VHD support is built in at the OS level allowing you to mount/attach as well as boot from VHD files, however in this post I’m only going to be covering how to mount VHD files in Server 2008 R2.

In order to mount a VHD file, start Server manager, navigate to the Storage node and right click on Disk Management:

Notice the options to attach or mount a VHD file. Click on Attach and browse to the location of the VHD file and click ok

Notice the the VHD mounts and looks like a normal disk with the exception of the blue drive letter and blue disk icon to help you distinguish this from other volumes . If Read only wasn’t selected then you may browse and use the volume like any other volume:

When you’re finished with the volume, right click on it and choose Detach VHD.

Notice the the option to delete the VHD file is presented at this stage, however note that by default it is NOT ticked.