the ISO I have tried Gen1 and Gen2.

I checked the security on the folder, it is allowed access and is not shared. I've tried downloading the VHD and ISO. I also cannot get a VM to start with a Linux bootable ISO and it gets farther but fails to boot "EFI SCSI Device". The error I get on the downloaded evaluation versions is below.

Microsoft Emulated IDE Controller (Instance ID guid): Failed to Power on with Error 'The version does not support this version of the file format.'

0xC03A0005 is listed in the error text. Searching appears to pull up problems with windows backups and not hyper-v. The files are all on a local (C:) SSD.

Use gen 1, IDE and AHCI in bios, if you use SSD hard disks.   M.

Only Windows 8 and Server 2012 are supported Gen2 VMs. You can't install Linux into a Gen 2 VM.

That's your "EFI SCSI Error"

The VHD is likely Gen2 if you're getting the IDE error, since only Gen 1 VMs have IDE.

Generally, there is a readme file that accompanies the VHD or ISO with basic instructions, did you view this?

Please provide the download links for these downloads that you're referring to.