Hyper-V feature compatibility by generation and guest

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

The tables in this article show you the generations and operating systems that are compatible with some of the Hyper-V features, grouped by categories. In general, you'll get the best availability of features with a generation 2 virtual machine that runs the newest operating system.

Keep in mind that some features rely on hardware or other infrastructure. For hardware details, see System requirements for Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016. In some cases, a feature can be used with any supported guest operating system. For details on which operating systems are supported, see:

Availability and backup

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Checkpoints 1 and 2 Any supported guest
Guest clustering 1 and 2 Guests that run cluster-aware applications and have iSCSI target software installed
Replication 1 and 2 Any supported guest
Domain Controller 1 and 2 Any supported Windows Server guest using only production checkpoints. See Supported Windows Server guest operating systems

Compute

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Dynamic memory 1 and 2 Specific versions of supported guests. See Hyper-V Dynamic Memory Overview for versions older than Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10.
Hot add/removal of memory 1 and 2 Windows Server 2016, Windows 10
Virtual NUMA 1 and 2 Any supported guest

Development and test

Feature Generation Guest operating system
COM/Serial ports 1 and 2
Note: For generation 2, use Windows PowerShell to configure. For details, see Add a COM port for kernel debugging.
Any supported guest

Mobility

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Live migration 1 and 2 Any supported guest
Import/export 1 and 2 Any supported guest

Networking

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Hot add/removal of virtual network adapter 2 Any supported guest
Legacy virtual network adapter 1 Any supported guest
Single root input/output virtualization (SR-IOV) 1 and 2 64-bit Windows guests, starting with Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.
Virtual machine multi queue (VMMQ) 1 and 2 Any supported guest

Remote connection experience

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Discrete device assignment (DDA) 1 and 2 Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 only with Update 3133690 installed, Windows 10
Note: For details on Update 3133690, see this support article.
Enhanced session mode 1 and 2 Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10, and Windows 8.1, with Remote Desktop Services enabled
Note: You might need to also configure the host. For details, see Use local resources on Hyper-V virtual machine with VMConnect.
RemoteFx 1 and 2 Generation 1 on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions starting with Windows 8.
Generation 2 on 64-bit Windows 10 versions

Security

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Secure boot 2 Linux: Ubuntu 14.04 and later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and later, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 and later, and CentOS 7.0 and later
Windows: All supported versions that can run on a generation 2 virtual machine
Shielded virtual machines 2 Windows: All supported versions that can run on a generation 2 virtual machine

Storage

Feature Generation Guest operating system
Shared virtual hard disks (VHDX only) 1 and 2 Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012
SMB3 1 and 2 All that support SMB3
Storage spaces direct 2 Windows Server 2016
Virtual Fibre Channel 1 and 2 Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012
VHDX format 1 and 2 Any supported guest