Hyper-V Virtualization Is Alive And Well

• Hyper-V virtualization technology is included in most Microsoft OS offerings and continues to be actively developed and enhanced.
• It is included as a feature in Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI with new capabilities added in recent versions.
• Hyper-V Server, a free server OS that supported only Hyper-V virtualization features, is no longer being developed.
• Customers should expect support for Hyper-V technology for at least 10 more years, and likely significantly longer.

Hyper-V, Microsoft’s virtualization technology, is leveraged across Microsoft’s OS offerings and is the basis of virtualization in Azure (Azure VMs). The technology is used for client security in Windows, is included as a feature (or role) in Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI for VM hosting, and was offered as part of the now-discontinued Hyper-V Server OS. Although the discontinuation of Hyper-V Server ends the only free, stand-alone Hyper-V offering, Hyper-V continues to be a core technology for Microsoft and receives regular new features and enhancements, with the most recent version included in Windows Server 2025. (For an overview of server OS versions that include Hyper-V, see the illustration “Server OS Support Timeline for Hyper-V.”)