Overview
Since I am a big fan of VMware, all of my lab will be built using VMware technology. I am using ESXi 7.0 U3 on my base host to build up a nested virtualized environment.
Create a Virtual Machine
Select Create / Register VM link to start the New virtual machine wizard.
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Leave the default, Create a new virtual machine selected.
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Provide a Name, Guest OS family, Guest OS version, and optionally choose to Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security.
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Choose the datastore to store this virtual machine on.
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Customize the virtual machine settings as needed.
For Windows Servers, I use:
CPU: 4 CPUs with 2 cores per socket. Always make sure the number of sockets does not exceed the number of physical CPU packages on the virtual host.
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Memory: 16 GB
Hard disk 1: 40 GB
SCSI Controller 0: VMware Paravirtual
Network adapter 1: Choose the appropriate VLAN and change the Adapter Type to VMXNET 3
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CD/DVD Drive 1: Specify the Datastore ISO file from the datastore if the ISO to install is already uploaded.
Video Card: Change the selection to Specify custom settings and set the Total video memory to 256 MB.
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Review the settings and go back to change any that do not look right.
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