Virtualization provides a plethora of solutions from
making the most of an organization’s hardware investment
to running specific applications in other OS offerings.
Windows 8 was the first Windows client operating system
to include hardware virtualization support natively.
Using the same technology found in Windows Server 2012
R2, the embedded Hyper-V client allowed IT professionals
to move VMs from server to client without the
requirement to re-learn the use of Hyper-V features and
tools. Further enhancements were introduced in Windows
8.1 such as Enhanced Session Mode, enabling high
fidelity graphics for connections to VM's using the RDP
protocol, and USB redirection which is enabled from the
host to VM's. Windows 10 brings further enhancements to
the native hypervisor offering. These include:
Hot add and remove for memory and network adapters –
works with generation 2 virtual machines running both
Windows and Linux
Windows PowerShell Direct – the ability to run commands
inside a virtual machine from the host operating system
Linux secure boot - Ubuntu 14.04 and later, and SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server 12 OS offerings running on
generation 2 virtual machines are now able to boot with
the secure boot option enabled
Hyper-V Manager Down-level management - Hyper-V manager
can manage computers running Hyper-V on Windows Server
2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1
Most modern Windows 10 and Windows Server devices meet
the hardware requirements for Hyper-V. 4GB is the
minimum RAM required but depending on the guest
operating systems you plan to install in your VMs, you
will probably need much more.
-
Windows 10 Enterprise, Pro, or Education
-
A 64-bit processor with second-level address translation
(SLAT)
-
VM Monitor Mode extensions
-
At least 4 GB of RAM
-
Virtualization support enabled in the BIOS or UEFI:
-
Hardware-assisted virtualization – Intel VT or AMD-V
-
Hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP) – XD
bit
(Intel) or NX bit (AMD)
The easiest way to check if your device supports Hyper-V
is using the systeminfo command line tool. Open a
command prompt and run the tool.
Type cmd in the search box in the bottom left of the
taskbar and then click Command Prompt in the list of
results.
In the command prompt window, type systeminfo and press
ENTER.
Scroll down the list of results to the very end and
you’ll see Hyper-V Requirements. There are four
requirements for Hyper-V compatibility and to the right
of each you will see ‘Yes’ if your hardware meets them.
