How to enable Hyper-V on Windows 11

• To enable Hyper-V on Windows 11, check and enable virtualization on the UEFI (BIOS), and then open Settings > Apps > Optional features > More Windows features, check the “Hyper-V” item, and click “OK” and “Restart now” to enable the feature.

UPDATED 11/8/2023: On Windows 11, to enable the Microsoft Hyper-V feature, you must first enable virtualization in the motherboard’s UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) before you can turn on Hyper-V from the “Windows Features” settings or commands. 

Hyper-V feature is a technology that includes the elements to create and manage virtual machines, allowing you to run other instances of Windows 11 and older versions of the operating system, such as Windows 10, 8.1, or 7, or other platforms like Linux alongside the main installation.

However, Hyper-V is an optional feature that you must enable manually through the Settings app or commands from PowerShell or Command Prompt. The virtualization technology is available on Windows 11 Pro and higher editions. It’s not available on Windows 11 Home. If you have the Home edition of Windows, you can try other virtualization alternatives, such as VirtualBox, or use the workaround outlined in this guide.

In this guide, I will teach you how to configure Hyper-V on Windows 11.

• Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Pro
• Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home

Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Pro

Before enabling Hyper-V on Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education, you must turn on virtualization on the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). If you don’t have this feature enabled, check with your device manufacturer to find the specific details to complete this task.

If you want to determine whether Hyper-V is already enabled before going through the steps, open “Start,” search for “System Information,” and open the app. In the “Summary” section, confirm that the “A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed” message at the bottom of the page indicates that the feature is already running.

Turn on virtualization on UEFI

To enable virtualization on the UEFI firmware, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.

2. Click on System.

3. Click on Recovery.

4. Under the “Recovery options” section, click the Restart now button for the “Advanced startup” setting.

   

5. Click on Troubleshoot.

6. Click on Advanced options.

7. Click the “UEFI Firmware Settings” option.

   

8. Click the Restart button.

9. Open the Configuration, Security, or Advanced page (the page’s name will depend on your manufacturer).

10. Select the “Virtualization Technology,” “Intel Virtual Technology,” or “SVM Mode” option (the feature name will depend on your manufacturer).

11. Enable the virtualization feature.

12. Save the UEFI (BIOS) settings (usually press F10).

After you complete the steps, you can enable the Microsoft hypervisor to run virtual machines on Windows 11.

Turn on Hyper-V on Windows 11

Once virtualization is turned on at the hardware level, you can enable the software virtualization platform from the Settings app or using commands from PowerShell and Command Prompt. Here’s how.

Method 1: Enable Hyper-V from Settings

To enable Hyper-V on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 11.

2. Click on Apps.

3. Click the Optional features tab.

   

4. Under the “Related settings” section, click the “More Windows features” setting.

5. Check the Hyper-V option to enable the virtual machine platform on Windows 11.

   

6. Click the OK button.

7. Click the Restart now button.

Once you complete the steps, the Windows 11 virtualization feature will install along with Hyper-V Manager, which allows you to create and run virtual machines.

It’s important to note that configuring virtualization can slow down your computer, but it’s barely noticeable. However, the nature of running virtual machines on top of the host operating system will take up system resources that could noticeably slow down the device, similar to running any resource-intensive application.

Method 2: Enable Hyper-V from PowerShell

To enable Hyper-V from PowerShell on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

3. Type the following command on PowerShell to enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 and press Enter:

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

   

4. Type “Y” to restart your computer.

After you complete the steps, Hyper-V Manager and its additional components will be installed on your computer.

Method 3: Enable Hyper-V from Command Prompt

To enable Hyper-V from Command Prompt, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

3. Type the following command to enable Hyper-V and press Enter:

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

   

4. Type “Y” to restart your computer.

Once you complete the steps, the virtualization components will be installed on your computer.

Turn off Hyper-V on Windows 11

You can use the same methods to disable Hyper-V on your computer in the same ways as turning the feature on.

Method 1: Disable Hyper-V from Settings

To disable Hyper-V on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.

2. Click on Apps.

3. Click the Optional features tab.

4. Under the “Related settings” section, click the “More Windows features” setting.

   

5. Clear the Hyper-V option from the list.

   

6. Click the OK button.

7. Click the Restart now button.

Once you complete the steps, Microsoft Hyper-V will be disabled on your installation.

Method 2: Disable Hyper-V from PowerShell

To disable Hyper-V from PowerShell on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

3. Type the following command to disable Hyper-V and press Enter:

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

   

4. Type “Y” to restart your computer.

After you complete the steps, the Hyper-V Manager and its additional components will be disabled on Windows 11.

Method 3: Disable Hyper-V from Command Prompt

To disable Hyper-V from Command Prompt, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

3. Type the following command to disable Hyper-V and press Enter:

   DISM /Online /Disable-Feature:Microsoft-Hyper-V

   

4. Type “Y” to restart your computer.

Once you complete the steps, Hyper-V, alongside its additional components, will be removed from the system.

Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home

Before enabling Hyper-V on the Home edition of Windows 11, the device must have virtualization support enabled on the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). If you don’t have this feature enabled, check with your manufacturer for the specific details to complete this task.

Turn on virtualization on Windows 11 Home

To enable virtualization on Windows 11 Home, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.

2. Click on System.

3. Click on Recovery.

4. Under the “Recovery options” section, click the Restart now button for the “Advanced startup” setting.

   

5. Click on Troubleshoot.

6. Click on Advanced options.

7. Click the “UEFI Firmware Settings” option.

   

8. Click the Restart button.

9. Open the Configuration, Security, or Advanced page (the page’s name will depend on your manufacturer).

10. Select the “Virtualization Technology,” “Intel Virtual Technology,” or “SVM Mode” option (the feature name will depend on your manufacturer).

11. Enable the virtualization feature.

12. Save the UEFI (BIOS) settings (usually press F10).

After completing the steps, you can enable the Microsoft hypervisor to run virtual machines on Windows 11.

Install Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home

Since the Home edition doesn’t have the virtualization feature, you must install the components manually before enabling the feature. Although the script works as intended, you should always create a temporary full backup of your device since you will modify the system files, which Microsoft doesn’t support.

To install Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for Notepad and click the top result to open the app.

3. Copy and paste the following script into the text file:

   pushd "%~dp0"
   dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\*Hyper-V*.mum >hv-home.txt
   for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . hv-home.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /add-package:"%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\%%i"
   del hv-home.txt
   Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Hyper-V -All /LimitAccess /ALL
   pause

   

4. Click on File and choose the “Save as” option.

5. Confirm a name and use the .bat extension. For example, hyperv-home.bat.

6. Click the Save button.

7. Right-click the hyperv-home.bat file and select the Run as administrator option.

   

8. Press the “Y” key to restart the computer.

   

After you complete the steps, the Hyper-V Management Tool and Platform will install on your Home edition of Windows 11.

Disable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home

Once you have installed the virtualization feature, you can enable or disable it from the system feature settings like Windows 11 Pro.

To disable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.

2. Click on Apps.

3. Click the Optional features tab.

4. Under the “Related settings” section, click the “More Windows features” setting.

   

5. Clear the Hyper-V option from the list.

   

6. Click the OK button.

7. Click the Restart now button.

Once you complete the steps, Microsoft Hyper-V will be disabled on Windows 11 Home.

Update November 8, 2023: The contents of this guide have been updated to ensure accuracy and include additional steps.