Hyper-V – Copying Files between a VM and the Host

There are several methods to achieve this, depending on the version of Hyper-V you are running.

Whilst there is a common belief that files cannot be copied and pasted between the VM and the Host, this is not strictly true, we shall explore the ways you can achieve this functionality here:

  • Use ESM (Enhanced Session mode) Available in Win 8/8.1 Server 2012/2012R2, VM must be Server 2012R2 or Windows 8.1 and have remote desktop service enabled
    • Go into the Hyper-V console and Select Hyper-V Settings
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    • Select Enhanced Session mode Policy and tick the box in the right hand pane
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    • Click OK
    • Launch Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection with admin privileges (Do Not double click the VM in the console, this will not work!)
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    • select the VM you are interested in and click connect
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    • Click on Show options
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    • Ensure Clipboard is selected – this will allow you to copy paste files between the host and the VM
    • Additional, Click on the More button
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    • Here you can select local drives from the host to pass through.

Alternatively, if you have Windows 7 VMs, and can connect using remote desktop, then the clipboard is enabled by default.

If for any reason, neither of these scenarios fit, there are still a couple of other options:

Shutdown the VM and mount the VHD/VHDX file in windows, you can then browse the disk and copy files directly into it. Unmount the file and restart the VM

Alternatively, create a share on your host, with ‘everyone’ having read/write. Then in your VM browse for the folder or enter \\yourvmhostname\yoursharedfoldername into the run prompt / explorer task bar

 

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