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.
Leave the default, Create a new virtual machine selected.
Provide a Name, Guest OS family, Guest OS version, and optionally choose to Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security.
Choose the datastore to store this virtual machine on.
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.
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
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.
Review the settings and go back to change any that do not look right.
