Supported Windows guests
This article lists the operating system combinations supported in Hyper-V on Windows. It also serves as an introduction to integration services and other factors in support.
Microsoft has tested these host/guest combinations. Issues with these combinations may receive attention from Product Support Services.
Microsoft provides support in the following manner:
Issues found in Microsoft operating systems and in integration services are supported by Microsoft support.
For issues found in other operating systems that have been certified by the operating system vendor to run on Hyper-V, support is provided by the vendor.
For issues found in other operating systems, Microsoft submits the issue to the multi-vendor support community, TSANet.
In order to be supported, all operating systems (guest and host) must be up-to-date. Check Windows Update for critical updates.
Supported guest operating systems
| Guest operating system | Maximum number of virtual processors | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2025 | 2048 | Theoretical limit |
| Windows Server 2022 | 2048 | Theoretical limit |
| Windows 11 | 2048 | |
| Windows 10 | 1280 | Enhanced Session Mode does not work on Windows 10 Home edition |
| Windows 8.1 | 32 | |
| Windows 8 | 32 | |
| Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP 1) | 4 | Ultimate, Enterprise, and Professional editions (32-bit and 64-bit). |
| Windows 7 | 4 | Ultimate, Enterprise, and Professional editions (32-bit and 64-bit). |
| Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2) | 2 | Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, including N and KN editions. |
| Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel | 64 | |
| Windows Server 2019 | 64 | |
| Windows Server 2016 | 64 | |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | 64 | |
| Windows Server 2012 | 64 | |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP 1) | 64 | Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions. |
| Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP 2) | 4 | Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions (32-bit and 64-bit). |
| Windows Home Server 2011 | 4 | |
| Windows Small Business Server 2011 | Essentials edition - 2, Standard edition - 4 |
Windows 10 can run as a guest operating system on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V hosts.
Supported Linux and FreeBSD
| Guest operating system |
|---|
| CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
| Debian virtual machines on Hyper-V |
| SUSE |
| Oracle Linux |
| Ubuntu |
| FreeBSD |
For more information, including support information on past versions of Hyper-V, see Linux and FreeBSD Virtual Machines on Hyper-V.