Supported Guests
The following table lists supported guest operating systems for versions earlier than Windows Server 2012. Other guest operating systems such as Ubuntu Linux 6.06/6.10/7.10 or Fedora 8/9 are unsupported; however, they have been reported to run.
| Guest OS | Virtual processors | Edition(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 7 | 1,2,3 or 4 | Both x86-32 and x86-64, all editions except home editions (the home editions are Home Premium, Home Basic, and Starter) |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | 1,2,3 or 4 | x64, Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter |
| Windows Server 2008 | 1,2,3 or 4 | Both x86 and x64, Web, HPC, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, with or without Hyper-V |
| Linux (only including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with SP3 or version 11, Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5.2-6.1 and CentOS 5.2-6.2) | 1,2 or 4 | Both x86 and x64 |
| Windows Server 2003 | 1 or 2 | Both x86 and x64, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, SP2 required |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 | 1 or 2 | Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, both x86 and x64 except for Web whose 64-bit version is not supported |
| Windows 2000 Server | 1 | Server, Advanced Server, SP4 required |
| Windows Vista | 1 or 2 | Both x86 and x64, all editions except home editions |
| Windows XP | 1 or 2 | x86, Professional edition only, SP3 required (SP2 only supports 1 virtual CPU) |
| Windows XP x64 Edition | 1 or 2 | x64, Professional edition only, SP2 required |
| Windows Small Business Server 2011 | 1, 2 or 4 | Essentials, Standard (Essentials supports only 2 virtual CPUs) |
| Windows Home Server 2011 | 1, 2 or 4 | Standard |
| Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials | 1, 2 or 4 | Essentials |
| Others (any officially unsupported operating system) | 1 | N/A |
Desktop virtualization (VDI) products from third-party companies (such as Quest Software vWorkspace, Citrix XenDesktop, Systancia AppliDis Fusion and Ericom PowerTerm WebConnect) provide the ability to host and centrally manage desktop virtual machines in the data center while giving end users a full PC desktop experience.
Guest operating systems with Enlightened I/O and a hypervisor-aware kernel such as Windows Server 2008 and later server versions, Windows Vista SP1 and later clients and offerings from Citrix XenServer and Novell will be able to use the host resources better since VSC drivers in these guests communicate with the VSPs directly over VMBus. Non-"enlightened" operating systems will run with emulated I/O; however, integration components (which include the VSC drivers) are available for Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista SP1 and Linux to achieve better performance. Xen-enabled Linux guest distributions can also be paravirtualized in Hyper-V. As of 2013 Microsoft officially supports only SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1/SP2 x86 and x64 Editions in this way, though any Xen-enabled Linux should be able to run. In February 2008, Red Hat and Microsoft signed a virtualization pact for hypervisor interoperability with their respective server operating systems, to enable Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to be officially supported on Hyper-V.
Read more about this topic: Hyper-V
Famous quotes containing the words supported and/or guests:
“Certainly the philosopher of ‘possible worlds’ must take care that his technical apparatus not push him to ask questions whose meaningfulness is not supported by our original intuitions of possibility that gave the apparatus its point.”
—Saul Kripke (b. 1940)
“One who does not welcome guests at home will meet very few hosts when he goes out.”
—Chinese proverb.