When you’re out building a home lab, you’ll probably pick Proxmox, XCP-ng, or another Linux operating system. However, Windows machines can also double as solid workstations for your computing experiments, especially once you pair them with Hyper-V.

While the latest version of Hyper-V is restricted to the exorbitantly priced Windows Server package, you can run an older, free-to-use variant of the hypervisor on your Windows 11 rig and still expect reliable performance. So, we’ve compiled this detailed guide to walk you through the entire process of building a home lab using Hyper-V.

What you’ll need

Despite being extremely easy to configure, Hyper-V requires a slightly beefier PC than your average virtualization platform. Aside from a 64-bit processor armed (pun intended) with SLAT/nested paging provisions, you’ll need at least 4GB RAM on the host machine.

By default, Hyper-V Server 2019 is pre-installed on the Pro and Enterprise variants of Windows 11. Technically, you could install Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home, but you won’t be able to access the Windows Sandbox feature unless you’re using the Pro or Enterprise editions. Not to mention, you also have the added advantage of going beyond the 128GB memory limit on non-Home Windows 11 versions, which will come in handy when you’re attempting to set up a production environment using Hyper-V. So, we’ll center this guide around Windows 11 Pro, and you’ll need the OS pre-installed on your PC before you can proceed to the rest of the article.

Enabling CPU virtualization in the BIOS

Before you can start tinkering with Windows settings, you must modify the motherboard’s BIOS settings to turn on the CPU virtualization feature. The exact steps may differ depending on your mobo manufacturer, but here’s a general outline of the process:

  1. Reboot your PC and repeatedly tap the Delete key to enter the BIOS.
  2. Head to the Advanced CPU options/Tweaker tab and set Virtualization/SVM Mode/Intel VT-x/AMD-V to Enabled.
    Enabling the SVM Mode in the BIOS
  3. Remember to save the changes before you exit the BIOS.

Enabling the Hyper-V services on Windows 11

With the virtualization setting toggled on, it’s time to set up Hyper-V on your PC. For those on Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise builds, you can get the hypervisor up and running once you enable two packages using the Control Panel:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Search Bar and hit Enter when the utility shows up under the Best Match section.
    Launching the Control Panel on Windows 11
  2. Head to the Programs tab and click on Turn Windows settings on or off.
    Accessing the Hyper-V services inside the Control Panel
  3. Enable the two Hyper-V services before tapping OK and hitting the Restart now button.
    Enabling the Hyper-V services in the Control Panel

Deploying a virtual machine in Hyper-V

Once your PC restarts, you’ll be able to create and deploy virtual machines with the help of Hyper-V Manager.

  1. Enter the words Hyper-V Manager into the Search Bar, and click on the app after it appears under Best match.
    Launching the Hyper-V Manager
  2. Select the host machine inside the Hyper-V Manager UI.
    Selecting the local machine in the Hyper-V Manager
  3. Tap the New button and select Virtual machine…
    Creating a new VM in Hyper-V
  4. Press Next at the Before you begin tab.
    Pressing the Next button in the Before You Begin tab of Hyper-V
  5. Enter a Name for your new virtual machine.
    Entering a Name for the VM in Hyper-V
    Be sure to hit Next after each step.
  6. Choose the Generation of your VM.
    Choosing the Generation of a VM in Hyper-V
  7. Allocate the Startup memory to the virtual machine.
    Allocating some RAM to the Hyper-V virtual machine
  8. If you want your VM to connect to the Internet, select the Default Switch inside the Connection tab.
    Selecting the Default Switch option in Hyper-V
  9. Pick a Name for the virtual hard disk, choose a Location for it on your host machine, and grant some storage capacity to it.
    Configuring the VHD in Hyper-V
  10. Assuming you have some ISO images saved on your local machine, press the radio button next to the Install an operating system from a bootable CD/DVD-ROM and use the Browse option to select the ISO file of your favorite OS.
    Selecting the ISO file for a Hyper-V VM
  11. Tap the Finish button inside the Summary tab.
    Creating a VM in Hyper-V
  12. (Optional) If you’re attempting to run a Linux distro on the Hyper-V virtual machine, right-click on the VM, choose Settings, and uncheck the Enable Secure Boot option inside the Security tab.
    Turning off Secure Boot inside Hyper-V
  13. To run the VM, double-click on it and hit the Start now button inside the pop-up window.
    Starting a VM inside Hyper-V

Turning your Windows 11 machine into an experimentation hub using Hyper-V

Running NixOS inside Hyper-V

Assuming you’ve followed all the steps properly, the VM should boot into the operating system you chose earlier. With that, you’re free to bring your cool projects to life. But if Hyper-V seems too overwhelming, you can start your home lab journey using simple Type-2 hypervisors like VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Pro instead.