How to: Use Your Windows Wireless Connection Inside Hyper-V

How to: Use Your Windows Wireless Connection Inside Hyper-V

Hyper-V is a powerful hyper-visor developed by Microsoft which is available in most modern Windows Server and Windows client operating systems. However, I think because of the robust way it was designed and how it is aimed primarily at Servers not workstations running off a wireless connection you might experience issues connecting to a wireless network. I found out the hard way that when you configure a wireless network switch in Hyper-V the client machine won’t be able to connect to the network if it is secured. The workaround here is simply to create an internal network and then share your internet connection with that network. Below are the step by step instructions if you are new to this:

1. Launch Hyper-V Manager from your Start Menu
2. In the Actions area in right-hand navigation, click “Virtual Switch Manager” while selecting the VM host you want to configure
   
3. When the Virtual Switch Manager window opens, select “New virtual network switch” on the left, select “Internal” on the right, and then click the “Create Virtual Switch” button
4. Give the new switch a name like “Virtual WLAN” and click “OK”
   
5.  In Windows 8 sys tray, right-click on the wireless icon and click on “Open Network and Sharing Center.” You will see the new Unidentified Network connected to the vEthernet (Virtual WLAN) adapter.
6. Back in Hyper-V Manager, select your VM (make sure it is turned off) and on the lower left side, click “Settings”
7. In the Network Adapter settings details, select the “Virtual WLAN” network switch we configured earlier and click “OK”
8. Go back to Windows 8’s Network and Sharing Center and click on the “Wi-Fi” link listed in the Connections
9. In the adapter status window, click “Properties”
   
10. In the Properties window, click the Sharing tab, check the “Allow other network users…” box, select “vEthernet (Virtual WLAN)” (or the name of your wireless adapter), and click “OK” to close the window
11. Click Close to exit the Wi-Fi status window
12. To confirm you have it setup correctly, click on the “Change adapter settings”link. You should see the word Shared beside your wireless connection.

This should get the internet connection shared and your VM with network connectivity. It seems it will be assigned a local ip address as it is an internal network so don’t panic if it is not your usual corporate/public ip space. All connectivity will appear to come from your host machine so keep that in mind. I believe most people encounter this issue when using a laptop and working on the go, but there are a few whose workstation are connected via the wireless network. There might be some limitations so probably it is a good idea to get a wired connection if you want things like PXE, remote connectivity, etc to wok. I am assuming they won’t if you use this method as the VM is effectively behind a NAT.