Hyper-V CentOS 5.2 Distributions

Update: 22nd May 2009 - This does not work with CentOS 5.3 or RedHat 5.3.
Update:
29th December 2008 - I have compacted the original vhd files rather better, and the total download for each version is now about 2.3 Gbytes.

To make life easier for everyone, I have put together a couple of VHD files for Hyper-V that contain a pre-built x86 and x86_64 (x64) distribution of CentOS 5.2 including pre-installed Linux Integration Components. They are fully patched up to date, including the latest kernel version available, as of Christmas 2008.

The root password for each of them is the word “password” (without the quotes).

To construct each one, go to the relevant directories for
the x86 (32-bit)
or x64 (64-bit)
versions and download all the zip files in the directory.

Unpack each zip file and you will have a string of files partaa, partab, partac and so on.

On a Windows system you can join these together into the .vhd file with the command (in a normal Command Prompt window)
x86: copy /B partaa+partab+partac+partad+partae+partaf+partag+partah+partai+partaj+partak+partal CentOS5.2.x86.vhd
(all of that should be on one line)
x64: copy /B partaa+partab+partac+partad+partae+partaf+partag+partah+partai+partaj+partak+partal CentOS5.2.x64.vhd
(all of that should be on one line)

You should end up with a single .vhd file with the following size:
x86: 16173279232 bytes
x64: 18433592832 bytes

Then just build a virtual machine around each one with the .vhd file as the IDE hard disk, and with a Network Adapter (not a Legacy Network Adapter) in it.

Remember that the root password is the word “password” (without the quotes).

You will need to edit these files
  • /etc/hosts
  • /etc/resolv.conf
  • /etc/sysconfig/network

and then run the command “setup” to configure the IP address and so on of the “seth0” network device. Then just reboot and you’re away.

If you need a graphical interface with a mouse and such, then change the “3” to a “5” in the “default” line in /etc/inittab and reboot. But I would advise leaving it in text-only mode.