Windows 8 Hyper-V and PC’s

Windows 8 Hyper-V and PC’s

Hyper-V virtualization will be available on Windows 8. However, to run it, the right PC hardware must be available. Here’s what to look for.

Will a TestBed PC Work?

So you have an older PC, maybe two or three years old. You download the Windows 8 beta version, since the system requirements for Windows 8 are unchanged from those of Windows 7. But if you go that route, you might find that you’re unable to use one of the most significant new features in Windows 8. That is Hyper-V.

While Windows 7 offered capabilities that were similar in design, using an add-on program called Windows Virtual PC. Hyper-V integrates this capability directly into the operating system. Windows 8 is relying on technology that has proven itself in the server versions of Windows for more than three years. Will everyone need this feature? Probably not. The average consumer may never need it, but it could be a godsend for IT professionals, developers, security researchers, and geek PC enthusiasts.

64-bit Version

So what’s necessary to run Hyper-V on a Windows 8 machine? A 64-bit version of Windows 8, and only if the host machine is equipped with a 64-bit processor that supports a feature called Second Level Address Translation (SLAT). Some older Intel documentation refers to this feature as extended page tables (EPT). The AMD equivalents are Rapid Virtualization Indexing (RVI) and nested page tables (NPT), respectively.

Availability Tests

There are two scenarios to work with. One where you’ve already installed the Windows 8 Developer Preview, and one where you haven’t.

If you have already installed it, you can find out by trying to enable Hyper-V (the feature is disabled by default). In the Turn Windows features on or off dialog box, select the Hyper-V box and then click or tap OK. If your CPU doesn’t support Hyper-V, the Hyper-V Core check box will be grayed-out and unavailable, and you’ll see the following error Hyper-V cannot be installed. The processor does not have second level address translation capabilities.If you haven’t installed the Windows 8 preview, you can use Coreinfo , from the essential SysInternals collection to check. Open a Command window as an Administrator and run the utility with the –v switch.

This new feature will give developers a way to test their programs without having to lock down their unit in order to run their program or application.

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