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Supported Ubuntu virtual machines on Hyper-V

The following feature distribution map indicates the features in each version. The known issues and workarounds for each distribution are listed after the table.

Table legend

  • Built in - Linux Integration Services (LIS) is included as part of this Linux distribution. The Microsoft-provided LIS download package doesn't work for this distribution, so don't install it. The kernel module version numbers for the built in LIS (as shown by lsmod, for example) are different from the version number on the Microsoft-provided LIS download package. A mismatch doesn't indicate that the built in LIS is out of date.

  • ✔ - Feature available

  • (blank) - Feature not available

Feature Windows Server operating system version 22.04 LTS 20.04 LTS 18.04 LTS 16.04 LTS
Availability Built-in Built-in Built-in Built-in
Core 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Windows Server 2016 Accurate Time 2022, 2019, 2016 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Networking
Jumbo frames 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
VLAN tagging and trunking 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Live migration 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Static IP Injection 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ Note 1 ✔ Note 1 ✔ Note 1 ✔ Note 1
vRSS 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
TCP Segmentation and Checksum Offloads 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
SR-IOV 2022, 2019, 2016 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Storage
VHDX resize 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Virtual Fibre Channel 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ Note 2 ✔ Note 2 ✔ Note 2 ✔ Note 2
Live virtual machine backup 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ Note 3, 4, 5 ✔ Note 3, 4, 5 ✔ Note 3, 4, 5 ✔ Note 3, 4, 5
TRIM support 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
SCSI WWN 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Memory
PAE Kernel Support 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Configuration of MMIO gap 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Dynamic Memory - Hot-Add 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8
Dynamic Memory - Ballooning 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8 ✔ Note 6, 7, 8
Runtime Memory Resize 2022, 2019, 2016 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Video
Hyper-V specific video device 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Miscellaneous
Key/value pair 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ Note 5, 9 ✔ Note 5, 9 ✔ Note 5, 9 ✔ Note 5, 9
Non-Maskable Interrupt 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
File copy from host to guest 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
lsvmbus command 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Hyper-V Sockets 2022, 2019, 2016 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
PCI Passthrough/DDA 2022, 2019, 2016 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Generation 2 virtual machines
Boot using UEFI 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2 ✔ ✔ Note 10, 11 ✔ Note 10, 11 ✔ Note 10, 11
Secure boot 2022, 2019, 2016 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Notes

  1. Static IP injection may not work if NetworkManager has been configured for a given Hyper-V-specific network adapter on the virtual machine as it can override static IP settings that have been manually configured. To ensure smooth functioning of static IP injection, ensure that Network Manager is turned off completely or has been turned off for a specific network adapter through its ifcfg-ethX file.

  2. While using virtual fiber channel devices, ensure that logical unit number 0 (LUN 0) has been populated. If LUN 0 hasn't been populated, a Linux virtual machine might not be able to mount fiber channel devices natively.

  3. If there are open file handles during a live virtual machine backup operation, then in some corner cases, the backed-up VHDs might have to undergo a file system consistency check (fsck) on restore.

  4. Live backup operations can fail silently if the virtual machine has an attached iSCSI device or direct-attached storage (also known as a pass-through disk).

  5. On long term support (LTS) releases use latest virtual Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel for up to date Linux Integration Services.

    To install the Azure-tuned kernel on 16.04, 18.04, 20.04 and 22.04, run the following commands as root (or sudo):

    # apt-get update
# apt-get install linux-azure

  6. Dynamic memory support is only available on 64-bit virtual machines.

  7. Dynamic Memory operations can fail if the guest operating system is running too low on memory. The following are some best practices:

    • Startup memory and minimal memory should be equal to or greater than the amount of memory that the distribution vendor recommends.

    • Applications that tend to consume the entire available memory on a system are limited to consuming up to 80 percent of available RAM.

  8. If you're using Dynamic Memory on Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 operating systems, specify Startup memory, Minimum memory, and Maximum memory parameters in multiples of 128 megabytes (MB). Failure to do so can lead to Hot-Add failures, and you might not see any memory increase on a guest operating system.

  9. In Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2012 R2, the key/value pair infrastructure might not function correctly without a Linux software update. Contact your distribution vendor to obtain the software update in case you see problems with this feature.

  10. On Windows Server 2012 R2, Generation 2 virtual machines have secure boot enabled by default and some Linux virtual machines won't boot unless the secure boot option is disabled. You can disable secure boot in the Firmware section of the settings for the virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager or you can disable it using PowerShell:

    Set-VMFirmware -VMName "VMname" -EnableSecureBoot Off

  11. Before attempting to copy the VHD of an existing Generation 2 VHD virtual machine to create new Generation 2 virtual machines, follow these steps:

    1. Log in to the existing Generation 2 virtual machine.

    2. Change directory to the boot EFI directory:

      # cd /boot/efi/EFI

    3. Copy the ubuntu directory in to a new directory named boot:

      # sudo cp -r ubuntu/ boot

    4. Change directory to the newly created boot directory:

      # cd boot

    5. Rename the shimx64.efi file:

      # sudo mv shimx64.efi bootx64.efi

  12. In order to perform live migrations for VMs that are Generation 2 configured, the Migrate to a physical computer with a different processor version option must be enabled under Processor > Compatibility in your VM settings. To learn more, see Processor compatibility mode in Hyper-V.

See Also