How to Enable Hardware Virtualization in Windows 10 and 11 (BIOS Keys by Brand, VT-x and AMD-V)

To enable virtualization in Windows 10 or 11, restart into your PC's UEFI/BIOS (Settings, Recovery, Advanced startup, Restart now, then Troubleshoot, Advanced options, UEFI Firmware Settings), switch on Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x) or AMD SVM Mode, save with F10, and reboot. Then confirm it in Task Manager, Performance, CPU, where Virtualization should read Enabled, and turn on the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature if you plan to use WSL 2 or Android apps.

This page is the reference version: the BIOS key and menu path for each major brand, the Windows commands to check and enable each feature, and fixes for the errors people hit afterwards. I enable this on every Windows machine I use for lab work before it ever touches Hyper-V, VirtualBox or VMware.

Quick steps

1. Check: Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Performance, CPU, look at "Virtualization".
2. Open UEFI: Settings, System (Windows 10: Update & Security), Recovery, Advanced startup, Restart now, then Troubleshoot, Advanced options, UEFI Firmware Settings, Restart.
3. Enable: Intel VT-x / Intel Virtualization Technology, or AMD SVM Mode / AMD-V.
4. Save: F10 (or Save & Exit), Yes.
5. Verify: Task Manager shows Virtualization: Enabled.
6. Windows features: turn on Virtual Machine Platform (WSL 2, Android), Hyper-V (Pro, Enterprise, Education) or Windows Hypervisor Platform (third-party tools on top of Hyper-V).

Step 1: Check whether virtualization is already enabled

Many PCs ship with it on, so check first.

Task Manager: press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, open Performance, select CPU and read the Virtualization line under the graph.

Command Prompt:

systeminfo | findstr /i "Virtualization Hypervisor"

Expected output on a PC with virtualization on but no hypervisor running:

                           Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: Yes

If Hyper-V, WSL 2 or Memory Integrity is already running, you will instead see:

Hyper-V Requirements:      A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.

Both mean virtualization is on. If you see Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: No, go to Step 2.

Does my CPU support it? Almost every Intel Core and AMD Ryzen CPU from the last decade supports VT-x or AMD-V. To be sure, look up your model on Intel's ARK site or AMD's product pages, or run Microsoft's free Coreinfo tool.

Step 2: Get into UEFI/BIOS

The reliable way (works on fast-boot PCs):

1. Windows 11: Settings, System, Recovery. Windows 10: Settings, Update & Security, Recovery.
2. Next to Advanced startup, select Restart now.
3. Choose Troubleshoot, Advanced options, UEFI Firmware Settings, Restart.

Shortcut: hold Shift while you click Restart in the Start menu to reach the same blue menu.

The key method: power the PC on and tap the BIOS key straight away.

Menus change between BIOS versions, so if the label differs, the official guides Microsoft links to are the safest reference: Acer, Asus AMD, Asus Intel motherboards, Asus Intel notebooks, Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Step 3: Turn on VT-x or AMD-V (SVM)

• Intel: set Intel Virtualization Technology (also shown as Intel VT or VT-x) to Enabled.
• AMD: set SVM Mode (also shown as SVM or AMD-V) to Enabled.
• Optional: VT-d (Intel) or IOMMU (AMD) is a different setting used for passing PCIe devices such as GPUs to a VM. You do not need it for Hyper-V, WSL or VirtualBox, but turn it on if you plan to do passthrough.

Press F10 (or go to Save & Exit), confirm, and let the PC reboot. Change only the virtualization setting: as Microsoft's Enable Virtualization on Windows article warns, changing other firmware settings can stop Windows from starting. If BitLocker is on, have your recovery key ready in case firmware changes trigger a prompt.

Step 4: Verify in Windows

Open Task Manager again: Performance, CPU, Virtualization: Enabled. Or rerun:

systeminfo | findstr /i "Virtualization Hypervisor"

Step 5: Turn on the Windows feature you need

Hardware virtualization is the foundation; Windows features sit on top. Pick the one for your tool.

With the GUI: Start, type Windows features, open Turn Windows features on or off, tick the feature, OK, restart.

With PowerShell (run as Administrator):

# Virtual Machine Platform (WSL 2, Android apps)
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -All

# Hyper-V (Pro, Enterprise, Education only)
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All

# Windows Hypervisor Platform (lets VirtualBox/VMware run on top of Hyper-V)
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName HypervisorPlatform -All

For WSL 2, one command does everything (installs WSL, the Virtual Machine Platform and Ubuntu):

wsl --install

On Windows 11 Home, Hyper-V is not offered in Windows features; see my guide to enabling Hyper-V on Windows 11 Home.

Troubleshooting common errors

"Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS" (WSL error 0x80370102) Virtualization is off in firmware, or Virtual Machine Platform is not installed. Do Steps 3 and 5, restart, then run wsl --update.

VirtualBox: "VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)" or VMware: "This host does not support Intel VT-x" Either the BIOS setting is off, or Windows' own hypervisor already owns it (Hyper-V, WSL 2, Windows Sandbox, or Core isolation Memory Integrity). Current VirtualBox 7.x and VMware Workstation 17.x can run on top of Hyper-V through Windows Hypervisor Platform, so enable that feature first. If you need the old exclusive mode, you can stop the hypervisor at boot (this disables WSL 2 and Hyper-V until you turn it back on):

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

Restore it later with:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto

The virtualization option is missing or greyed out in BIOS Update the BIOS from your PC or motherboard maker's support page, then look again. On work laptops the BIOS may be password protected or managed by IT. Some very old or low-end CPUs do not support it at all.

Task Manager shows "Virtualization: Enabled" but Hyper-V will not install Your edition is probably Windows 10 or 11 Home. Hyper-V needs Pro, Enterprise or Education; use WSL 2, VirtualBox or an upgrade instead.

The PC boots straight to Windows and I cannot catch the BIOS key Fast Startup skips the prompt. Use the Advanced startup method in Step 2, which always works.

A note on Windows 10

Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025. The steps above still work on Windows 10 22H2 (the Recovery page is under Update & Security), but if your PC is eligible, move to Windows 11 or enrol in Extended Security Updates so the PC keeps getting security fixes.

What next?

With virtualization on, you can run Linux, test Windows builds or practise for certifications in VMs. If you outgrow desktop hypervisors, a spare PC running Proxmox is the next step: start with Proxmox VE for beginners, and if you want to understand the technology underneath, read what is virtualization.