Windows 10 Anniversary Update Bible

CHAPTER 11Setting Up Windows 10 Hyper-V

IN THIS CHAPTER

1. Understanding Windows 10 Hyper-V
2. Understanding Hyper-V system requirements
3. Preparing Windows 10 computers for Hyper-V
4. Enabling Hyper-V on Windows 10

Windows 10 includes native features for virtualizing the user's desktop using the Windows 10 Hyper-V features. Hyper-V lets you run other versions of Windows as well as other systems in a virtual environment on one physical computer. This lets you minimize the expense of purchasing multiple computers for running more than one operating system or network operating system.

To run Hyper-V on Windows, you must turn it on. By default it is disabled. Once you've turned it on, you can install a guest operating system, manage that operating system, and manage the guest from within the host environment. This chapter shows how to enable Hyper-V on Windows 10.

Understanding Windows 10 Hyper-V

Microsoft introduced virtualization to its desktop operating system with Windows 7. With virtualization, a user can set up a virtual copy of an operating system or network operating system within the virtual environment to run multiple instances of operating systems on one physical device. This physical device is called the host; the virtual system is called the guest. On the guest operating system, you can run applications, services, and other system tasks just as you do on a “normal” physical computer.

The software you set up on the host to run a virtual environment is called the hypervisor, ...