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+--- Thread: How can you enable nested virtualization in Hyper-V? (/showthread.php?tid=217)
How can you enable nested virtualization in Hyper-V? - savas - 06-25-2018
Enabling nested virtualization in Hyper-V is like digging a little deeper into your virtual machines, allowing you to run hypervisors on top of hypervisors. It’s a cool feature, especially if you’re into testing or learning more about virtualization without needing a separate physical machine. So, let’s walk through how you can set this up.
First off, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a supported version of Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 and later because nested virtualization isn’t available on older versions. Also, your CPU needs to support SLAT (Second Level Address Translation) and virtualization features—most modern processors meet this requirement.
Assuming you’re all set there, the next step is to create a new virtual machine in Hyper-V or tweak an existing one. Launch the Hyper-V Manager, and if you’re starting fresh, just choose to create a new virtual machine. Pay attention to the generation of the VM. You’ll need to select Generation 2, as nested virtualization only works with these.
After setting up the virtual machine, you’ll need to turn on the nested virtualization feature. This is where it gets a bit hands-on because you’ll need to use PowerShell. Open PowerShell as an administrator (don’t skip that part) and run a specific command to enable the feature. Essentially, you want to find the name of your VM and then run a command like “Set-VMProcessor -VMName 'YourVMName' -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true.” Just replace ‘YourVMName’ with the actual name of your VM. This command tells Hyper-V to allow virtualization extensions to be exposed to the VM you're working on.
Once you’ve executed that, you’ll also want to configure the network settings a bit. Nested VMs can sometimes have a slightly tricky networking setup because they need to communicate. Ideally, you want to set your virtual switch to "External" to ensure that those nested VMs can access the network without issues.
With your virtual machine configured, you can now boot it up and install another hypervisor—like Hyper-V, VMware, or even something like VirtualBox. You might notice that this process runs pretty smoothly, especially when compared to physical hardware setups. Once you have your second hypervisor up and running, it’s just a matter of creating another layer of virtual machines, allowing you to experiment or test without redeploying onto different machines.
Finally, keep in mind that while this feature is super handy, it does come with performance trade-offs. Running multiple layers of virtualization can strain your resources, so make sure your host machine has enough CPU and memory to handle the workload you plan to throw at it. Monitor performance and tweak your settings as needed to get the best balance between functional testing and resource allocation.
So, there you have it! With nested virtualization enabled, you can dive deeper into the world of virtualization, play around with configurations, or simply explore new setups without fear of messing up your main environment. It’s a playground for the curious and a powerful tool for the budding IT professional. Happy virtualizing!
I hope my post was useful. Are you new to Hyper-V and do you have a good Hyper-V backup solution? See my other post