Virtualization has become an incredibly powerful and flexible way to deploy environments. So much in fact that Microsoft has integrated the ability to attach virtual hard drive (VHD) files as physical disks in the Windows Disk Management tool. This process is easy enough to do manually but if you attach VHD files often then we have a solution which enables you to mount and unmount VHD files with a single click.

Simply add our Mount VHD and Unmount VHD scripts to your Send To menu.

Now whenever you right click on a VHD file, go to the Send To > Mount VHD command. Note: This action will require administrator rights, you may receive a UAC elevated permission prompt.

After the script has run, the VHD is available in Disk Managment and Windows Explorer and can be accessed just like a physical disk.

When you are finished using the VHD, simply unmount it by right clicking on the VHD file and going Send To > Unmount VHD.

The Scripts

Mount VHD

@ECHO OFF
TITLE Mount VHD
ECHO Mount VHD
ECHO Written by: Jason Faulkner
ECHO SysadminGeek.com
ECHO.
ECHO.

SETLOCAL

SET DiskPartScript="%TEMP%DiskpartScript.txt"

ECHO SELECT VDISK FILE="%~1" > %DiskPartScript%
ECHO ATTACH VDISK >> %DiskPartScript%

DiskPart /s %DiskPartScript%

ENDLOCAL

Unmount VHD

@ECHO OFF
TITLE Unmount VHD
ECHO Unmount VHD
ECHO Written by: Jason Faulkner
ECHO SysadminGeek.com
ECHO.
ECHO.

SETLOCAL

SET DiskPartScript="%TEMP%DiskpartScript.txt"

ECHO SELECT VDISK FILE="%~1" > %DiskPartScript%
ECHO DETACH VDISK >> %DiskPartScript%

DiskPart /s %DiskPartScript%

ENDLOCAL

Links

Download VHD Mount/Unmount Scripts from SysadminGeek.com