Having Hyper-V enabled can make the lives of many users much easier. There are many scenarios where one would like to run multiple operating systems on their computer. Whatever the reason, there are two options: either do a dual-boot or run the second OS using a Virtual Machine. The latter part requires virtualization support from your processor.
However, some computers don’t have Hyper-V support or some simply don’t have the feature enabled. Many users would prefer to run a virtual machine instead of a dual-boot because they wouldn’t need to restart their computers again and again. Therefore, in order to enable Hyper-V, you need to first check if your processor supports it.
Different ways to check
On Windows 10, it’s pretty easy to check whether your PC supports Hyper-V. Enter ‘CMD’ in the search box and click on the cmd icon to launch the command prompt. Type ‘msinfo32’ into the command prompt and press enter, the System Information tab should pop up:
Now scroll to the bottom of this tab where you’ll see four different items starting with ‘Hyper-V’. If you see ‘Yes’ written in front of all four, then you’re ready to enable Hyper-V on your PC.
If you see a ‘No’ in front of the “Virtualization Enabled in Firmware setting”, then you need to first enable virtualization in your BIOS settings before enabling Hyper-V.
There are other ways to check for Hyper-V as well. If you have an Intel processor, you can use Intel Processor Identification Utility to determine whether your processor supports Hyper-V. You can download it from here. The Identification Utility will allow you to identify multiple things about your computer. For example, the IPIU can identify processor number, processor cache etc.
Once the Intel Processor Identification Utility has been set up, launch it and select the CPU technologies tab. Once there, all you need to do is check whether “advanced technologies” has a Yes or No against it.
AMD users can use the AMD-V with RVI Hyper V Compatibility Utility to easily check for Hyper-V. After downloading it from here, Launch the tool with elevated priveledges. If your computer supports Hyper-V, then the information will be displayed once you launch the tool.
Enabling Hyper-V on Windows 10/8
After determining whether your processor supports Hyper-V, open Control Panel. Once you’re there, go to Programs > Programs and Features > Uninstall a program > Turn windows features on or off.
Once the tab has opened, check the Hyper-V, Hyper-V Management Tools include GUI and command line tools options. The Hyper-V platform needs to be ticked because that is the platform which helps you create and manage Virtual machines. Once the required items have been checked, click OK to confirm your changes.
After pressing ‘OK’, Windows will begin a search for the files needed to apply the changes. It won’t take that long for Windows to retrieve the files so don’t worry. Once changes have been applied, you’ll receive a prompt to restart your PC. After restarting your PC, your computer’s Hyper-V will be enabled. You can double-check using the cmd method and check for ‘Yes’ in front of “Virtualization Enabled in Firmware setting“.
Enabling Hyper-V in your PC is not that hard (given your processor supports it). The virtualization feature is a must-have for computer enthusiasts who want to keep multiple operating systems on your computer. Even if you don’t, it’s a handy feature to have enabled for running virtual machines. Having to restart your PC multiple times to switch between different operating systems can become annoying really fast. Therefore, running a different operating system through a virtual machine can save you lots of trouble.
Of course, in the end, it depends whether your PC supports Hyper-V or not. Even if it does, smoothly running a virtual machine does require a decent PC. It’s best to check whether your computer can handle a virtual machine or not.