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Hyper-V Integration Services won't start

Retrospective how-to, copied from an old how-to I wrote elsewhere.

In a multitude of scenarios, in this case after a V2V migration, on server 2008 & R2 all the Hyper-V integration services do not start, with a variety of error codes. (1083, 1290, ect;) After some lengthy testing, these steps resolved the issue for me.

Hope this helps someone else too!

Step 1: Boot the VM​

Login, and ignore all errors and install prompts for drivers, restarts, product keys, ect;

Step 2: Open Regedit​

Windows Key+R, regedit

Step 3: Navigate to svchost key​

X

HLKM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\svchost

Step 4: Right click on svchost key, permissions​

X

Click on system, then full control. Then do the same for computer\administrator.

This will allow the system to automatically install the devices in device manger without error, and will allow you to edit the registry in the next step.

note

If you have issues adding the permission, you may need to take ownership of the key.

Once permissions are done, revert back to the default owner system.
Don't propagate or inherit: only take ownership.

Step 5: Add the following to the multistring value: LocalServiceNetworkRestricted​

X

LocalServiceNetworkRestricted
add: vmictimesync

Step 6: Add the following to the multistring value: LocalSystemNetworkRestricted​

X

LocalSystemNetworkRestricted
add: vmicshutdown
add: vmickvpexchange
add: vmicvss
add: vmicguestinterface

Step 7: Install Integration Services Update​

X

Step 8: Reboot​

Windows Key+R, shutdown -r -t 0

Step 9: Check services are now started​

X

Windows Key+R, services.msc

Step 10: Check Hyper-V manager/VMM detects heartbeat​

X

Step 11: Done!​

Notes

In some scenarios heartbeat service does not start also, irrespective of the steps listed above.

  1. In this scenario it can be resolved by adding vmicheartbeat to the LocalSystemNetworkRestricted multi-string listed above as well.

  2. I've found in some situations that before the first reboot, manually removing the devices from device manager called Hyper-V Heartbeat & Hyper-V Remote Desktop Virtualisation, and then scanning for new hardware (if it doesn't auto-detect) after the next reboot can also help smooth the process out.