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About Virtual Machines and Guest Operating Systems

Updated: July 15, 2014

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1

ImportantImportant
Windows Server 2012 is the last version of Windows that will be supported as a guest operating system on this platform. There will be no further additions to the list of supported Windows guest operating systems.

The following tables list the operating systems that are supported for use on a virtual machine as a guest operating system. You can run 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems at the same time on one server running Hyper-V. The guest operating systems are supported for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2, and Hyper-V version 1 (KB950050, “Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition”).

For similar information about Hyper-V in other versions of Windows Server, see:

ImportantImportant
Support for Windows 2000 Server and Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (x86) ended on July 13, 2010. Support for Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 ended on July 12, 2011. After support ends, integration services for these operating systems are not updated and support is not available for any issues arising from using these operating systems in virtual machines. For more information about the end of support, see Support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Ends on July 13, 2010 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196706)

noteNote
A virtual machine running on a version of Hyper-V earlier than Windows Server 2008 R2 can be configured with 1, 2, or 4 virtual processors, regardless of the number of processors that the guest operating system supports.

noteNote
Microsoft provides support for the operating systems listed in the tables below in the following manner:

  • Issues found in Microsoft operating systems and in integration services are supported by Microsoft support.

  • For issues found in other operating systems that have been certified by the operating system vendor to run on Hyper-V, support is provided by the vendor.

  • For issues found in other operating systems, Microsoft submits the issue to the multi-vendor support community, TSANet.

 

Server guest operating system Editions Virtual processors

Windows Server® 2012, only on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1), with a hotfix applied. To read about and download the hotfix, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2744129.

noteNote
Windows Server 2012 is not supported on a server running Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2.

Enterprise and Datacenter

1,2,3, or 4

Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1

Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web editions

1, 2, 3, or 4

Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2

Standard, Standard without Hyper-V, Enterprise, Enterprise without Hyper-V, Datacenter, Datacenter without Hyper-V, Windows Web Server 2008, and HPC Edition

1, 2, 3, or 4

Windows Server 2003 R2 with Service Pack 2

Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web

1 or 2

Windows Home Server 2011

Standard

1, 2 or 4

Windows MultiPoint Server 2011

Standard, Premium

2

Windows Small Business Server 2011

Essentials

1 or 2

Windows Small Business Server 2011

Standard

1, 2, or 4

Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition with Service Pack 2

Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter

1 or 2

Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2

Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web

1 or 2

Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition with Service Pack 2

Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter

1 or 2

Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4

ImportantImportant
Support for this operating system ended on July 13, 2010. For more information, see the notice at the beginning of this article.

Server, Advanced Server

1

Linux

For detailed information about running Linux as a guest operating system on Hyper-V, see Linux Virtual Machines on Hyper-V.

4

 

Client guest operating system Editions Virtual processors

Windows® 8, only on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1), with a hotfix applied. To read about and download the hotfix, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2744129.

4

Windows 7 with Service Pack 1

Enterprise, Ultimate, and Professional. This applies to both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, as well as N and KN editions.

1, 2, 3, or 4

Windows 7

Enterprise, Ultimate, and Professional. This applies to both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, as well as N and KN editions.

1, 2, 3, or 4

Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2)

Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, including N and KN editions

1 or 2

Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3)

ImportantImportant
Performance might be degraded on Windows XP with SP3 when the server running Hyper-V uses an AMD processor. For more information, see Degraded I/O Performance Using a Windows XP Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=208750).

Professional

1 or 2

Windows XP with Service Pack 2

ImportantImportant
Support for this operating system ended on July 13, 2010. For more information, see the notice at the beginning of this article.

Professional

1

Windows XP x64 Edition with Service Pack 2

Professional

1 or 2

Integration services are available for supported guest operating systems as described in the following table.

For more information about integration services for Linux as a guest operating system on Hyper-V, see Linux Virtual Machines on Hyper-V.

ImportantImportant
When a service pack is listed, the service pack is required and the guest operating system is not supported without the listed service pack.

noteNote
Some guest operating systems do not support the Volume Shadow Copy Service. As a result, online backup service is not available and is not listed for those guest operating systems.

 

Guest operating system

Device and service support

Windows Server 2008 R2

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (64-bit editions and x86 editions)

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

Windows Server 2003 (x64 editions) with Service Pack 2

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

noteNote
This operating system does not support a legacy network adapter. For more information about virtual networking and network adapter types, see Configuring virtual networks.

Windows Server 2003 (x86 editions) with Service Pack 2

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4

ImportantImportant
Support for this operating system ended on July 13, 2010. For more information, see the notice at the beginning of this article.

Drivers: IDE, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, and heartbeat

Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Service Pack 4

ImportantImportant
Support for this operating system ended on July 13, 2010. For more information, see the notice at the beginning of this article.

Drivers: IDE, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, and heartbeat

Windows 7

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

Windows Vista (64-bit editions) with Service Pack 2

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

Windows Vista (x86 editions) with Service Pack 2

Drivers: IDE, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, heartbeat, and online backup

Windows XP Professional (x86 editions) with Service Pack 2 or 3

ImportantImportant
Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 ended on July 13, 2010. For more information, see the notice at the beginning of this article.

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, and heartbeat

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 2

Drivers: IDE, SCSI, networking, video, and mouse

Services: operating system shutdown, time synchronization, data exchange, and heartbeat

Linux

For detailed information about running Linux as a guest operating system on Hyper-V, see Linux Virtual Machines on Hyper-V.

  • On Windows operating systems, you may need to close the Found New Hardware Wizard to start the installation of integration services.

  • If you installed a prerelease version of integration services on a guest operating system, we recommend that you upgrade to the release version. For supported Windows operating systems, the release version of integration services is included with the release version of the Hyper-V role. For more information about the role update package, see Installing Hyper-V [Node]. For more information about version compatibility, see Version Compatibility for Integration Services.

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