Once Hyper-V role is enabled on windows server 2008/R2, Hyper-V manager will be installed automatically. However, you don’t need to log on to Hyper-V host server to use Hyper-V manager. Instead, you can manage Hyper-V machines remotely from you Win7 desktop.

To manage Hyper-V machines remotely from Win 7, following these steps:

  1. Install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en
  2. Go to Start > Control panel Under Programs, click on Get programs
  3. On the left panel, click on Turn Windows feature on or off
  4. On the feature list, expand Remote Server Administration roles > Role Administration Tools, mark Hyper-V Tools, then click OK
  5. Go to Administrative tools > Hyper-V Manager, launch it
  6. Now you can manage Hyper-V virtual machines from your windows 7 box.Install hyper-v manager on windows 7

Update

June 4, 2012 – RSAT is not needed in Windows 8, as client Hyper-V is now part of Windows 8. See Install Hyper-V Manager on Windows 8 for detail

Apr 24, 2010 – RSAT does not work on VISTA. For VISTA, you should install MMC Management Snapin instead.