Installing the SCVMM (Non SP1) console on Windows 8

If you find yourself running the new swanky Windows 8 OS on your desktop that you use for administration, you might run into a problem with trying to install the System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager console for remote admin purposes.

When Service Pack 1 is released (very soon) this isn't too much of an issue, except when you may want to administer a non-SP1 SCVMM setup.

So, there's a "hack" to install the SCVMM console, without SP1, on a Windows 8 machine.

** Firstly - disclaimer - This is in no way shape or form supported and you are to run this at your own risk, it's not my responsibility if it kills your infrastructure!!! **


Steps:

1. Grab the SP1 Beta install folder for SCVMM and copy it locally to a folder called VMMSP1
2. Copy the Non-SP1 install files locally to a folder too called VMMNONSP1
3. Rename the setup folder in either i386 or amd64 depending on your OS in the SP1 media to setupOrig.  In the screen shot below I've done this for the i386 folder.
   
   
   
4. Copy the setup folder for the relevant os (x86/x64) from the non-sp1 folder to the SP1 folder
   
   
   
5. Edit the PrerequisiteInputFile1033.xml in the setup folder copied across to the SP1 folder and look for the Win7 section below:
   
   <LogicDelegate LogicType="or" DelegateId="OSVersion-win7-Fail"
    DelegateNameSpace="Microsoft.VirtualManager.SetupFramework.BuiltInDelegates,SetupFramework"
   DelegateName="RequiredOperatingSystem">
   6.1.7600.0,6.1.9999.9999,Win32NT,WinNT,2
   </LogicDelegate>
6. Add this new section underneath the Win7 section:
   
   <LogicDelegate LogicType="or" DelegateId="OSVersion-win8-Fail"
    DelegateNameSpace="Microsoft.VirtualManager.SetupFramework.BuiltInDelegates,SetupFramework"
   DelegateName="RequiredOperatingSystem">
   6.2.9200.0,6.2.9999.9999,Win32NT,WinNT,2
   </LogicDelegate>
   
   
   
7. Go back to the root level for the OS "bitness" you're doing this for and run SetupVMM.exe
   
   
   
8. Don't worry when you see the splash screen as this will still say SP1, just click "Install"
   
   
9. This will then launch the Non-SP1 install and allow you to step through the options as normal to install the admin console.
   
   
   

As I said before, use this at your own risk and test fully in a lab environment first.  I will not be held responsible for what may go wrong, there's probably a reason Microsoft blocks the install, but I've always hated to be told no so had to try this.

Thanks to Dirk Flakowski for getting me side-tracked on this one today!
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/virtualmachinemanager/thread/07576dd4-bce2-442a-8af8-40213228406c