Q: How can I change my NIC teaming configuration for my Hyper-V server?

A: When you try to remove the NIC team, it says a virtual switch is currently using the team. And if you delete the virtual switch, you have to reconfigure all your virtual machines (VMs) when you recreate it. What can you do?

Hyper-V lets you create virtual networks such as an external virtual network that allows virtual machines (VMs) connected to it to communicate with other networks via a network adaptor. The network adapter specified for an external virtual network can be a physical NIC or a specially configured NIC team.

If you can’t make changes to the network adaptor, it could be because the adaptor, whether a NIC team or a physical NIC, is currently being used by a virtual network.

One option is to delete the external virtual network. This would break the link to the adapter, enabling changes to be made. Then you would recreate a new external virtual network to the new network configuration.

However, doing this delete-and-add process would render the network configuration of all the VMs that used the virtual network invalid. You would then have to modify every VM property and configure it with the new virtual network as the screen shot shows below.




A much better option is to just open up the virtual network and either point it to another network adapter, if you have a spare in the box, or if you don't, change it to a Private virtual machine network.

This releases the network adapter from the virtual switch. Then, after you make the changes, just modify the properties of the virtual network again and change it back to External and the right adapter or team:
1. Launch Hyper-V Manager.
2. Click Virtual Network Manager action.
3. Select your existing external switch on the left side.
4. Under External, select an alternate network adapter from the drop-down menu, if you have one, or change it to type Private virtual machine network. See the screen shot below:




5. Click Apply.
6. Make your network adapter configuration changes.
7. Change the connection type back to External and select the new adapter/team.
8. Click Apply, then OK.

It’s important to note that when you make the change above, the VMs using the switch will lose connectivity to the physical networks if you switch to a private virtual machine network. Make sure you plan accordingly.