System Requirements (Hyper-V).

· Host operating system:

· To install the Hyper-V role, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter edition, Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter edition, or Windows 8 (or 8.1) Pro or Enterprise edition is required. Hyper-V is only supported on x86-64 variants of Windows.

· It can be installed regardless of whether the installation is a full or core installation.

Processor:

· An x86-64 processor

· Hardware-assisted virtualization support: This is available in processors that include a virtualization option; specifically, Intel VT or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V, formerly code-named "Pacifica").

· A NX bit-compatible CPU must be available and Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must be enabled.

· Although this is not an official requirement, Windows Server 2008 R2 and a CPU with second-level address translation support are recommended for workstations

· Second-level address translation is a mandatory requirement for Hyper-V in Windows 8.

Memory.

· Minimum 2 GB. (Each virtual machine requires its own memory, and so realistically much more.)

· Windows Server 2008 Standard (x64) Hyper-V full GUI or Core supports up to 31 GB of memory for running VMs, plus 1 GB for the Hyper-V parent OS.

· Maximum total memory per system for Windows Server 2008 R2 hosts: 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter)

· Maximum total memory per system for Windows Server 2012 hosts: 4 TB

Guest operating systems.

· Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 supports virtual machines with up to 4 processors each (1, 2, or 4 processors depending on guest OS-see below)

· Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 supports virtual machines with up to 64 processors each.

· Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 supports up to 384 VMs per system^[17]

· Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 supports up to 1024 active virtual machines per system.

· Hyper-V supports both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) guest VMs.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

The stand-alone Hyper-V Server variant does not require an existing installation of Windows Server 2008 nor Windows Server 2008 R2. The standalone installation is called Microsoft Hyper-V Server for the non-R2 version and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Microsoft Hyper-V server is built with components of Windows and has a Windows Server Core user experience. None of the other roles of Windows Server are available in Microsoft Hyper-V Server. This version supports up to 64 VMs per system. System requirements of Microsoft Hyper-V server are the same for supported guest operating systems and processor, but differ in the following:

· RAM: Minimum: 1 GB RAM; Recommended: 2 GB RAM or greater; Maximum 1 TB.

· Available disk space: Minimum: 8 GB; Recommended: 20 GB or greater.

Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 has the same capabilities as the standard Hyper-V role in Windows server 2012 R2 and supports 1024 active VMs.

Supported Guests.

The following table lists supported guest operating systems on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Guest OS	Virtual processors	Edition(s)	CPU architecture
Windows Server 2012	1–4	Enterprise, Datacenter	x64
Windows Home Server 2011	1, 2 or 4	Standard	x64
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	1–4	Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	x64
Windows Server 2008 SP2	1–4	Web, HPC, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	IA-32, x64
Windows Server 2003 SP2	1 or 2	Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	IA-32, x64
Windows Server 2003 R2	1 or 2	Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	IA-32, x64
Windows 2000 Server SP4	1	Server, Advanced Server	IA-32
Windows 7	1–4	Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate	IA-32, x64
Windows Vista	1 or 2	Business, Enterprise, Ultimate	IA-32, x64
Windows XP SP2-SP3	1 or 2	Professional	IA-32
Windows XP x64 SP2	1 or 2	N/A	x64
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 or 11 SP1–SP3	1–4	N/A	IA-32, x64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5–7.0	1–4	N/A	IA-32, x64
CentOS 5.5–7.0	1–4	N/A	IA-32, x64
Ubuntu 12.04–14.04	1–4	N/A	IA-32, x64
Debian 7.0	1–4	N/A	IA-32, x64
Oracle Linux 6.4	1–4	Red Hat Compatible Kernel	IA-32, x64

Linux Support.

In July 2009, Microsoft submitted Hyper-V drivers to the kernel, which improve the performance of virtual Linux guest systems in a Windows hosted environment. Microsoft was forced to submit the code when it was discovered that Microsoft had incorporated a Hyper-V network driver with GPL-licensed components statically linked to closed-source binaries. Hyper-V provides basic virtualization support for Linux guests out of the box. Par virtualization support is, however, available by installing the Linux Integration Components or Satori Input-VSC drivers. On July 20, 2009, Microsoft submitted these drivers for inclusion in the Linux kernel under the terms of the GPL, so that kernels from 2.6.32 may include inbuilt Hyper-V par virtualization support.