Master Hyper-V: From Virtualization Basics to Building a Windows 11 VM

01 Key Concepts of Virtualization

Host: the physical machine on which a hypervisor is installed.

Guest: a virtual machine instance running its own OS and applications.

Hypervisor: the core component that manages and allocates host resources to guests. It comes in two types:

Type 1 (bare‑metal) hypervisor runs directly on hardware, offering higher performance and stability.

Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of a host OS, easier to install but slightly lower efficiency.

Resource pooling: consolidates physical resources into a shared pool that can be dynamically allocated.

Snapshots and replication: capture a VM’s state at a point in time for backup, recovery, or testing.

02 Advantages of Virtualization

Improved resource utilization by sharing hardware.

Enhanced flexibility and scalability through dynamic resource allocation.

Simplified management via centralized VM tools.

High availability and disaster recovery through VM migration and clustering.

Whether you are a developer, IT professional, or tech enthusiast, many need to run multiple operating systems; Hyper‑V lets you do this on Windows.

03 Introduction to Hyper‑V

Hyper‑V is Microsoft’s virtualization technology that enables multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical server.

It is included with Windows Server and allows administrators to create, run, and manage virtualized servers and VMs.

Hyper‑V helps enterprises reduce hardware costs, improve application availability and flexibility, and lower maintenance overhead. It also supports testing different OS and application configurations, as well as migration and backup of VMs.

Supported guest OSes include Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD.

04 System Requirements

Windows 10 Enterprise, Pro, or Education edition.

64‑bit processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT).

CPU must support VT‑c (Intel) or AMD‑V (AMD) virtualization extensions.

At least 4 GB of RAM.

Verify Hyper‑V support by running msinfo32 and checking that “Hyper‑V Requirements” is marked as Yes.

05 Starting Hyper‑V

Enable via PowerShell:

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

Enable via CMD/DISM:

DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /All /FeatureName:Microsoft-Hyper-V

Or enable through the Windows Features UI: Right‑click the Start button → Apps & Features → Programs and Features → Turn Windows features on or off → check Hyper‑V and confirm.

06 Creating a Virtual Machine

Open “Hyper‑V Quick Create” from the Start menu.

Select an operating system or use a local installation source to provide your own OS image.

If using a custom image, choose “Local Installation Source” and click “Change Installation Source”.

Select the .iso or .vhdx file; for Linux images, uncheck “Secure Boot”.

Click “Create Virtual Machine” – the wizard completes the rest, after which you can install the OS.

07 Installing a Windows 11 Virtual Machine

Choose the Windows 11 ISO as the local installation source, set a VM name, select “Default Switch” for networking, and create the VM.

After creation, open “Edit Settings”.

In Hardware → Security, enable “Trusted Platform Module” (TPM); otherwise Windows 11 will refuse to install.

In Hardware → Memory, set RAM to at least 4096 MB (default is 2048 MB).

Start the VM, press any key when prompted to boot from the ISO, and proceed with the Windows 11 installation.

Choose the “Custom: Windows only (advanced)” option during setup.

If the login screen does not appear, disable “Enhanced Session” under the View menu, restart the VM, and then log in.

08 Download

Download address: https://developer.microsoft.com/zh-cn/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/

Reference link: https://learn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/quick-create-virtual-machine