What is Hyper-V?

Hyper-V is a virtualization platform developed by Microsoft that enables users to create and manage virtual machines (VMs) on their Windows systems. For beginners, think of it as a tool that allows you to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single physical machine.

This is incredibly useful for various scenarios such as software testing, running multiple applications that require different environments, or simply isolating workloads for security purposes. With Hyper-V enabled on Windows 11, users can harness the power of virtualization, maximizing their system’s potential by efficiently utilizing hardware resources and expanding the capabilities of their PC. Whether you’re a developer, IT professional, or simply an enthusiast looking to explore different operating systems, enabling Hyper-V on Windows 11 opens up a world of possibilities for seamless multitasking and experimentation.

If you want to find out more, you can read the official Microsoft article about Hyper-V.

Hyper-V vs VMware

Hyper-V and VMware are two leading virtualization platforms, each with its strengths and considerations:

Hyper-V

• Developed by Microsoft, tightly integrated with Windows operating systems
• Included with Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions
• Excellent choice for users deeply entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem
• Seamless integration with other Microsoft technologies like Active Directory
• Relatively straightforward setup and management for Windows-centric environments

VMware

• Renowned for its robust features, flexibility, and cross-platform compatibility
• Offers VMware Workstation Player and Workstation for desktop virtualization
• Widely adopted in enterprises and environments with heterogeneous infrastructure
• Extensive third-party support and a vast ecosystem of add-ons and plugins
• Requires separate installation and licensing; VMware Workstation Player is available for free, while VMware Workstation Pro is a paid version

Ultimately, the choice between Hyper-V and VMware depends on factors such as specific requirements, existing infrastructure, and personal preference. Both platforms excel in enabling users to create and manage virtual machines efficiently, catering to a diverse range of use cases and environments.

You can learn how to install and set up a virtual machine with VMWare Workstation Player or Pro here.

Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11

To enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 you first have to visit your control panel. You can do that by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard and entering Control Panel.

After opening the panel you now either see many icons or categories. If you see just categories, you have to click on the Programs category in the bottom left corner. If you see many icons you have to search for the label Programs and Features and click on it. Both options can be seen in the screenshots below.

If your view was set to categories and you clicked on Programs, you can now see the screen from below. There you have to click on the red marked area with the text ‘Turn Windows features on or off’.

When you have set your view to icons your windows will look like the screenshot provided below. There you also have to click on the red marked area with the text ‘Turn Windows features on or off’.

Whether your view was showing categories or items, you will now see a small window that popped up, where you can see all available Windows features that can be activated or deactivated. In that list, you need to search for the entry which says Hyper-V. It should be located at the very beginning.

If you have found it, you just need to click on the checkbox next to Hyper-V so that it is highlighted and confirm your choice by pressing OK in the bottom right corner.

After pressing the OK button and confirming your choice, Windows will now enable Hyper-V. To complete the activation a restart of your computer is mandatory.

After restarting everything necessary is done. You have now completed all the steps to enable Hyper-V on Windows 11!

Requirements

• VMware Workstation Player or Workstation Pro
• Virtual Machine

Speed up your virtual machine and unlock helpful perks

After creating a virtual machine, you might have noticed some performance problems. If you have already tried to upgrade your assigned RAM and your CPU-Cores, but your virtual machine is still lagging and responding slowly to your input, then you should try to install VMware Tools. This will not just improve the overall performance and input speed of your virtual machine, but it will also unlock some other additional benefits. What exactly VMware Tools is adding will be covered in the last point of this post. Now let us start with the installation!

To install VMware Tools to speed up your virtual machine and unlock helpful perks, you first have to start your VM. After it is boot up, you can start with the installation.
If you are using VMware Workstation Player, you have to click on Player in the top left corner of the window, select Manage in the opened drop-down menu and finally click on Install VMware Tools.

If you are using VMware Workstation Pro you have to click on VM in the top menu and click on Install VMware Tools.

This was the only step of the installation process that does differ between the VMware Workstation Player and the Pro one.

After pressing the Install VMware Tools menu entry, you can now see a DVD drive popping up in your Windows Explorer inside your virtual machine. If you click on that, you can now see two setup files. Depending on what virtual machine you have set up, you should either open the normal setup file for 32-bit systems or the setup64 file for 64-bit systems.

Now the installation process should start by displaying the first window of the setup. There you just have to press Next.

The window after pressing Next on the setup asks for the installation type. For nearly everyone the first and already preselected type is the correct type. To be sure you can also select the second type which is for the Complete installation, but this is not necessary except you want to use your virtual machine with different VMware products. If you want to do a custom installation, you have to select Custom. In this tutorial, we will use the preselected type, Typical, since this is suitable for most of the users. To confirm your selection and continue with the next window, click on Next.

On the next and also last page of the setup, you just have to press Install, to begin installing VMware tools to speed up your virtual machine and unlock helpful perks. You can also change your installation type or cancel the setup on this window.

Now the VMware Tools are getting installed. When this process is complete, you will notice it immediately, as the virtual machine screen will automatically adapt to your screen. Also, a final dialog will appear on your screen, which asks you to restart your virtual machine to complete the installation. You can either press Yes to restart immediately or No so that your VM keeps running. The installation will then be complete after you restart your machine manually.

Benefits of VMware Tools

• Speeding up your virtual machine
• Better graphics performance
• Synchronization of Guest and Host Time
• Provides the ability to take quiesced snapshots of the guest OS
• Eliminates or improves the following issues
  • Low video resolution
  • Inadequate color depth
  • Incorrect display of network speed
  • Restricted movement of the mouse
  • Inability to copy and paste and drag-and-drop files
  • Missing sound
• Unlocking many more helpful perks

If you want to find out more about VMware Tools you can visit the official documentation.

Requirements for creating a virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware

• Windows 11 ISO file
• VMware Workstation Player or Workstation Pro

Windows 11 ISO file

To create a virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware, you need to have a Windows 11 ISO file.

To get that you have to visit the official download center of Microsoft.
On that page, you will find the section “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices”.
Select in the drop-down menu beneath “Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices).
Then press Download Now.
Now the website is presenting you another section with a drop-down menu to choose the language for the Windows 11 ISO file. You can choose whatever language you like, even though English will be the best option for the majority.
After confirming your language you can press 64-Bit Download to start downloading your ISO file.

VMware Workstation Player or Workstation Pro

VMware offers two different products. The Workstation Player and the Workstation Pro. Both options are quite similar, so it doesn’t matter which one you choose. The only problem is, that the Workstation Player can be used forever for free, whereas the Workstation Pro can only be tested for 30 days. After that period, a license is mandatory.

You can download the Workstation Player here and the Workstation Pro here.

Creating the virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware

When opening up the VMware software regardless if you have downloaded the Workstation Player or the Pro you can instantly see the “Create a New Virtual Machine” Button, which you have to click to create your virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware.

After clicking on that Button, a Popup will be shown. If you are using VMware Workstation Pro you will first have to choose, which configuration you want to do. You can just leave the preselected option (Typical) and click next. After that, you will see the first window of the New Virtual Machine Wizard. If you are using the Workstation Player, you will instantly see this window.

After clicking on next, you can choose the name of your virtual machine and the location. Keep in mind that the virtual machine will take up a lot of space, so choose a location wisely. After confirming the name and the location, you have to add encryption Information. Enter a password that you would like to use to encrypt your virtual machine and confirm it in the box below.

Confirm your password and selections by pressing next. On the next page, you can choose how much space should be used for your virtual machine. For Windows 11 it is recommended to have at least 64 GB of space. Also, you can choose between storing your virtual machine’s hard disk as a single file or multiple files. We recommend using the first option, “Store virtual disk as a single file”.

After confirming your input by pressing Next, you’ll see the last step of creating a virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware. There you have a quick overview of your settings and the specified hardware. By clicking on Customize Hardware, you can change some hardware settings. If your computer does have 16 or more GB of RAM and you are not planning to do heavy work when your virtual machine is running in the background, you can increase the RAM of the virtual machine to 8 GB for better performance. Otherwise, you can leave the default setting of 4 GB.

Good to know: You can change your hardware settings later as well, so if you decide to upgrade the RAM there is no problem in doing that.

The virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware is completed with a click on Finish. If you have checked the checkbox below Customize Hardware, the virtual machine will power on automatically. If not you can select your machine in the list you see on the starting screen and press the green play button to start it.

Now the default Windows installation should show up. Set up your Windows OS as you like and your virtual Windows 11 machine on VMware is good to go!

To improve the overall performance of your virtual machine, get some useful features and automatically scale your VM to fit your screen perfectly, you can read How to Speed Up your Virtual Machine and unlock helpful Perks.