Hyper-V basics: switches, VMs and checkpoints

Shut down your VirtualBox VMs first. Open PowerShell as administrator on your laptop (not inside a VM).

1Check virtualization support

On your laptop, run this:

Get-ComputerInfo -Property HyperV* | Format-List

You should see something like this:

HyperVisorPresent                                 : False
HyperVRequirementDataExecutionPreventionAvailable : True
HyperVRequirementSecondLevelAddressTranslation    : True
HyperVRequirementVirtualizationFirmwareEnabled    : True
HyperVRequirementVMMonitorModeExtensions          : True

All four requirements must be True. If VirtualizationFirmwareEnabled is False, turn on Intel VT-x or AMD-V (SVM) in your laptop’s BIOS or UEFI settings. If HyperVisorPresent is already True, a hypervisor is running (for example because of Windows security features), and the requirement lines may be empty; that’s fine.

✅ Checkpoint: All four Hyper-V requirements are True (or a hypervisor is already present).

2Enable Hyper-V

On your laptop:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All
Restart-Computer

After the restart, in PowerShell as administrator:

Get-VMHost | Select-Object Name, LogicalProcessorCount, @{n='MemoryGB';e={[math]::Round($_.MemoryCapacity/1GB)}}, VirtualMachinePath

You should see something like this:

Name        LogicalProcessorCount MemoryGB VirtualMachinePath
----        --------------------- -------- ------------------
LAPTOP-7Q2K                     8       16 C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V

On Windows Server the same thing is Install-WindowsFeature Hyper-V -IncludeManagementTools -Restart. The rest of the lab is identical on both.

✅ Checkpoint: Get-VMHost returns your laptop with its CPU and memory.

3Create virtual switches

On your laptop:

New-VMSwitch -Name LabInternal -SwitchType Internal | Out-Null
New-VMSwitch -Name LabPrivate -SwitchType Private | Out-Null
Get-VMSwitch | Select-Object Name, SwitchType

You should see something like this:

Name           SwitchType
----           ----------
Default Switch Internal
LabInternal    Internal
LabPrivate     Private

Creating the internal switch also creates a network adapter on your laptop, “vEthernet (LabInternal)”, so the host can talk to VMs on it. The private switch has no host adapter. An external switch would bind to your physical network card; on a laptop with Wi-Fi that’s often unreliable, so the lab uses the built-in Default Switch for internet access instead.

✅ Checkpoint: Get-VMSwitch shows Default Switch, LabInternal and LabPrivate.

4Build a Generation 2 VM

On your laptop:

New-Item -ItemType Directory C:\Lab\HyperV -Force | Out-Null
New-VM -Name HV-TEST01 -Generation 2 -MemoryStartupBytes 2GB -NewVHDPath C:\Lab\HyperV\HV-TEST01.vhdx -NewVHDSizeBytes 40GB -SwitchName 'Default Switch' -Path C:\Lab\HyperV | Out-Null
Set-VMProcessor -VMName HV-TEST01 -Count 2
Set-VMMemory -VMName HV-TEST01 -DynamicMemoryEnabled $true -MinimumBytes 1GB -MaximumBytes 4GB
Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName HV-TEST01 -Path C:\Lab\ISO\server2025.iso
Set-VMFirmware -VMName HV-TEST01 -FirstBootDevice (Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName HV-TEST01)
Get-VM HV-TEST01 | Select-Object Name, Generation, State, ProcessorCount, DynamicMemoryEnabled

You should see something like this:

Name      Generation State ProcessorCount DynamicMemoryEnabled
----      ---------- ----- -------------- --------------------
HV-TEST01          2 Off                2 True

Start it and open its console:

Start-VM HV-TEST01
vmconnect localhost HV-TEST01

When the console says Press any key to boot from CD or DVD, press a key straight away. Install Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Evaluation (Server Core is quicker) just as you did in Lesson 5. The disk shows as 40 GB.

✅ Checkpoint: HV-TEST01 boots from the ISO and Windows Setup starts.

5Use a checkpoint, then delete it properly

After the install, on your laptop:

Get-VM HV-TEST01 | Select-Object Name, CheckpointType
Checkpoint-VM -Name HV-TEST01 -SnapshotName 'Fresh install'
Get-VMCheckpoint -VMName HV-TEST01 | Select-Object Name, CheckpointType, CreationTime
Get-ChildItem C:\Lab\HyperV\*.avhdx | Select-Object Name, @{n='MB';e={[math]::Round($_.Length/1MB)}}

You should see something like this:

Name      CheckpointType
----      --------------
HV-TEST01 Production

Name          CheckpointType CreationTime
----          -------------- ------------
Fresh install Production     19/10/2026 21:40:12

Name                                                 MB
----                                                 --
HV-TEST01_8C1E2B7A-5D3F-4A90-B6E1-2F7C9D0A3B44.avhdx  4

The VM now writes to the AVHDX file, not the original VHDX. Make a change inside the VM (create a folder), then roll back with Restore-VMCheckpoint -VMName HV-TEST01 -Name 'Fresh install' -Confirm:$false. The folder is gone.

Then delete the checkpoint so its changes merge back into the VHDX:

Remove-VMCheckpoint -VMName HV-TEST01 -Name 'Fresh install'
Start-Sleep -Seconds 30
Get-ChildItem C:\Lab\HyperV\*.avhdx

No AVHDX files remain: Hyper-V merged them. Never delete AVHDX files by hand; that breaks the VM’s disk chain.

✅ Checkpoint: You restored a checkpoint, then removed it, and no AVHDX files are left.

6Optional: switch Hyper-V off for VirtualBox speed

If VirtualBox feels slow with Hyper-V on, turn the hypervisor off at boot (Hyper-V stays installed):

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
Restart-Computer

Turn it back on with bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto and a restart when you need Hyper-V again. Some Windows security features also use the hypervisor, so on a work laptop ask before changing this.

✅ Checkpoint: You know how to switch the hypervisor on and off for the next lessons.