There are three key virtualization technologies available in Windows client operating systems, essential for running VMs, container instances, and WSL. We will focus on these three: 1. Hyper-V 2. Virtual Machine Platform 3. Windows Hypervisor Platform To view these options, you can access the Windows features configuration by entering the following command in the Run menu: optionalfeatures
Hyper-V is a built-in hypervisor created by Microsoft, designed to facilitate the creation and operation of virtual machines (VMs) on Windows clients. It's an ideal tool for managing VMs or operating various operating systems in a virtualized and isolated environment. Hyper-V is compatible with both Windows and Linux OS and comes equipped with features such as hardware virtualization support, snapshot functionality, the ability to create virtual networks, and various security features and virtual disk options.
The Virtual Machine Platform offers a more specialized approach to virtualization. It provides the core components for running the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) software platform on your host. Windows subsystem for linux wsl Comparing it to Hyper-V, which is designed for broader virtualization tasks, the Virtual Machine Platform focuses on enabling a specific set of virtualization features needed for developers and professionals who need to run Linux alongside Windows.