In this post I would like to share scripts and steps I used to create a new Azure VM with managed disks based on a uploaded Hyper-V VHD file. There is a number of things to do before uploading the VHD to Azure. Microsoft Docs has a good checklist here with steps how-to prepare a Windows VM to be uploaded to Azure. Some of the most important things to think about is that the disk must have a fixed size, be in VHD format and the VM must be generation 1. It is also recommended to enable RDP (😊) and install the Azure VM Agent. The overall steps are

1. Create a Azure storage account
2. Prepare the server according to the link above
3. Export the disk in VHD format with fixed size
4. Build a new VM with the exported disk. This is not required, but can be a good thing to do just to verify that the exported VHD file works before uploaded to Azure
5. Upload the VHD file
6. Create a new VM based on the VHD file
7. Connect to the new VM and verify everything works
8. Delete the uploaded VHD file

The following figure show the storage account configuration were the VHD file is stored

The following image show the upload process of the VHD file… the last image show creation of the new VM

The script I used to upload the VHD file

Login-AzureRmAccount -SubscriptionId 9asd3a0-aaaaa-4a1c-85ea-4d11111110be5

$localfolderpath = “C:\Export”
$vhdfilename = “LND-SRV-1535-c.vhd”
$rgName = “migration-rg”
$storageaccount = “https://migration004.blob.core.windows.net/upload/”

$localpath = $localfolderpath + “\” + $vhdfilename
$urlOfUploadedImageVhd = $storageaccount + $vhdfilename
Add-AzureRmVhd -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Destination $urlOfUploadedImageVhd -LocalFilePath $localpath -OverWrite

The script I used to create the new VM. Note that the script connects the new VM to the first subnet on a VNET called CONTOSO-VNET-PRODUCTION. Also note that the size of the VM is set to Standard_A2.

Login-AzureRmAccount -SubscriptionId 9asd3a0-aaaaa-4a1c-85ea-4d11111110be5

$vmName = “LND-SRV-1535”
$location = “West Europe”
$rgName = “migration-rg”
$vhdfile = “LND-SRV-1535-c”
$vhdsize = “25”
$sourceVHD = “https://migration004.blob.core.windows.net/upload/” + $vhdfile + “.vhd”

### Create new managed disk based on the uploaded VHD file
$manageddisk = New-AzureRmDisk -DiskName $vhdfile -Disk (New-AzureRmDiskConfig -AccountType StandardLRS -Location $location -CreateOption Import -SourceUri $sourceVHD -OsType Windows -DiskSizeGB $vhdsize) -ResourceGroupName $rgName

### Set VM Size
$vmConfig = New-AzureRmVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize “Standard_A2”

### Get network for new VM
$vnet = Get-AzureRMVirtualNetwork -Name CONTOSO-VNET-PRODUCTION -ResourceGroupName CONTOSO-RG-NETWORKING
$ipName = $vmName + “-pip”
$pip = New-AzureRmPublicIpAddress -Name $ipName -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -AllocationMethod Dynamic
$nicName = $vmName + “-nic1”
$nic = New-AzureRmNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets[0].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id
$vm = Add-AzureRmVMNetworkInterface -VM $vmConfig -Id $nic.Id

### Set disk
$vm = Set-AzureRmVMOSDisk -Name $manageddisk.Name -ManagedDiskId $manageddisk.Id -CreateOption Attach -vm $vm -Windows

### Create the new VM
New-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -VM $vm