Hot-add a NIC to Hyper-V in vNext

Q. How do I hot-add a network adapter to a VM in Hyper-V vNext?

A. Windows Server vNext Hyper-V adds support for hot-add and removal of network adapters to Generation 2 VMs. To hot-add or remove vmNICs use Hyper-V Manager or PowerShell. No special hot-add mechanisms needs to be used, simplly add/remove while the VM is running. You will see the ability to add a network adapter is enabled while other types of virtual hardware cannot be added while the VM is running as shown below.

When the vmNIC is added, the normal options such as selecting the virtual switch for the connection and other properties can be configured. Likewise, the Remove button can be used to remove a NIC. This can also be done through PowerShell:

#Create the NIC while the VM is running using PowerShell Add-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName savdaldemo02 -SwitchName 'External Switch' -Name JohnNewNIC -Verbose#Remove itRemove-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName savdaldemo02 -Name JohnNewNIC