Now, for the import… This is really stupid-simple with only a few changes/caveats on the end box so you don’t have any conflicts with existing machines created from the same template.
Pre-Import (My recommendation)…
1. Go to the drive/folder on the computer you plan on storing your new copied VM on
2. Create a folder into which your new copied/imported VM files are going to go. Name it after whatever the new computer/server name is going to be.
–Now Start the Import—
1. From the Hyper-V manager window, on the right, choose “Import Virtual Machine…”
2. Tick “do not show this page again” (do you really care what it says? MS knows we don’t so they give us this option…) and click next..
3. Hit “browse” and find that folder you just exported…
4. On the next page, select the machine (probably only one option…) you want to import and click “next”
5. This is the important page! Choose the third option on the list “Copy the virtual machine” and click next.
6. Okay, this is where the above folder we created comes into play. Select “Store the Virtual Machine in a different location” and choose that folder you created for all 3 file locations presented. click next
7. On the next screen use that same folder path again (I like keeping my VHD files with the machines they belong to). next
8. Review (double check your file locations) and click “finish” and then be patient. Imports take a little time…
9. Once done, the imported box will have the same name in Hyper-V manager as the template it was built from. Rename it so you can keep things straight.
10. You –optionally– can go into the import folder and change the names on the vhdx hard-drive files to match the computer name of the new machine. Because we store the VHDX files in each machines folder though, there should be no conflict so this is an optional step if you are an organization freak like I am. If you do do this, you will need to also go into the VM settings in Hyper-V and update location (because the file name changed) of the VHD files there as well. (right-click on machine –> settings –> Hard Drive –> browse –> select renamed file)
11. Start the machine and login to it.
12. Change the computer name and description – restart
13. Configure the IP settings and enable the NIC card
14. Download and install updates (any that have accrued since you create the template)
15. Change the product key and reactivate windows.
16. Attach to your domain, reboot
17. Assign any user accounts that need access and you are all finished!