To remotely manage your Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V server from a windows 7 desktop, you need install RSAT (Remote Server Administrator Tool). This has been simplified in Windows 8. In Windows 8, Hyper-V management tool is built in, Hyper-V manager can be turned on via “Turn Windows features on or off” dialog directly without downloading RSAT.

However, Hyper-V manager in Windows 8 can’t manage can’t manage Hyper-V running on downlevel operation systems. If you connect using Hyper-V manager it would fail with following error:

This version of Hyper-V Manager cannot be used to manage server running Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

The only workaround so far is remote into a Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 machine and run Hyper-V manager there.