Hyper-V

Hyper-V
Hyper-V Icon.png
HyperV-Win1022H2.png
Hyper-V running Windows 10, version 22H2
TypeHypervisor
Developer(s)Microsoft Corporation
Host platformWindows (x64/ARM64)
Guest platformx86/x64/ARM64 (virtualized)
Initial release version6.0.6001.18000 (2008-02-27)
Initial release date
Latest release version10.0.22621.1 (2022-09-20)
Latest preview version
Latest release date
License
Website

Hyper-V (codenamed Viridian)[1] is a native 64-bit PC-compatible virtualization solution released by Microsoft, and the successor to Virtual PC. It was first included with x64 editions of Windows Server 2008, and has been freely available since Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as an optional installable component on Pro and higher editions. Its associated graphical user interface, the Hyper-V Manager, is a Microsoft Management Console snap-in.

The hypervisor is also available as part of a separate Windows Server Core operating system release named Hyper-V Server (first introduced alongside Windows Server 2008), which can be used to host virtual machines en masse for applications such as database management, mission critical systems or file storage.

Unlike Virtual PC, Hyper-V is a "level 1 hypervisor" and was therefore unable to coexist with competing solutions like VirtualBox or VMware, which both are "level 2 hypervisors" until the release of the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, which implemented support for the Windows Hypervisor Platform,[2] allowing third-party virtualization software to run and manage virtual machines side-by-side with Hyper-V.[3][4]

A watered-down version of the hypervisor (dubbed the X Device Emulator (XDE), later renamed to Microsoft Emulator) that simulates a physical device was also produced - originally intended for Windows Phone 8.x and Windows 10 Mobile, it has since been expanded to a multitude of different purposes such as replicating the functionality of the HoloLens head-mounted display in virtual form and self-hosting Windows 10X builds.

Supported guest operating systems[edit | edit source]

This is a definitive list of officially supported operating systems that can run under Hyper-V, as of Windows Server 2025.[5][6]

Deprecated operating systems[edit | edit source]

The following operating systems are supported on older versions of Hyper-V on older host Windows systems, but aren't supported in the latest Windows 11 version of Hyper-V.[7][8]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Hyper-V[edit | edit source]

XDE/Microsoft Emulator[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]