Before you turn on Hyper-V, it pays to know whether your machine can actually run it. Microsoft’s documentation is blunt about this: the hypervisor won’t install on just any box, and if a hardware piece is missing, the role simply won’t start. The good news is that the general requirements have barely changed since Windows Server 2012 R2, so existing hardware usually works.
Processor: 64-bit and SLAT is mandatory
The central requirement is a 64-bit processor with SLAT (Second Level Address Translation). This is what allows the virtualization components to install, including the Windows hypervisor itself. Without SLAT, there’s no way to load the hypervisor. You can still install the management tools (Hyper-V Manager, Virtual Machine Connection, the PowerShell cmdlets), but those don’t virtualize anything on their own.
One detail worth keeping in mind: on Windows Server, SLAT moved from recommended to required. Older releases let you try without it. That’s no longer the case. Alongside SLAT, the processor needs VM Monitor Mode extensions.
Memory and BIOS/UEFI settings
Microsoft suggests planning for at least 4 GB of RAM, with the familiar caveat that more is better. The reasoning is plain. That memory gets shared between the host and every virtual machine you run at the same time, so the minimum runs thin once you stand up a couple of serious VMs.
In the BIOS or UEFI you have to enable two things:
- Hardware-assisted virtualization. This is the option found in processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V).
- Hardware-enforced DEP (Data Execution Prevention). It must be available and enabled. On Intel systems that’s the XD bit (execute disable); on AMD systems, the NX bit (no execute).
Both settings live in the board firmware, so if either shows up as unsupported, check the UEFI configuration before writing the machine off.
How to check whether your machine qualifies
No guessing required. Open PowerShell or a command prompt and run:
Systeminfo.exeScroll to the Hyper-V Requirements section. If all four values read Yes, the system can run the role. If any item returns No, that’s your fix: review the specific requirement and adjust what you can, which is usually something in the BIOS.
A useful quirk: if you run systeminfo on a host that already has Hyper-V running, you won’t see the requirements list. Instead you get the message “A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.” That means the hypervisor is already loaded, not that something broke.
Which editions support it
On desktop Windows, Hyper-V can be enabled on Windows 10 and Windows 11 in the Professional or Enterprise editions. Home editions are left out. When everything lines up (operating system, hardware and compatibility), you’ll see Hyper-V under “Turn Windows features on or off”, with its two options: Hyper-V platform and Hyper-V Management Tools. If you see Windows Hypervisor Platform instead, that’s a sign the machine misses one of the requirements.
Who this matters to
If you come from Proxmox VE or any Linux-based hypervisor, the pattern will feel familiar: hardware virtualization toggled in firmware, nested page table support, and enough memory. The difference is that here the checker (systeminfo) is built into Windows and gives you a binary answer per requirement, which saves time when you set up a new host or validate a fleet of machines before deploying the role.
Source
Official Microsoft Learn documentation: System Requirements for Hyper-V on Windows and Windows Server