What is Hyper-V? Explained simply

Hyper-V: What is it?

Hyper-V is virtualisation software from Microsoft. It allows you to install and run additional operating systems on your PC simultaneously.

• If you’re using Windows 8 and launch Hyper-V, you can create an additional virtual machine. This can run Windows 8 as its operating system, or other systems such as Windows XP or Ubuntu.
• If, for example, you install Windows 7 on your virtual machine, Windows 7 will run alongside Windows 8 in a separate window. Windows 7 can be minimised just like your browser and closed with a single click.
• As virtualising a second operating system is very resource-intensive, you will need to allocate some resources to Hyper-V. For example, if your computer has 4 GB of RAM, which is usually used solely by Windows 8, you will need to split the RAM between both systems to run Windows 7 at the same time.
• For this reason, Hyper-V is usually used to run only two systems at a time. The more systems that are active, the slower your computer will become. However, you can create several virtual machines, which can be started individually as required.

What are the advantages of Hyper-V?

• Hyper-V is designed to compete with programmes such as ‘VirtualBox’ and ‘VMware Player’. The software is currently available for Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise, as well as for Windows Server 2012, amongst others.
• The advantage of Hyper-V is that it allows you to run two operating systems in parallel. This means you can carry out different tasks simultaneously on two systems, whilst using just one computer. This is particularly useful if a programme no longer works on Windows 8 but runs perfectly on older, virtual systems.
• A virtual computer is also ideal for sensitive tasks such as online banking. If you create a virtual PC in Hyper-V solely for online banking and protect it thoroughly against viruses, you will be very well protected against attackers.