Hacker News Reader

Comment by rdedev | Hacker News Reader

Is it possible to use hyper v directly? Like could I boot into linux but switch over to Windows with just a key press? I'm guessing no since its not in Microsoft interest to do so

View on HN

That's an interesting idea, to run Hyper-V completely without Windows. I think it's not possible, at least not without some substantial amount of hacking.

But it's no problem to run Linux on Hyper-V. It's a hypervisor, off course you can start nearly any operating system as a VM. You can also give the VM access to some hardware components. But I don't think it's possible to get a full native Linux desktop experience, with GPU/Screen, Keyboard and Mouse connected to the host system.

Edit: this post seems to answer your question, not sure if it's correct: https://superuser.com/a/1531799

You can soon run Linux on Hyper-V without Windows: https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/linux_as_root_partiti...

It’s been a few years now, I wonder how far this project has gotten

Not with Hyper-V but the thing to be aware of is there is no difference which you initially “boot into” since each is essentially run at the same level.

You can install ESXi (free) to do what you are asking, though.

ESXi is a completely headless system, except some minimal management UI/CLI there is no possibility to directly interact with the VMs on the host system. At least that's my understanding.

And I think a very similar thing can be archived with Windows Server Core. Running Hyper-V with just a minimal Windows installation for management, without the full Windows UI.

Yeah, but it's configurable. I have it pull up the core on a VGA card and then boot up my primary VM on a GPU.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com