Does Hyper-V work on Windows ARM?

Question

Does Hyper-V work on Windows ARM?

Anonymous

Hello,

I turned on the Hyper-V functionality on my new Windows ARM machine. Then I downloaded the ARM version of Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 and Debian 2.19. When I try to install the VM's, I get the installation window, but when I select the install option nothing happens and I only see a black screen. I also see some load on the vmmem process, but nothing happens. Is there something wrong with my Windows installation, or does Hyper-V not work on Windows ARM?

Btw, I also installed Ubuntu and Debian on WSL and they run fine.

My Virtualization settings are:

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7 answers

Answer 1

Update that I've had partial success. Apparently the issue is the Snapdragon X1 Elite processor firmware support, which is not at all complete in the various non-Windows distributions.

However, in the past few days Ubuntu Plucky daily builds have added some key components, and the iso's are able to install in Hyper-V with the following:

ISO from Plucky daily >= Feb 26 (

https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/ or https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/daily-live/ )

Secure Boot enabled with "Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority" template selected (have not tried TPM yet)
1 VIRTUAL PROCESSOR
Patience

The single processor is key - with multiple processors enabled there are hangs or extremely long pauses. Even with a single processor, there are mysterious and silent pauses. But once setup gets over these, things work relatively well. Subsequently booting the installed images, there are none.

I have not been successful in enabling multiple cores, even after installing. I assume there is some firmware magic spell that is not yet being chanted. But even in single-core virtualization, it's usable for now.

Answer 2

I just installed Debian 12.9 (using debian-12.9.0-arm64-netinst.iso) in Hyper-V on my ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 SnapDragon using only 1 Virtual Processor, but it's way too slow to work on. It took about an hour to install. It does not work on multiple Virtual Processors.

I also tried Ubuntu for Snapdragon from here Ubuntu 24.10 Concept ♥️ Snapdragon X Elite - Project Discussion / Ubuntu Architectures - Ubuntu Community Hub, but that one does not install.

Answer 3

Hello,

Hello, Did you download the Ubuntu image file and then select the local path of the image file in the tab as shown in the figure below? I suggest that you try to quickly press the space bar when starting the VM to see if you can enter the installation boot interface.

Best Regards

Zunhui

Answer 4

hello,

thanks for the quick response.

Yes, I did select the local path as shown in the figure. Before I started the VM I disabled Secure Boot. After that I started the VM and quickly pressed the space bar mutiple times, until the installation menu showed:

When I select 'Try or Install Ubuntu' a black screen appears with a cursor and nothing happens.

Btw, I can open the command-line:

Answer 5

Same issue here, Surface Laptop 7 Snapdragon EX with Win11 Pro.

Noble Server startup shows a tiny difference, with some additional UEFI output before hanging.

Not able to upload a screenshot, the displayed messages are:

EFI stub: Booting Linux Kernel...

EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path

EFI stub: Generating empty DTB

EFI stub: Exiting boot services...

then nothing.

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Does Hyper-V work on Windows ARM?

7 answers