How to Disable Hyper-V in Windows 10 and 11
Not everyone needs the Hyper-V feature in Windows 10 and 11, or maybe, you were using it for your VMs, but right now, you want it disabled. Hyper-V comes preinstalled with Windows 10 and 11, so you can simply enable it by going to Windows Settings.
Once Hyper-V is enabled, you will be able to create and run virtual desktops on the Windows computer, and if you move on from Hyper-V to another virtualization platform, you may want to turn off the Hyper-V feature on your Windows PC.
Key Takeaways
- Hyper-V allows you to run virtual desktops on a Windows computer
- The Hyper-V feature is preinstalled on Windows 10 and 11 versions
- Disabling the Hyper-V feature on Windows allows you to run specific applications or other virtualization services.
Why You May Need to Disable Hyper-V
In other to run another virtualization software, you will need to disable Hyper-V on your Windows computer. Also, disabling Hyper-V may speed up your computer for specific tasks – mostly other hypervisors. You can’t totally remove the Hyper-V feature from your Windows 10 or 11 PC because it is built into the OS, you can only disable it.
How to Check if Hyper-V Is Running on Windows 10 and 11
Before you conclude that you may need to disable the Hyper-V feature on your Windows PC, first, you need to verify if the feature is enabled and running.
- Go to Control Panel and open “Programs and Features”
- On the side pane, click on “Turn Windows features on or off”
Look out for the “Hyper-V” feature and confirm if it’s enabled or not.
How to Disable Hyper-V
Disabling the Hyper-V feature is quite an easy one, you have to follow the same procedure to find out whether it is enabled or not. However, aside from using the Control Panel, there are other ways to disable Hyper-V on a Windows OS computer.
Using Control Panel (Windows Optional Features)
Windows has multiple optional features and the Hyper-V is one of them; these features are optional because you can choose to turn them on/off anytime you wish, or in need of them. These features are accessible via the Control Panel; you access the feature via the Control Panel and uncheck the box.
- Open the Control Panel by right-clicking on the Start icon and selecting the control panel option from the shown list.
- Go to “Programs and Features.”
- On the side pane, click on “Turn Windows features on or off.”
- Look out for the “Hyper-V” feature and uncheck the Hyper-V box to turn off the feature.
- Also, scroll down a bit on the Optional Features prompt and uncheck Windows Hypervisor Platform (if it was enabled too)
- Click “OK” to save the settings and exit. You may want to reboot your PC for the changes to effect immediately.
Using Windows Optional Features
Open Control Panel:
- Press
Windows + Rto open the Run dialog box. - Type
controland press Enter to open the Control Panel.
Access Programs and Features:
- In the Control Panel, click on
Programs. - Under
Programs and Features, click onTurn Windows features on or off.
Disable Hyper-V:
- In the Windows Features dialog box, locate
Hyper-V. - Uncheck the box next to
Hyper-Vto disable it. - Click
OKto apply the changes.
Restart Your Computer:
- You will be prompted to restart your computer to apply the changes. Click on
Restart now.
Using BCDEDIT
An alternative to using a Control Panel for disabling the Hyper-V feature is using the BCDEDIT CLI utility. This will have you run some CMD commands, and you need admin user access on the system being used.
- Launch Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin)
- Type this command into the CLI and hit the Enter button: bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
- Close the CMD interface if the command returns a successful message, then reboot the computer.
Using Command Prompt or PowerShell (via DISM)
Although the BCDEDIT tool runs through the CMD, there’s another way to use the CMD to disable Hyper-V on Windows without launching the BCDEDIT tool – using the DISM tool. (Note: The Command Prompt and PowerShell interfaces are the same and use the same commands, but PowerShell is a newer utility intended to replace Command Prompt on newer Windows OS versions)
- Open Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin). Right-click on the Start icon and you’ll see the options.
- Enter this command: dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-hyper-v-all
- The DISM utility will turn off Hyper-V and all its sister features on your Windows computer.
- Exit the CMD when the task is complete and restart the computer.
How to Disable Related Features
The Hyper-V feature works together with some other optional features found in the control panel. When you disable the Hyper-V feature, it is also important to disable all other features that are related to Windows hypervisor.
- Open Control Panel
- Go to Programs and Features
- On the side pane, click on “Turn Windows features on or off.”
- Scroll down and look out for any Hypervisor-related feature that is enabled, then disable them. Most importantly, disable the Windows Hypervisor Platform feature.
Device Guard and Credential Guard
Device Guard and Credential Guard can prevent your new virtualization service from performing optimally; these features work best with Hyper-V and not other virtualization services like VMware ESXi. To disable this feature, you need to edit the Windows Registry, and this is a high-risk action, so you must be careful.
- Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue box.
- Type regedit into the box and hit the enter button to Registry Editor.
- In the Registry Editor, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
- You can simply copy the path above and paste it into the Registry’s address bar.
- When you’re on the Lsa page, look to the right pane, find LsaCfgFlags, and double-click on it to open. If you can’t find any LsaCfgFlags entry, create a new one by right-clicking on the Lsa folder icon on the left pane 🡺New 🡺 DWORD (32-bit) value 🡺 enter 0 and name the entry LsaCfgFlags.
- If the LsaCfgFlags was already existing, open it and set the value to “0” if it was another number.
- Click OK to save changes to the LsaCfgFlags DWORD value.
It doesn’t end there, next, you need to find the Device Guard entry in the Registry Editor. So, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard
- In the DeviceGuard page, look for EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity entry, if it doesn’t exist, create one as explained in the previous step.
- If the entry exists, double-click on it and set the value to “0”
- Click OK to save changes and exit the Registry Editor entirely – you’re done.
- Restart the computer afterward.
Disable Memory Integrity (Virtualization-Based Security)
Another feature you may want to turn off after disabling Hyper-V is the memory integrity, which is part of Windows Core Isolation. The function is this feature is to prevent hackers from launching high-security processes on your system using malicious codes. By default, this feature is disabled on Windows OS, to prevent app conflicts, but in case it is enabled on your PC, here’s how to disable it.
- Open the Windows Settings app and go to Privacy & Security
- In the Privacy and Security page, click on Windows Security, then click on the “Open Windows Security” button.
- Look for Device Security and click on it.
- Click on Core Isolation and turn off Memory Integrity (if it was turned on)
- Close the Settings page and restart your PC
Remove the Hyper-V Virtual Network Adapter
If the settings above still don’t let you run your apps seamlessly, then you should consider uninstalling the Hyper-V network adapter from Device Management.
- Open Device Manager (right-click on the Start icon and select the option).
- In the Device Manager page, expand the Network Adapters section to find the Hyper-V Virtual network adapters and remove them. If you don’t find any Hyper-V adapter listed, click on the “View” menu option and select “Show hidden devices.”
- Now, uninstall the Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter if you can find it and any other Hyper-V-related virtual adapter.
(Note: Do not uninstall Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter).
- Restart the PC when you’re done.
Post-Disabling Steps
After disabling Hyper-V and all its related settings and features, reboot your system and try running all your important applications to ensure they are still accessible. If you disabled Hyper-V because you needed to restore a virtual machine built on a different hypervisor, then you should go with the steps below.
How to Restore Virtual Machines
You should back up your Hyper-V VMs and export them to another storage or virtual environment before disabling the features on your Windows system. However, if your VM is hosted on another hypervisor, you need to install the hypervisor software, create a new VM, and use the disk image file of the old VM to restore its data and files to the new one you just created.
How to Recover Hypervisor Files
DiskInternals VMFS Recovery is a popular and highly recommendable virtual hard drive recovery software. The program runs on all Windows systems, regardless of the OS version or edition. DiskInternals VMFS Recovery also has a built-in wizard to help the users through the process.
To use DiskInternals VMFS Recovery in recovering your hypervisor files, download and install the app on your PC, then launch it and scan the hard drive where the hypervisor files are stored; you should see the recovered hypervisor files appear with a red asterisk – upgrade your DiskInternals VMFS Recovery software to save the files back.
Conclusion
This article details everything you should do to disable Hyper-V and all its related settings from your Windows system. The Hyper-V feature can disturb you from running multiple advanced software programs, so you should disable it first. However, if along the line, the processes seem to confusing, do not forget to seek professional assistance.
FAQ
Should you disable Hyper-V in Windows 11?
Whether you should disable Hyper-V in Windows 11 depends on your specific needs. If you require other virtualization solutions like VMware or VirtualBox, disabling Hyper-V can help avoid conflicts and improve performance. However, if you use Hyper-V for creating and managing virtual machines, you should keep it enabled. Consider your virtualization requirements and potential software conflicts before making a decision.
Disable Hyper-V in Windows 11 to Run Third-Party Virtualization Tools and Apps
Disabling Hyper-V in Windows 11 can be necessary to run third-party virtualization tools and apps like VMware or VirtualBox without conflicts. Hyper-V can interfere with these tools, causing performance issues or preventing them from working properly. By disabling Hyper-V, you ensure compatibility and optimal performance for your preferred virtualization solutions. Consider your specific use case and virtualization needs before making this change.
How to Uninstall Hyper-V on Windows Server 2019
To uninstall Hyper-V on Windows Server 2019, open Server Manager and navigate to the "Manage" menu, then select "Remove Roles and Features." Follow the wizard to the "Select features" page, where you can uncheck the "Hyper-V" feature. Continue through the wizard and confirm the removal, then restart your server to apply the changes. This process will completely uninstall Hyper-V, freeing up resources and resolving any conflicts with other virtualization tools.
How to repair VMware virtual machine
To repair a VMware virtual machine, start by ensuring the VM is powered off and then open VMware Workstation or VMware Fusion. Navigate to the VM's settings and check for any corrupted files or snapshots that need consolidation. Use the "Repair Disk" or "Check Disk" utilities provided by VMware to fix any detected issues. If problems persist, restore the VM from a recent backup or create a new VM and attach the existing virtual disk to recover the data.