Third-party virtualization apps such as VMware and VirtualBox cannot run reliably while the Hyper-V hypervisor, VBS features, or related protections are active. This behavior is by design because only one software component at a time can use the hardware virtualization extensions.
Use this sequence on Windows 11 Pro to disable the Microsoft hypervisor stack:
- Check whether the Hyper-V hypervisor is running.
- Open System Information by running
msinfo32.exe. - In Details, look for:
-
A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.
-
- Open System Information by running
- Disable the Hyper-V hypervisor feature.
- Control Panel path:
- Programs and Features → Turn Windows features on or off
- Expand Hyper-V → Hyper-V Platform
- Clear Hyper-V Hypervisor
- Or run one of these as administrator:
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-HypervisorDISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Microsoft-Hyper-V-Hypervisor - Control Panel path:
- Disable dependent security features.
- Memory Integrity and Credential Guard depend on Hyper-V.
- These must also be disabled, otherwise the hypervisor can remain active.
- Supported management methods include Microsoft Intune, Group Policy, or registry entries.
- If Hyper-V still remains active, disable the full Hyper-V feature set and prevent the hypervisor from launching.
- Warning: this changes Windows virtualization behavior and can affect security features and Hyper-V-based workloads.
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off - Restart the PC.
- Verify again in
msinfo32.exe.- The hypervisor-detected message should no longer appear.
Important:
- VBS uses hardware virtualization and the Windows hypervisor to provide protections such as Memory Integrity.
- Disabling Hyper-V can reduce security protections on the device.
- For VMware or VirtualBox, Hyper-V, Memory Integrity, and Credential Guard must all be off.