Microsoft confirms Hyper-V is part of Windows 8 [video]

By Tom Warren, on 7th Sep 11 5:00 pm with 36 Comments

Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday that it plans to include Hyper-V in the client version of Windows 8.

The software giant revealed the support in the latest building Windows 8 blog post on Wednesday. Details of Microsoft’s Hyper-V support had previously leaked after build 7989 contained Hyper-V 3.0 and a new virtual hard drive format, VHDX. “In building Windows 8 we worked to enable Hyper-V, the machine virtualization technology that has been part of the last 2 releases of Windows Server, to function on the client OS as well,” said Hyper-V program manager Mathew John.

Hyper-V is important as it allows end users to run more than one 32-bit or 64-bit x86 OS at the same time on the same computer. Additional machines can interact directly with the computer’s hardware inside a virtual machine (VM). Microsoft briefly touches on the new .VHDX virtual hard drive format in its post, acknowledging that Windows clients will support the files. The new VHDX format is capable of supporting disks much larger than the current 2TB restriction of VHD. Microsoft has created VHDX which is capable of supporting disks up to 16TB in size. The new format can only be used in Windows OS versions starting at Windows 8.

For more information on Hyper-V inside Windows 8, check out the video below.

  • http://twitter.com/quentez Quentin Calvez

    Nice, we won’t have to use Virtual PC 2007 anymore :D (well for Windows at least… VmWare is still there for the rest).

    • GP007

      Uhh, last I checked I think Hyper-V fully supports linux as well.

    • ForTheWin

      Hyper-V is part of the Linux kernel. That’s why Microsoft is one of the top contributors to Linux Kernel 3.0.

    • Guest

      Hyper-V *drivers*, not Hyper V itself.

    • Tom

      Integration components on Linux are not as plug-and-play as with VMWare.

      Of course, it’s arguable if you actually need that much integration with the host OS.  If you treat your virtual machines like machines on a server rack somewhere, then you’re remoting in anyway.

  • Aaron

    Does this mean we will get Hyper-V for free with Windows 8? Or do you have to pay MS extra to unlock the feature?

    • Grannyville7989

      I hate having the different SKU of Windows.

    • Guest

      I see this argument over and over, mostly from mactards. MS sells all over the world and there’s a pretty good argument for why they have so many skus.

      What practical difference does it make for the average user living in North America or Europe? You have home premium or pro. Pretty simple.

    • Grannyville7989

      But I would find using BitLocker very useful. Why should I pay signifcantly more for a version of Windows for this one added feature. Why should Microsoft dictate on what a home user might and might not use. Like backing up over a network storage can’t be done using Home Premium. Why not? A lot of home users have home networks with NAS. Why can’t I upgrade a Windows Vista Busi ess PC to Windows 7 Home Premium? I might lose one or two features, fine, but don’t force me to have to wipe my system.

      Plus, having one SKU would make my life that little bit easier for when it comes for fixing people’s computers when they have a Home Premium PC with no disc but I only have Professional disc.

    • Grannyville7989

      But I would find using BitLocker very useful. Why should I pay signifcantly more for a version of Windows for this one added feature. Why should Microsoft dictate on what a home user might and might not use. Like backing up over a network storage can’t be done using Home Premium. Why not? A lot of home users have home networks with NAS. Why can’t I upgrade a Windows Vista Busi ess PC to Windows 7 Home Premium? I might lose one or two features, fine, but don’t force me to have to wipe my system.

      Plus, having one SKU would make my life that little bit easier for when it comes for fixing people’s computers when they have a Home Premium PC with no disc but I only have Professional disc.

    • rsgx

      Chances are you’ll need the “Ultimate” version – I’m doubt “home” users would need this kind of functionality.

    • Guest

      More likely Pro, which is the main business version. But they might throw it into Home Premium too. After all, the goal here is to establish Hyper V as a standard vs VMware, so the more people who know it/use it the better.

    • Tom

      Well, XP Mode was put into Pro for Windows 7.  Not available for Home Premium.

    • Guest

      Yeah, that’s why I said Pro and maybe Premium. A lot has changed since XP mode for Windows 7, including a much more capable installed base of processors and even faster new ones. And for all we know Hyper V might be MS’s way of providing ARM-based Windows users with access to W32 programs.

    • Kanelp

      Well the free copy of ‘XP’ is what came with Windows 7 Pro.  Virtual PC itself is free for all versions of Windows 7.  If you have our own copy of XP, then you can install that in Virtual PC get the same functionally as XP mode on Win7Pro.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTAHVKS2RNDWTQPHQEJALLRNEQ Adam Paris

      From what i heard, there wont be anymore Ultimate or home premium. Just one version.

    • Guest

      Ultimate should definitely go away. MS failed to provide the extra value that would justify the premium price.

    • http://www.facebook.com/JEEtoP Chris Simmons

      Hyper-V has always been free, that’s not going to change.

  • Aaron

    Does this mean we will get Hyper-V for free with Windows 8? Or do you have to pay MS extra to unlock the feature?

  • Aaron

    Does this mean we will get Hyper-V for free with Windows 8? Or do you have to pay MS extra to unlock the feature?

  • Dotnetgeek

    I dont see comments section from my IE9/Win 7 machine.  I happened to use Chrome to see it.  Any idea what is causing this?

    • Anonymous

      Click the blue circle with the line through it in your address bar and turn off tracking protection for this site. Or you can turn it off for every site under Tools/Manage add-ons.

    • Guest

      It could be compatibility with the updated site coded for WebKit, incorrectly configured webserver, cookies and HTML5 data that hasn’t been cleared.

  • http://twitter.com/oolong2 oolong2

    It would have been bad ass if he picked a Linux distribution ISO or OSX Lion….

  • Oiler_head

    Yeah!  I can like VMWare Workstation for its power and VirtualBox because its ability to mount VHDs.  Having HyperV is great because its brings both things.  If it remains free, I can see VMWare be under the gun to make Workstation free as well. 

    How long before VMWare files an anti-trust I wonder??

  • Anonymous

    Quote: “Hyper-V is important as it allows end users to run more than one 32-bit or 64-bit x86 OS at the same time on the same computer.”

    Isn’t 32Bit also called x86 ?!…

    Anyway, Hyper-V sounds like something off Vehicles technology…such as Vtec from Honda…etc..KOOOLLLL!!

  • Anonymous

    Quote: “Hyper-V is important as it allows end users to run more than one 32-bit or 64-bit x86 OS at the same time on the same computer.”

    Isn’t 32Bit also called x86 ?!…

    Anyway, Hyper-V sounds like something off Vehicles technology…such as Vtec from Honda…etc..KOOOLLLL!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/Casey.J.Brown Casey Brown

      x86 can refer to older intel xx86 cpu, these could also run 16 bit architectures of the chip. 32 Bit, is a bit more appropriate in this case. (Pun intended)
      In your case he would have to write x86-32 to represent it fully so I stand by his choice of just saying 32Bit.

    • Anonymous

      Thanx for the explanation…:)

  • Anonymous

    windows 8 sounds cooler in every post, and this one sounds really useful!.

  • http://www.facebook.com/andreirlopes Andrei R. Lopes

    OMG. Seems like I’m gonne use just 10% of all Windows 8 content. It’s so brilliant.

    • smarterthanandreirlopes

      “just 10%”…?

      – Yeah, sure. See that’s the problem, using Microsoft products actually requires users to actually have a bit of human intelligence. You know, somewhere above troll intelligence. geez…

  • Heroes Certificados

    What really stands out here is the possibility of linking the Virtual Switch to a WiFi adapter!!!! This wasn’t allowed in Hyper-V for Windows Server 2008 R2 :) ))))))))))))

    • Prakash Heda

      its allowed indiff fashion, create a hyperv internal network and than bridge both to get wifi network bridge to vm’s…

      check my video with hyperv network config on laptop…
      http://youtu.be/6QD12qvlpTk

    • Heroes Certificados

      Remember, a workaround is not a feature :)

  • Jinge

    That’s really great news! Hope they are keeping on improving HV! It still has a lot of possibilities missing which could be awesome!

    For the new virtual disk format, I just don’t understand the 16TB limit, which will soon be reached…  Would it be so difficult to multiply by 100 or 1000? :s