Running a virtual machine is a good way to use an operating system without installing it on your PC. For instance, you can test drive the latest Windows version or a new Ubuntu Linux distribution without any risk. Here's how to create a virtual machine in Windows 10 without installing third-party software. Microsoft provides a built-in tool called Hyper-V to create a virtual machine on Windows 10. It’s only available on these platforms:
If your PC runs Windows 10 Home, you must install a third-party virtual machine client. Hyper-V is not available on this platform. While Hyper-V is a useful tool, it may not be the ideal solution for software development. As Microsoft explains about Hyper-V, programs and apps that require specific hardware—like a discrete graphics processor—may not work correctly in a virtual machine. Even more, simply enabling Hyper-V may cause performance issues for “latency-sensitive, high-precision applications.” Not just any computer can run a virtual machine, however. You’ll need to see if your PC’s processor can handle a virtual machine before moving forward. Here are the hardware requirements from Microsoft:
Here are the BIOS settings required to run a virtual machine:
Still not sure your Windows 10 PC can run a virtual machine using Hyper-V? Microsoft provides the means to find out. Follow these steps:
It's likely your Windows 10 PC doesn't have Hyper-V features turned on by default. If that's the case, you won't find any Hyper-V entries on the Start Menu. Follow these steps to get your virtual machine support up and running.
This is one of two methods to create a virtual machine using Windows 10's built-in tool. It's the quickest and visually easier of the two. Here you'll find options to install two Linux builds, the MSIX Packaging Tool Environment, and the Windows 10 Development Environment. If you want to run a preview build of Windows 10, you'll need to manually download an ISO.
At first glance, this version looks old-school compared to the Quick Create version. However, this interface is the meat of your virtual machine loading and unloading. Here you're provided with advanced tools for importing a virtual machine, creating a virtual machine from scratch using a step-by-step process, and more. You can access the simpler Quick Create tool from this interface as well.
Once you select the Ubuntu 19.04 option and click Create Virtual Machine, the Hyper-V client will download and install Ubuntu in a software “container” (aka virtual machine). Once completed, Hyper-V prompts you with two buttons.
Because you're not installing a second operating system directly onto your PC, there's no shortcut on the Start Menu or the desktop. There's also no option to load your virtual machine from the Hyper-V Quick Create tool. Instead, you must load and shut down your virtual machine using the Hyper-V Manager.
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