How to manually merge Hyper-V snapshots into a single VHD

Okay, so you have to recreate your VM configuration and you absolutely know that your VM had a snapshot at some time. 

You also realize that if you just link to the base VHD that you will lose the current state of your VM - what do you do? 

You manually merge your snapshots into your base VHD before you boot your VM. (I am assuming that you know how to connect to an existing VHD using the new VM wizard). 

Merging of snapshots can be performed manually. This is achieved by: 

1. On your Hyper-V host.Power off the Virtual Machine. 
2. Make a copy of the VHD and its corresponding AVHD files. 
3. Rename the AVHD extension to VHD. 
4. Write down the order of the disks from youngest to oldest (the oldest should be the root VHD). You can do this by looking at the last modified time stamp on the origional AVHD files, find the one that last changed. And find the last one that changed before it. 
5. In the Hyper-V manager, open the Edit Disk wizardBrowse to the youngest VHD in the chain, then choose 'reconnect' to point to the next youngest (the one that came before). 
6. Open the Edit Disk wizard a second time and merge. 
7. Then repeat the process until you have only a single VHD. 

In a disaster case, you need to recover a copy of the root VHD prior to attaching it to a new VM and booting it (the act of booting it, modifies it) 

Usually the most difficult part of this process is finding the last AVHD (differencing disk) in the chain. 

The easiest way to do this is to find the configuration file for the VM. 

Then open up that configuration file and locate the information for the virtual hard disk. In the screen shot below is the location of the current running state of the VM. The snapshot is a point in time to return to, the current running state is the "Now" and is contained in a differencing disk (AVHD) after a snapshot has been taken. 

Now, find that AVHD file within the file system and rename it to VHD. 

Now, go back tot he Hyper-V manager and open the "Edit Disk" wizard - Select the disk that you renamed above, and merge this disk into the one before it. 

This process can be continued until all of the snapshots are merged back into a single VHD (the base VHD). 

Pasted from <http://itproctology.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-manually-merge-hyper-v-snapshots.html>  

How to Migrate DHCP from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008 or 2008 R2?

Export the DHCP database from Windows 2003:

1.                   On the Windows 2003 DHCP server, navigate to a command prompt

2.                   Type the following Command: netsh

3.                   Type the following Command: DHCP

4.                   Type the following Command: server <\\Name or IP Address>

5.                   Type the following Command: export c:\w2k3DHCPdb all

Note You must have local administrator permissions to export the data.

Import the DHCP database

1.       Copy the exported DHCP database file to the local hard disk of the Windows Server 2008-based computer.

How to get the "Add Roles" back if it is greyed?

If you faced with a situation that your Add Roles option is greyed and the refresh button at the bottom of server manager console you need to do the following to gain access back to this function:

• Go to Administrative Tools, Component services 
• Component Services, Computers, My Computer 
• Right Click Properties, Default Properties 
• Change the Default Authentication Level from None to Connect 

This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010.

January 27, 2011 4:29 PM
Article
Author: demazter Date: 04/16/2010 - 12:03PM BST
Title:
Tags: Exchange 2010 Migration, SBS2003, Small Business Server 2003, migration to Exchange 2010
Zone: Exchange Email Server


For this migration to work you will need the following software:
Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS 2003)
Windows 2008 Server or Windows 2008 R2 Server
Exchange Server 2010
Microsoft Office Filter Pack from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=60c92a37-719c-4077-b5c6-cac34f4227cc&displaylang=en
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with integrated Service Pack 2.Only the version with Integrated Service Pack 2 will install on Windows 2008 R2. You can download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9FB41E51-CB03-4B47-B89A-396786492CBA&displaylang=en
Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express which can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c243a5ae-4bd1-4e3d-94b8-5a0f62bf7796&displaylang=en  You will need to download both the 32bit and 64bit versions

Steps required:
1.   Health Checks on Small Business Server 2003