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The Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service must be running

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Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016

For more information about best practices and scans, see Best Practices Analyzer.

Property Details
Operating System Windows Server 2016
Product/Feature Hyper-V
Severity Error
Category Prerequisites

In the following sections, italics indicates UI text that appears in the Best Practices Analyzer tool for this issue.

Issue

The service required to manage virtual machines is not running.

Impact

No virtual machine management operations can be performed.

Virtual machines that are running will continue to run. However, you won't be able to manage virtual machines, or create or delete them until the service is running.

Resolution

Use the Services snap-in or Sc config command-line tool to reconfigure the service to start automatically.

Tip

If you can't find the service in the desktop app or the command-line tool reports that the service doesn't exist, the Hyper-V Management tools probably aren't installed. And if you are not able to see the Hyper-V MMC console from the Start menu, you should install the Hyper-V Management Tools.

To install the Hyper-V Management tools:

  • On Windows Server, open Server Manager and use the Add Roles and Features wizard. For more details, see Install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server 2016. You can also use PowerShell to install the tools (Install-WindowsFeature -Name Hyper-V-Tools, Hyper-V-PowerShell)
  • On Windows, from the Desktop, begin typing programs, click Programs and Features (Control panel) > Turn Windows features on or off > Hyper-V > Hyper-V Management Tools. Then, click OK.

To reconfigure the service to start automatically using the Services desktop app

  1. Open the Services desktop app. (Click Start, click in the Start Search box, type services.msc, and then press ENTER.)

  2. In the details pane, right-click Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management, and then click Properties.

  3. On the General tab, in Startup type, click Automatic.

  4. To start the service, click Start.

To reconfigure the service to start automatically using SC Config

  1. Open Windows PowerShell. (From the desktop, click Start and start typing Windows PowerShell.)

  2. Right-click Windows PowerShell and click Run as administrator.

  3. To reconfigure the service, type:

    sc.exe config vmms start=auto

  4. To start the service, type:

    sc.exe start vmms

If the service is already configured to start automatically and you just need to restart the service, you can do that from Hyper-V Manager, or from the sc start vmms command shown above.

To restart the service from Hyper-V Manager

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

  2. In the navigation pane, click the name of the server if it's not already selected.

  3. In the Actions pane, click Start Service.