I use Hyper-V on a Surface Laptop for testing Windows 10 all the time, you can try new builds or settings and as it’s a virtual machine I am not worried about breaking real devices. With Windows 11 now being in the public testing phase, Hyper-V is a great way to try out Microsoft’s latest OS.
Before you can try Windows 11 on Hyper-V there are a few steps and settings you need to have correct for Windows 11 to work, if the virtual machine does not meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11 you will not be able to install it. At the bottom of this article I have video guide.
The first step is to enable Hyper-V. This works on Windows 10 and Windows 11.
To turn on Hyper-V go to Windows’s Turn Windows features on or Off, find Hyper-V and tick the box:
After a reboot Hyper-V will be ready.
Next you will need to create a new virtual machine. Give it a name and then select the Generation:
You should select a Generation 2 virtual machine.
For memory Windows 11 needs a minimum of 4096mb. You can use Dynamic memory.
Select your default switch in the networking screen.
Next create the virtual hard drive
The final step is to install the operating system. As Windows 11 is not currently available as an ISO you will need to use a Windows 10 ISO (available from the Windows Insider download page).
Once you have finished this configuration you can start the virtual machine and go through the Windows 10 setup. I am going to assume you can install Windows 10, so here you complete the Windows 10 setup and log into the machine. I will take you through the settings needed to support Windows 11.
After you have finished the Windows 10 setup shutdown the virtual machine and go to the machines settings.
Make sure Secure Boot, trusted platform and Encrypt state options are ticked
Also make sure you have 4 virtual processes enabled. I spent a lot of time trying to get Windows 11 running before I noticed this setting.
Once you have these options set you should be able to Windows 11 so fire up the virtual machine and go to Update & Security in Settings.
The go to the Windows Insider Program settings and link your Microsoft account. If you haven’t joined the Windows Insider Program you will need to do this at https://insider.Windows.com
Once you have linked your Microsoft account you can select which channel of the Windows Insider program you want to join.
If you only see the Release Preview Channel your machine does not meet the requirements for Windows 11 so check your virtual machine settings.
The Dev channel is the most frequent set of updates and the least stable. Beta Channel gets Windows 11 updates, and the builds should be more stable than the Dev channel. The Release Preview channel is currently only Windows 10 and will not give you Windows 11. I would recommend beta channel if you want to try out Windows 11 or if you want to test the very latest version and don’t mind the risk and frequent updates then select Dev Channel.
Once you have selected the channel you will need to reboot and once rebooted you can go to Windows Update, and it should start downloading Windows 11.
Here is my video guide to install Windows 11 on Hyper-V
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