How To Enable Hyper-V On Windows 10 (Home & Pro)

Hyper-V requires some system resources to run its virtual machines. For example, if you have 4 GB RAM, you won’t be able to give any resources to the virtual machine. So it would not be wise to enable Hyper-V functionality.

This post discusses 4 ways to still enable the optional features in Windows while offline.

Table of contents

Windows Operating System is equipped with many addons and components which may extend the functionality of Windows without using any third party software. Some of these components are enabled or

We will discuss how to turn on/off those features using command prompt and manually. Moreover we will also describe how to find and open optional features using a command line. Further, we will briefly elaborate on how to install Windows features from the installation source using command prompt and PowerShell.

Learn how to install and enable Hyper-V on your Windows 10 Home and other editions. using the detailed guide below.

Hyper-V is Microsoft’s virtualization platform. It is available on Windows Server operating systems and Microsoft has also added the Hyper-V functionality to Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

Unfortunately, the Hyper-V feature is only available in Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions. You can’t install it on Windows 10 Home edition by default.

However, using the steps in this article, we’ll show you how to enable Hyper-V in the Windows 10 Home edition.

How to Enable Hyper-V on Windows 10 (Pro, Enterprise, Education)
How to Disable Hyper-V in Windows 10 (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Education)

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature

Disables a feature in a Windows image.

SYNTAX

The Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature cmdlet disables or removes an optional feature in a Windows image.

Use the Online parameter to specify the running operating system on your local computer, or use the Path parameter to specify the location of a mounted Windows image.

The PackageName parameter specifies the package that the feature is a component of.
This parameter is optional when the package is the Windows Foundation package.

The FeatureName parameter specifies the feature to remove.
You can specify more than one feature in the same package.
Separate feature names with a comma.

EXAMPLES

This command disables an optional feature, Hearts, from the running Windows operating system.

Disable a feature in an image

This command disables the optional feature, Calc, in the specified package in the Windows image that is mounted to c:\offline.
It also removes all of the files except the manifest file, which reduces the size of the Windows image.
The feature can be restored with the Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature cmdlet or by using Features on Demand at any time after the image is deployed.

PARAMETERS

Specifies the name of the feature to be disabled.
Feature names are case sensitive if you are servicing a Windows image other than Windows® 8 or a later version.
You can use Get-WindowsOptionalFeature to find the name of the feature in the image.

:
:
:

:
:
:
Accept pipeline input:
Accept wildcard characters:

-LogLevel

:
:
:
: Errors, Warnings, WarningsInfo

:
:
:
Accept pipeline input:
Accept wildcard characters:

-LogPath

Suppresses reboot.
If a reboot is not required, this command does nothing.
This option will keep the application from prompting for a restart or keep it from restarting automatically.

-Online

Specifies that the action is to be taken on the operating system that is currently running on the local computer.

:/> Inetpub: что это за папка (в Windows 10), зачем она нужна и как удалить

-PackageName

Specifies the name of a package in the Windows image.

-Path

Specifies the full path to the root directory of the offline Windows image that you will service.
If the directory named Windows is not a subdirectory of the root directory, WindowsDirectory must be specified.

-Remove

Remove can only be used when servicing an image contain Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 or a later version.

Starting with Windows 10, the payload is not removed from Windows 10 devices in order to support Push-Button Reset. However, the payload is removed from editions of Windows Server.

-ScratchDirectory

Specifies the path to the location of the BootMgr files.
This is necessary only when the BootMgr files are located on a partition other than the one that you are running the command from.
Use -SystemDrive to service an installed Windows image from a Windows PE environment.

-WindowsDirectory

Specifies the path to the Windows directory relative to the image path.
This cannot be the full path to the Windows directory; it should be a relative path.
If not specified, the default is the Windows directory in the root of the offline image directory.

CommonParameters

Since Hyper-V is an optional feature that one can enable when needed, you can enable it from the Optional Features applet. Here is how:

Hyper-V will now be installed and enabled. You can now access the Hyper-V manager by searching for it in the search box in the taskbar or through the Start menu.

Open Hyper V Manager

Alternatively, you can also use the other 2 command-line methods to enable Hyper-V on Windows 10.

Enable Hyper-V from Command Prompt

The computer will now restart, When it does, Hyper-V should be enabled successfully.

Enable Hyper-V from Windows PowerShell

If you’d rather prefer to use Windows PowerShell, here is how to enable Hyper-V:

These are the 3 methods to enable Hyper-V in Windows 10, provided that the hardware is supported and Hyper-V is installed.

Windows couldn’t complete the requested changes.

The changes couldn’t be completed. Please reboot your computer and try again.

Error prompted while installing optional feature online

Before we dig into the methods to enable the feature(s), let us understand how the task is achieved and what information may be required beforehand.

Enable Virtualization in Firmware/BIOS

Two methods to enable Windows optional features while offline use the Command Line Interface (CLI). For these methods, you will need to know the technical names of the feature(s) that you wish to enable, as their technical names can defer from the ones shown in the “Turn Windows features on or off” window.

This command will display the technical names of the features, as in the image below. If you are still confused about which name corresponds to which feature, a simple Google search would be helpful.

Get feature names

2- How to turn Windows features on or off using command line?

You will get detailed information about the feature name, description, properties, status and whether it requires restart or not.

Explore Windows Features Using Command Prompt

It will display all the list of features enabled or disabled on your computer. Here format:table and more are optional and are used to improve the readability of the features.

:/> Bat результат команды в переменную

Keep on pressing Enter until you get the full list. You can remove more options if you don’t want to get the full list.

Windows Feature Source Files

As we mentioned, Windows downloads the source files for the respective features to enable them. However, these source files are already present in the installation media, such as an ISO file for Windows, in a folder named “SXS“. Unfortunately, these files are not moved to the local PC while installing Windows.

While offline, this folder is essential in installing the optional Windows features. Without the source files, you will not be able to install the feature(s).

1- How to turn Windows features on or off?

You can enable any Windows feature or you can disable them. Some features are disabled by default.

How to Disable Hyper-V in Windows 10 (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Education)

If you don’t want this functionality on your computer, you can always disable it. There are three ways to disable it:

Enabling/Disabling features in Windows XP

What are your favorite Windows features and which ones do you enable as essentials when you Install Windows?

3- Enable or Disable Windows features using PowerShell

The benefit of PowerShell over using a command prompt is that PowerShell commands check if the feature is already enabled. If it is already enabled, the installation action is not performed saving computing time.

If you want to get information regarding specific features, type

Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName *Type feature name*

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName “Type feature name” -all

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName “Type feature name”

Does Your System Support Virtualization?

Before moving forward, we need to check if our system supports virtualization. Hardware virtualization is required for Hyper-V to function correctly. Otherwise, you can use other virtualization platforms like Virtualbox and VMWare.

There are four basic requirements for Hyper-V to be installed on a Windows 10 computer:

This will generate a list, and you will find the section “Hyper-V Requirements” at the end of the list containing the details of the 4 requirements, as in the image below:

Check Hyper-V requirements

If these requirements are met, the results will display “Yes.” However, if you find that “Virtualization Enabled In Firmware” states “No,” you need to enable it using the guide below.

How to Enable Windows Features While Offline

Before you start with the given methods, make sure you have a valid installation media for the same Windows version you want to enable the feature on.

You can check your Windows edition and build number by typing in winver in Run.

Enable Windows Optional Features Using Command Prompt

The respective features will now be enabled. You can repeat step 3 to enable multiple optional features in Windows by replacing FName.

Alternatively, you can also copy the SXS folder from the installation media to a local drive and replace the path to the folder in step 3 above.

Dism.exe /online /disable-feature /featurename:FName

Disable Windows features using Command Prompt

Enable Windows Optional Features Using PowerShell

You can also achieve the same using Windows PowerShell. Here is how:

:/> Метрика windows ipv4 и статическая и динамическая на примере RIP, OSPF и EIGRP

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName FName

Enable Windows Optional Features through Group Policy

As you proceed with step 8, you may notice that Windows automatically detects the source files and enables the feature(s), rather than asking you whether to download the source files through Windows Update or cancel the process.

Choose to download source files or cancel the process

You can also disable the feature just as easily through the conventional method, with no additional steps required.

In the future, if you wish to download the source files through Windows Update (active internet connection required), you will need to return to the Group Policy and select the Disabled radio button.

Using Windows Registry

As with the Group Policy method above, you can also use Windows Registry to point your system towards the local SXS folder, instead of going on the internet for the source files. Here is how:

Misconfiguration of critical values in the system’s registry could be fatal for your operating system. Therefore, we insist that you create a system restore point before proceeding with the process.

If you proceed with the last step, Windows will enable the optional feature(s) without asking to download through the Windows Update or aborting the operation entirely.

Furthermore, you can use the same menu to disable any enabled feature(s).

However, if you wish to download the source files through Windows Update (active internet connection required), you will need to return to the same location inside Windows Registry as in step 3 above, and delete the registry value LocalSourcePath.

Delete registry to resume downloading through Windows Update

Install Hyper-V in Windows 10 Home

Note: Since Windows Home edition comes without Hyper-V, you must first install it. If you have the Pro, Education, or Enterprise editions, then you may skip this step and proceed to the next section of this article. To check which edition you have, type in winver in the Run Command box and obtain your operating system’s details.

Once rebooted, Hyper-V will have installed and automatically enabled on your Windows Home.

4- Adding Windows features from a Windows installation source

If a feature is not available for installation in installed Windows, we will need to give external source address to install the feature. The external source can be Windows installation ISO or any drive. Make sure that the path should be given correctly and installation media should be correctly installed. Moreover, you need to know exactly the feature name you wan to add.

Dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Type Feature name /All /Source:C:Sourcessxs /LimitAccess

Here is the installation media is C drive. You should change the installation media according to the requirement you want to install the feature. Once successfully installed remove the installation media.

Install-WindowsFeature Feature Name –Source “C:Sourcessxs”