Disable Hyper-V to run other virtualization software
Microsoft Hyper-V is an optional feature built into Windows Enterprise, Pro, Education, or Windows Server. It does not require a download and only needs to be enabled in Windows features.
However, as a type 1 hypervisor, Hyper-V blocks access to virtualization hardware for all other hypervisors. Therefore, you may need to disable Hyper-V under the following cases:
- You want to run other hypervisors on the same computer, such as VMware Workstation or VirtualBox.
- Hyper-V affects performance of other applications such as games
- You don’t want to use Hyper-V anymore
In this article, I will demonstrate 3 ways to disable Hyper-V feature on Windows or Windows Server.
What happens if you disable Hyper-V
In most cases, if you just disable and enable the Hyper-V hypervisor, you will not lose the virtual machine files stored in local storage. However, to avoid accidental errors, it is still recommended that you backup Hyper-V VMs before this risky operation.
✎Backup VMs before disabling Hyper-V
In case you need to use these Hyper-V VMs again, it's recommended to use the freeware AOMEI Cyber Backup. It can back up multiple VMs at once in an agent-less manner. And the operation is rather simple.
▶ Tip: After uninstalling Hyper-V, you won’t be able to run Hyper-V Manager until you enable it again. So if you want to run the same VMs on another hypervisor later, VMware for example, you may need to convert Hyper-V to VMware before you start.
How to turn off Hyper-V feature from Control Panel
The steps to disable the Hyper-V feature on Windows and Windows Servers are different. In this part, I will demonstrate how to disable Hyper-V on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 as an example.
Turn off Hyper-V feature on Windows 10
1. Open Windows Settings from the Start menu, and click Apps.
2. On Apps & features page, click Programs and Features below Related settings.
3. Click Turn Windows features on or off on the pop-up window.
4. Uncheck Hyper-V option from the features list. Click OK to save the change and reboot.
Note: Check the Hyper-V option in Windows Features and you will enable Hyper-V again.
Remove Hyper-V feature on Windows Server 2016
1. Open Server Manager, click Manage > Remove Roles and Features, and click Next on the pop-up wizard.
2. Select a server you want to disable Hyper-V feature, click Next to continue.
3. On Server Roles page, uncheck the Hyper-V option from the features list.
4. Check Remove management tools (if applicable) option and click Remove Features on the pop-up window. Click Next to continue.
5. On Features page, click Next to continue.
6. Confirm the removal options and click Remove to start.
How to disable Hyper-V via PowerShell
Just as you can install Hyper-V with PowerShell, you can also disable it via PowerShell. Here are the steps:
1. Run Windows PowerShell as administrator.
2. Run the following command:
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All
Tip: To enable Hyper-V again, run this command:
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All
Summary
If you are a Hyper-V user and want to switch to VMware Workstation or VirtualBox, you need to uninstall Hyper-V first. In this article, I demonstrate 3 ways to disable Hyper-V to run other virtualization software on Windows or Windows Server.
Also, in case you want to enable and use Hyper-V again someday, it is recommended to backup your Hyper-V VMs in advance to avoid unexpected data loss.