Should I create a Generation 1 or Generation 2 virtual machine?

For any modern 64-bit guest operating system, choose Generation 2. It uses UEFI firmware, supports Secure Boot, boots faster and unlocks features such as virtualization-based security. Pick Generation 1 only when you have a specific reason: a 32-bit guest OS, an older operating system that predates UEFI support, or a boot method Generation 2 does not offer, such as booting from a legacy IDE-attached disk or a standard network adapter. You cannot convert a VM between generations after you create it, so decide up front.

What is the difference between an external, internal and private virtual switch?

An external switch binds to one of the host's physical network adapters, so its virtual machines reach the physical LAN and the internet just like any other device on the network. An internal switch connects the virtual machines to each other and to the host operating system, but not to the physical network. A private switch connects the virtual machines only to each other — not even the host can reach them. Use external for VMs that need real network access, internal for an isolated lab that still needs to talk to the host, and private for a fully sealed test network.

Do Hyper-V checkpoints replace backups?

No. A checkpoint is a point-in-time snapshot of a single VM stored alongside that VM on the same host, which makes it excellent for a quick undo before a risky change and useless as protection against the host itself failing. If the disk or server holding the VM dies, the checkpoints die with it. Checkpoints also grow differencing files over time and can hurt performance if you leave many in place, so they are not meant to live for weeks. Keep real backups of any VM you care about on separate storage, and treat checkpoints as a short-term safety net.

Is Hyper-V available on Windows 11, or only Windows Server?

Hyper-V is built into Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise and Education as an optional feature you turn on — it is not available on Windows 11 Home. The core hypervisor, Hyper-V Manager and the ability to build virtual switches and virtual machines are the same tools you get on Windows Server, so the steps in this guide translate almost directly to a Windows 11 Pro workstation. Windows Server adds the enterprise pieces on top, such as failover clustering, live migration between hosts and higher scalability limits.

Getting Started with Hyper-V on Windows Server

The short version: Hyper-V is Microsoft's built-in hypervisor. On Windows Server you turn it on by adding the Hyper-V role — through Server Manager's Add Roles and Features wizard, or with one PowerShell command — then reboot. After that you use Hyper-V Manager to build a virtual switch (so your virtual machines have a network), create a virtual machine, point it at an installation ISO, and install a guest operating system. This guide walks the whole path end to end and flags the choices that trip people up: Generation 1 versus 2, which switch type to pick, and how checkpoints really work.

Everything here applies to current Windows Server, including Windows Server 2025. The same tools ship in Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise and Education as an optional feature, so if you are following along on a workstation rather than a server, almost every step is identical — we call out the few differences as we go.

Before you start: what your hardware needs

Hyper-V is a type-1 hypervisor, which means it needs real hardware virtualization support underneath it. Confirm the host meets these requirements before you enable the role:

A 64-bit processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) — standard on any server-class or modern desktop CPU.
Hardware-assisted virtualization — Intel VT-x or AMD-V — enabled in the system firmware (BIOS/UEFI). It is often off by default on new machines.
CPU support for VM Monitor Mode extensions and hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP), which is likewise a firmware setting.
Enough RAM for the host plus every VM you plan to run at once. Microsoft's Hyper-V system requirements list a minimum of 4 GB of RAM alongside the SLAT, VM Monitor Mode and DEP requirements above; a real server workload wants far more — size it around the guests you intend to run.

One hypervisor at a time

Hyper-V takes ownership of the processor's virtualization features. If you also run a third-party virtualization product such as VMware Workstation or VirtualBox on the same machine, their VMs may refuse to start or behave unreliably while the Hyper-V hypervisor is active — Microsoft's Install Hyper-V guide gives that same warning by name. You can have both installed, but plan to use one or the other at a time. The same applies to features that quietly build on Hyper-V, such as Windows Sandbox, WSL 2 and virtualization-based security.

Step 1 — Enable the Hyper-V role

You have two equivalent routes. Use whichever you prefer; both end with a required restart.

Option A — Server Manager (GUI)

Open Server Manager. On the Manage menu, choose Add Roles and Features.
Click through Before you begin, then on Installation Type pick Role-based or feature-based installation and select Next.
On Server Selection, choose your server from the pool and select Next.
On Server Roles, tick Hyper-V. When the wizard offers to Add Features that Hyper-V needs (including the management tools), accept it, then Next.
The wizard offers optional pages to create a virtual switch, configure virtual machine migration, and set default stores for VM and disk files. You can set these now or skip them and do it later in Hyper-V Manager.
On Confirmation, tick Restart the destination server automatically if required, then Install. The server reboots to finish.

Option B — PowerShell (one line)

Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Hyper-V -IncludeManagementTools -Restart

The -IncludeManagementTools switch installs Hyper-V Manager and the PowerShell module; -Restart reboots automatically. To confirm afterwards:

Get-WindowsFeature Hyper-V

Doing this on Windows 11 Pro instead?

There is no role to add on client Windows — Hyper-V is an optional feature. Turn it on from Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off, tick Hyper-V, and reboot. Or from an elevated PowerShell:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All

Remember Hyper-V is not available on Windows 11 Home — you need Pro, Enterprise or Education. Microsoft states outright that the Hyper-V role can't be installed on Windows 10 Home or Windows 11 Home.

Step 2 — Meet Hyper-V Manager

After the reboot, launch Hyper-V Manager from the Start menu (or Server Manager > Tools). Select your host in the left pane and you get the console you will live in: a list of virtual machines in the centre, their checkpoints below, and an Actions pane on the right with everything you need — New, Virtual Switch Manager, Import Virtual Machine and host settings. Everything below is done from here. Prefer scripting? The Hyper-V PowerShell module mirrors every one of these actions.

Step 3 — Create a virtual switch

A VM has no network until you connect it to a virtual switch. Create the switch first so it is ready to attach when you build the VM. In Hyper-V Manager, open Virtual Switch Manager from the Actions pane, choose the type you want, and select Create Virtual Switch — the exact sequence in Microsoft's guide to creating a Hyper-V virtual switch, which also names the three types as external, internal and private. Picking the right one is mostly about how much network access the VMs should have:

Switch type	VMs can reach…	Bound to a physical NIC?	Use it for
External	Each other, the host, the physical LAN and the internet	Yes — one of the host's adapters	VMs that need real network access
Internal	Each other and the host only	No	An isolated lab that still needs the host
Private	Each other only — not even the host	No	A fully sealed test network

For most first VMs you want an External switch so the guest can download updates and reach the network. When you create one, Hyper-V binds it to a physical adapter you choose; briefly, that adapter's connectivity re-plumbs through the new virtual switch, so avoid creating an external switch on the very adapter you are using for a remote session unless you understand it will blip. On a server with multiple NICs, dedicate one to Hyper-V and leave your management NIC alone.

The same thing in PowerShell

To create an external switch bound to a specific adapter:

New-VMSwitch -Name "External" -NetAdapterName "Ethernet" -AllowManagementOS $true

For an internal switch, use -SwitchType Internal; for private, -SwitchType Private (and drop the adapter parameters).

Step 4 — Create a virtual machine

In the Actions pane choose New > Virtual Machine to launch the wizard. Work through the pages:

Name and location. Give the VM a clear name and, if you want, a custom folder to store it (handy for keeping VMs on a data drive rather than the system disk).
Generation. Choose Generation 2 for any modern 64-bit guest — see the breakdown below. This choice is permanent, so get it right here.
Startup memory. Assign a starting amount of RAM, and optionally tick Use Dynamic Memory so Hyper-V grows and shrinks the guest's memory within limits you set, based on demand.
Networking. Connect the VM to the virtual switch you made in Step 3.
Virtual hard disk. Create a new virtual disk (a .vhdx file), attach an existing one, or defer. Set a maximum size — with the default dynamically expanding disk this is a ceiling, not space consumed up front.
Installation options. Point the VM at your OS installation media — usually an ISO image — so it can boot the installer on first start.
Review the Summary and select Finish.

Generation 1 vs Generation 2 — decide once

The generation controls the VM's virtual firmware and the devices the guest sees. You cannot change it after creation, so choose deliberately:

Generation 2 uses UEFI firmware, supports Secure Boot, boots faster and enables modern features such as virtualization-based security. It is the right choice for current 64-bit versions of Windows and mainstream 64-bit Linux distributions, and starting with Windows Server 2025 it is pre-selected as the default in the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
Generation 1 uses legacy BIOS firmware and emulates older devices. Choose it only for a specific reason: a 32-bit guest OS, an older operating system that predates Generation 2 support, or a boot path Generation 2 does not provide (for example booting from a legacy IDE-attached virtual disk or a legacy network adapter).

Step 5 — Install the guest operating system

Select the new VM and, from the Actions pane, choose Connect to open the VMConnect console window.
Click Start (the green power button). The VM boots from the ISO you attached and the OS installer appears.
Install as you would on a physical machine. For a Generation 2 Windows guest you will typically not need to hunt for storage drivers; for some Linux guests you may need to adjust Secure Boot settings if the installer will not boot (see the tip below).
When installation finishes and the guest is running, install integration services / guest drivers if your guest needs them. Current Windows and Linux builds ship the Hyper-V integration components in-box, so this is usually automatic.

Tip: Secure Boot and Linux guests

Generation 2 VMs enable Secure Boot with the Microsoft Windows template by default. Many Linux distributions boot fine, but if a Linux installer stalls, open the VM's Settings > Security and switch the Secure Boot template to Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority, or disable Secure Boot for that VM.

Step 6 — Set CPU, RAM and disk the right way

You can tune a VM any time it is defined; some changes need the VM shut down. Open the VM's Settings from the Actions pane:

Memory. Set the startup RAM, and if you enabled Dynamic Memory, configure minimum and maximum bounds and a buffer. Dynamic Memory lets one host pack in more guests, but pin a fixed amount for latency-sensitive or database workloads that dislike having memory pulled from under them.
Processor. Assign the number of virtual processors. More vCPUs is not automatically faster — do not hand a guest more than it needs, and do not over-commit the host so heavily that everything contends. You can also cap or reserve a share of host CPU here.
Virtual hard disk. Prefer the VHDX format over the older VHD — it is more resilient to power loss and scales to far larger sizes. A dynamically expanding disk grows as data is written (thrifty on space); a fixed-size disk allocates all its space up front and can offer steadier performance for demanding workloads. Use the Edit Disk action to later expand, compact or convert a disk.

Watch host capacity

Dynamically expanding disks and Dynamic Memory make it easy to define more VMs than the host can actually sustain at once. The disks only reserve space as guests write, and memory is only claimed as guests demand it — right up until several guests get busy together and the host runs out of real RAM or free disk. Keep headroom, and monitor actual usage rather than the sum of the maximums you configured.

Step 7 — Use checkpoints (snapshots) safely

A checkpoint captures a VM's state at a moment in time so you can roll back to it. It is the fastest way to make a risky change — a patch, a config edit, a software install — reversible. To take one, select the VM and choose Checkpoint from the Actions pane; to return to it, right-click the checkpoint in the tree below and choose Apply or Revert. Hyper-V offers two kinds:

Production checkpoints use the guest's backup technology (VSS on Windows) to create a consistent, backup-quality image without saving the running memory state. These are the default and the right choice for server workloads, because the restored VM comes back cleanly rather than resuming a captured live state.
Standard checkpoints additionally capture the VM's live memory and device state, so applying one returns the guest to exactly the running moment it was taken — useful in a dev/test lab, less so for production apps that dislike being frozen and thawed mid-transaction.

You set which type a VM uses under Settings > Checkpoints.

Checkpoints are not backups

A checkpoint lives on the same host, next to the VM it protects. It is a superb short-term undo and a poor disaster plan: if the disk or server holding the VM fails, the checkpoints fail with it. They also chain differencing files that grow over time and can drag on performance, so do not leave many hanging around for weeks. Take a checkpoint before a change, verify the result, then delete it — and keep real backups of anything that matters on separate storage.

Where to go next

You now have the core loop: enable the role, build a switch, create a VM, install a guest, and protect changes with checkpoints. From here the natural next steps are exporting and importing VMs to move them between hosts, using nested virtualization to run Hyper-V inside a VM for labs, and — on Windows Server specifically — failover clustering and live migration for high availability. Those enterprise capabilities are exactly what the Server role adds on top of the same engine you just met on the desktop. For more walkthroughs, browse our How-To Guides; if you are weighing which edition to run this on, our Windows 11 Home vs Pro comparison explains why Pro is the minimum for client-side Hyper-V.