How to Disable Hyper-V on Windows or Windows Server

Disable Hyper-V to run other virtualization software

Microsoft Hyper-V as a type 1 hypervisor 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, you might need to disable Hyper-V or remove Hyper-V feature on your machines under the following cases:

• Conflict with other virtualization software: Hyper-V can cause conflicts with other virtualization tools like VirtualBox or VMware Workstation, making it necessary to disable Hyper-V if you plan to use these tools.
• Performance issues: Hyper-V uses hardware resources to manage virtual machines, which can negatively impact the performance of your host operating system. Disabling Hyper-V can free up resources and improve system performance if virtualization is not required.
• Software compatibility issues: Some software applications may not work properly when Hyper-V is enabled. Disabling Hyper-V can help resolve compatibility issues and ensure that your applications run smoothly.

In this article, I will demonstrate 3 ways on how to disable Hyper-V feature on Windows or Windows Server.

What happens if you disable Hyper-V

In most cases, if you just disable or remove 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 back up Hyper-V VMs before this risky operation.

▶ 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 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.

To protect your virtual machine data better, it is recommended to backup your Hyper-V VMs in advance, avoiding unexpected data loss.