Win11 Home + WSL2 working, but Hyper-V not fully installed so can't run a VM

I've had my WSL2/Ubuntu dev environment up and running on Win11 Home for about 18 months now. That involved a lot of support to get it working, so I'm very cautious not to break it.

I now have a VHDX I'd like to fire up, unrelated to the WSL2. I tried (and failed) with VirtualBox and VMWare Workstation because their installers weren't happy with my partial Hyper-V setup. I also don't have the Hyper-V Manager available.

So I'm unable to create a VM from that VHDX with Hyper-V or VirtualBox or VMWare.

I'm scared to fully install Hyper-V (from that batch file that's out there for Win11 Home people to get Hyper-V) in case it breaks my dev environment and I'll no longer be able to get any work done. But I'd really like to fire that VM up.

Any thoughts? Such as "just do it, hyper-v that bitch up".

Upgrade to Pro - many cheap licences are available?

cereberus said:

Upgrade to Pro - many cheap licences are available?

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I think that won't help, I can upgrade to full Hyper-V easily enough. I'm just a bit reluctant to go ahead. I was hoping to hear from someone who was in the same boat. They had a partial Hyper-V, sufficient to get WSL2 to work, and then upgraded to full Hyper-V and it didn't break their WSL2 environment.

d4005 said:

I think that won't help, I can upgrade to full Hyper-V easily enough. I'm just a bit reluctant to go ahead. I was hoping to hear from someone who was in the same boat. They had a partial Hyper-V, sufficient to get WSL2 to work, and then upgraded to full Hyper-V and it didn't break their WSL2 environment.

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Hyper-V isn't intended for running on Win11 Home -- although there are "get arounds" available which can't be guaranteed to work whenever Win11 is updated or a newer release / build comes out.

IMHO it's not worth it if you want to use HYPER-V (well worth it if you run VM's on Windows hosts) and with the plethora of cheap licenses available just go for it -- how much is your time worth to you per hour -- you don't need to be messing around with HYPER-V on Win 11 HOME unless you are a glutton for punishment.

W11 Pro runs HYPER-V and WSL2 without any problems.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hyper-V isn't intended for running on Win11 Home -- although there are "get arounds" available which can't be guaranteed to work whenever Win11 is updated or a newer release / build comes out.

IMHO it's not worth it if you want to use HYPER-V (well worth it if you run VM's on Windows hosts) and with the plethora of cheap licenses available just go for it -- how much is your time worth to you per hour -- you don't need to be messing around with HYPER-V on Win 11 HOME unless you are a glutton for punishment.

W11 Pro runs HYPER-V and WSL2 without any problems.

Cheers
jimbo

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If I were to purchase a Pro upgrade and enter the key, would Windows update just go ahead and grab the missing components? Or would I be expected to do "an upgrade install" ? I really am rubbish-scared of breaking my WSL2 dev environment. It would costs me way too much time/money in missing work to recover it.

d4005 said:

If I were to purchase a Pro upgrade and enter the key, would Windows update just go ahead and grab the missing components?

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Yes....

d4005 said:

Or would I be expected to do "an upgrade install" ?

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No....

d4005 said:

I really am rubbish-scared of breaking my WSL2 dev environment. It would costs me way too much time/money in missing work to recover it.

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Then make a system image before you start. You do make regular system images, don't you? If not, why not?

I'd use Macrium Reflect Free, which is still available to download. but there are plenty of others to choose from.

Bree said:

Yes....

Then make a system image before you start. You do make regular system images, don't you? If not, why not?

I'd use Macrium Reflect Free, which is still available to download. but there are plenty of others to choose from.

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Yeah, multiple backup strategies, but it's still annoying having to recover. The most fun is when a system restore "just fails".

Still a bit reluctant. So far I've tried three alternate VM solutions (VMWare, VirtualBox, QEMU). I'mma see if there are any others out there. I just want one that doesn't require Hyper-V, even if it's a slow emulation, it'll do.

d4005 said:

I now have a VHDX I'd like to fire up, unrelated to the WSL2.....

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d4005 said:

So far I've tried three alternate VM solutions (VMWare, VirtualBox, QEMU). I'mma see if there are any others out there. I just want one that doesn't require Hyper-V, even if it's a slow emulation, it'll do.

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What OS is in the vhdx? Is it Windows? If so, then unless you really need to run it as a VM alongside your current OS, then you could dual boot it as an OS in its own right using native boot.

Bree said:

What OS is in the vhdx? Is it Windows? If so, then unless you really need to run it as a VM alongside your current OS, then you could dual boot it as an OS in its own right using native boot.

Native Boot Windows 11 Virtual Hard Disk (VHDX)

This tutorial will show you how to boot a Windows 11 VHDX file natively to dual boot with Windows 10 or Windows 11. Native Boot allows you to create a virtual hard disk (VHDX), install Windows to it, and then boot it up, either on your PC side-by-side with your existing installation, or on a...

www.elevenforum.com

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It's a Windows 10 VHDX (an image from an installation on an old-ish Intel NUC that Windows says can't be upgraded to 11).
Unfortunately I do want it running alongside. I currently do that via Teamviewer, but the hardware is really on its way out. That's why I VHDX'ed it before it fully dies.

I decided to push on through with the (multiple) issues I was having with VirtualBox and finally got it working, without it interfering with my Hyper-V installation (aka work env). I imagine it's the third best of the main trio of options (Hyper-V, VMWare, and VirtualBox) but it's working sufficiently well and didn't want to upgrade/break my basic-bitch Hyper-V settings that I've got for WSL2.