Windows 11 has multiple virtualization features with similar names. This short post explains when to enable each one.
It’s not immediately clear which features need to be enabled on Windows 11 for local virtualisation support. The following features appear to overlap:
- Hyper-V
- Virtual Machine Platform
- Windows Hypervisor Platform
Firstly, where do you see these optional features on Windows 11?
- Settings > Apps > Optional Features > More Windows Features
- PowerShell
Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -online | Out-Gridview
Purpose
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Hyper-V | Host local VMs using client Hyper-V |
| Virtual Machine Platform | Pre-req for Windows Subsystem for Linux* |
| Windows Hypervisor Platform | API for 3rd party virtualisation e.g. Docker, VirtualBox |
*NOTE Virtual Machine Platform is automatically enabled if you use the command wsl –install
Enable
You can enable the features you need as follows:
# Hyper-V
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All
# Virtual Machine Platform
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform
# Windows Hypervisor Platform
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName HypervisorPlatform
This article was originally posted on Write-Verbose.com