I have been looking around if it’s possible to install a Guest OS on Hyper-V 2012 R2 Using the physical CD/DVD drive. The only ways i see to install guest OS is by mounting an ISO. Is hyper-v able to access the Host physical CD/DVD at all?
Same behavior on Hyper-V Windows 8.1 pro .
Am I missing something or ISO is the only way to go?
Source : [Server Fault](Generation 2 Virtual Machine Overview | Microsoft Learn](Generation 2 Virtual Machine Overview | Microsoft Learn)
It turns out that Second Generation Hyper-V doesn’t include the option to boot from physical CD/DVD. Only Generation one Have the option to boot from it.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn282285.aspx
*In previous versions of Hyper-V there was only one type of virtual machine. Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2 includes two types of virtual machine generations that can be selected when you create a new virtual machine.
Generation 1 Provides the same virtual hardware to the virtual machine as in previous versions of Hyper-V.
Generation 2 Provides the following new functionality on a virtual machine:
Secure Boot (enabled by default)
Boot from a SCSI virtual hard disk
Boot from a SCSI virtual DVD
PXE boot by using a standard network adapter
UEFI firmware support*
See This answer