# Windows 11 | Hyper-V Setup Guide. By Mason Loomis (@MasonLoomis) · Published Oct 21, 2026 · 15:05 - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSDF4iXi2MI - Page: https://masonloomis.com/videos/install-hyper-v-on-windows-11/ > How to turn on Hyper-V in Windows 11 Pro and build Ubuntu and Windows virtual machines, including the "press any key" prompt and Secure Boot fixes. ## Summary Mason explains that virtualization is a computer pretending to be another computer, and that the best reason to use it is to learn: a virtual machine is a safe place to try software and operating systems without risking your main PC. Hypervisors come as apps you install, like Hyper-V and VirtualBox, or as a dedicated operating system like Proxmox. He uses Hyper-V because it is built into Windows 11 Pro. He walks through the checklist: a hypervisor, virtualization enabled in the BIOS (he shows how to check under Performance > CPU in Task Manager, opened with Ctrl+Shift+Esc), and an operating system ISO. He turns on Hyper-V from the Windows Features dialog and reboots, then downloads an Ubuntu LTS desktop ISO and a Windows 11 ISO straight from the Ubuntu and Microsoft download pages. He warns against downloading modified Windows ISOs from the internet, since they could carry malware; if you want a modified one, build it yourself with a trusted program. In the New Virtual Machine wizard he names the VM, stores it on his D drive, picks Generation 2, gives it about 8 GB of his 32 GB of RAM, connects it to the Default Switch for internet access (noting you can leave a VM offline to test untrusted software), and creates a 100 GB virtual hard disk before pointing it at the ISO. The first boot misses the "press any key to boot from CD or DVD" prompt; clicking Connect first, then Start, and pressing a key fixes it. A second Ubuntu VM refuses to boot until he turns off Enable Secure Boot in its Security settings. He closes on why virtualization matters, from home servers running Pi-hole or Jellyfin to the cloud VMs that AI agent tools run on. ## Chapters - 0:00 Why virtualize? - 0:53 What a hypervisor is - 1:21 The setup checklist - 2:42 Turning on Hyper-V in Windows Features - 3:26 Downloading Ubuntu and Windows 11 ISOs - 4:35 Never download modified Windows ISOs - 4:53 Creating a new virtual machine - 5:45 Generation 2, Secure Boot and TPM - 6:35 Memory, networking and the virtual disk - 8:29 Booting the ISO: "press any key" fix - 10:01 Booting Ubuntu: turn off Secure Boot - 11:01 Why virtualization matters - 13:05 Cloud VMs and AI agents ## Tags #HyperV #Windows11 #VirtualMachine #Virtualization #Ubuntu #Linux #Hypervisor #Windows11Pro #SecureBoot #VirtualBox #Proxmox #HomeLab #TechTutorial #TechTips ## Description (from YouTube) Your PC can pretend to be another computer, and on Windows 11 Pro the tool to do it is already built in. In this video I walk through Hyper-V from scratch: what virtualization and hypervisors are, turning Hyper-V on, downloading Ubuntu and Windows 11 ISOs the safe way, and building a virtual machine step by step. That includes the two snags that tripped me up: the "press any key to boot" prompt and Secure Boot blocking Ubuntu. What you need: • A hypervisor: Hyper-V (Windows 11 Pro), or VirtualBox / Proxmox as alternatives • Virtualization turned on in your BIOS (check Task Manager → Performance → CPU) • An OS to install: an ISO file, such as Ubuntu or Windows 11 Quick fixes from the video: • "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" goes by too fast: click Connect first, then Start, and tap a key at the prompt. • Ubuntu won't boot on a Generation 2 VM: Settings → Security → uncheck Enable Secure Boot → Apply. • Never download a modified Windows ISO from a random site. If you want a modified one, build it yourself with a trusted tool. Chapters 00:00 Why virtualize? 00:53 What a hypervisor is 01:21 The checklist 02:42 Turning on Hyper-V in Windows Features 03:26 Downloading Ubuntu and Windows 11 ISOs 04:35 Don't download modified Windows ISOs 04:53 Creating a new virtual machine 05:45 Generation 2, Secure Boot and TPM 06:35 Memory, networking and the virtual hard disk 08:29 Booting from the ISO (and the "press any key" fix) 10:01 Ubuntu in Hyper-V: turning Secure Boot off 11:01 Why virtualization matters 13:05 Cloud VMs and AI agents Coming soon: installing normal Windows 11 in a VM, plus a debloated version made with the Chris Titus tool. Want a follow-up on Hyper-V settings like changing the VM resolution? Let me know in the comments. #HyperV #VirtualMachine #Windows11 #Ubuntu #Linux #Virtualization #HomeLab #TechTutorial ## Transcript _From the captions uploaded with the video._ ### Why virtualize? [0:00] Okay, in today's video, I'm going to be showing you how to install Hyper-V on your Windows 11 Pro machine. But before I do that, I'm going to talk about why, because I want to, and it's fun. So why do we do virtualization? Virtualization is making virtual machine. And the reason we do this is really, I think the best reason I can come up with is to learn because it gives us a system that we can mess around with without breaking our main computer. You know, some people use their computers for work. Some people just like not having a broken computer. I know, crazy, right? Anyways, virtualization provides a great place for you to experiment with different software, different OSs. [0:42] It's literally like Russian nesting dolls because you're basically putting a computer inside of a computer. Your virtualization at its core is your computer pretending to be another ### What a hypervisor is [0:53] computer. So I think we kind of understand what virtualization is and that's what a hypervisor does. You've got ones that are basically like apps you install. So that's going to be things like Hyper-V, VirtualBox. And then you also have things that are like a whole operating system that's dedicated to running virtual machines. And that's something like Proxmox. We are going to be using Hyper-V because it comes default on Windows and I found it to work wonderfully. ### The setup checklist [1:21] You'll need to go through a little checklist. What do we need? We need A, a hypervisor. We already talked about that. And today, our hypervisor of choice is Hyper-V. And to get Hyper-V, you're going to need Windows 11 Pro. But you can also use VirtualBox. And if you're brave, you can figure something out like Proxmox. The next thing that we're going to need to do on our checklist is a little bit of setup. So first, we're going to need to make sure virtualization is enabled on our machine. There's got to be some configuration in your BIOS settings. But basically, all you're going to do is boot into your BIOS, look up whatever laptop you have, laptop name, BIOS, turn on virtualization, and it'll tell you how to do it. Most of the time, actually, I think you should be able to tell inside Windows itself. So you can do Ctrl+Shift+Esc. [2:08] So you're going to go into performance settings. On your task manager and you go to CPU and then you're going to look for virtualization. If it's enabled, you're golden. You're golden. If you got virtualization in Windows 11 Pro, at least for the setup, we're good to go. But that'll just need to be on regardless. And then the third thing on our checklist C in this, it's on my screen. is going to be an OS. So you're going to need some kind of operating system to put on this virtual machine. That might be Windows. That could be Linux. You got an OS. ### Turning on Hyper-V in Windows Features [2:42] So now we're going to show you how to do it, actually, for real. We're going to look for Windows features. You're just going to search Windows features. Yep, Windows features turn on or off. And this is in the control panel. Just click enter on here. Then you're going to find Hyper-V. Yep, that's what we've been talking about this whole time. So you're going to check that little box. You're going to press OK. Going to search for the files and download them from presumably from Microsoft. And we'll be ready to go. Windows has completed the requested changes. Windows needs to reboot your PC. All right, we're back on the desktop after this. We're going to go ahead and launch Hyper-V. And we are almost ready to make a virtual machine. Guys, this is so easy. And I really do like it. ### Downloading Ubuntu and Windows 11 ISOs [3:26] So for this, let's go ahead and open up our Google Chrome. And look up Ubuntu. Ubuntu desktop. All right, and today we're just going to be downloading plain Jane Ubuntu LTS. And it's going to save. We got like 10 minutes on that file. So that's how you download Ubuntu. I'm going to show you how to download Microsoft Windows. So you're just going to search Windows ISO download. Excuse me. So there's several things you can do. You can do like their installation assistant, which like installs a program that installs Windows on a USB drive. [4:09] But for the sake of simplicity, just downloading the ISO file directly is much better. So you're gonna look for the disk image. That's the ISO file. Confirm. Select a language. We're going to go English, United States, because that's what we speak. And then we're going to download, save. Bada boom, bada bing. So that's how you download a Windows ISO and how you download Ubuntu. And there's tons of other Linux distros out. ### Never download modified Windows ISOs [4:36] Please, whatever you do, do not download modified Windows ISOs off the internet. If you're going to modify a Windows ISO, do it yourself with a trusted program. Because those could potentially carry malicious things. Yeah, just don't trust a modified Windows ISO. It's a no-go. ### Creating a new virtual machine [4:53] Let's hop back into Hyper-V. I believe I already have some ISOs that are downloaded. So we're going to go ahead and create a new virtual machine. So if we go over here, we can do new, new virtual machine. This wizard helps you create a virtual machine. You can use a virtual machine in place of a physical computer for a variety of uses. Yeah, that's kind of what we were talking about. I'm not going to read this whole thing for you, but okay, it wants us to give this a name. Choose a name and a location for this machine. Okay, and then it shows you the file path down here. We're going to say store this machine in a different location. I'm going to put it on our D drive, new folder, and we'll call this VM Hyper-V. That way we know what that is. I'm going to select that folder and that's where we're going to... [5:36] And then we'll call this YouTube demo just because it's a YouTube demo. So it makes sense to me. You can call it whatever you want. ### Generation 2, Secure Boot and TPM [5:45] So this, I'm not exactly sure what this means, but I believe it has to do with Secure Boot. If you don't know, Secure Boot or the Trusted Platform Module TPM 2.0 is something that Microsoft requires for... It's something that Microsoft requires for Windows 11 out of the box. You can use a tool like Rufus to obfuscate that, but in general, you'd kind of need it to run Windows 11. And the funny thing is, sometimes if you have Secure Boot, which is to do with that, I believe, enabled on a Linux install, it's like, no, I don't like Secure Boot. But Windows is like, I need to secure boot. So like you have some confliction there. We're going to choose second generation just because I'm pretty sure that's what I did last time. [6:30] And it worked flawlessly both on Linux and Windows. But look out for secure boot settings. We'll get to that in a second. ### Memory, networking and the virtual disk [6:36] And then assign memory. So this is how much memory we are actually assigning. We're giving permission to this virtual machine to use on our computer. So you need to be aware of how much RAM your system is already using and how much RAM you have available. So on this laptop, for instance, it's 32 gigabytes. So normally, even with a lot of programs going on, I'm under 15, which means I have almost half of my RAM available to allocate. But I might not need 15 gigs for a little VM. We're going to do 8 because it seems like a reasonable number. So 8,000 megabytes roughly. That's not exactly 8 gigabytes, I know. I'm not going to do the math. So I'm just going to ballpark it, okay? [7:19] And then this is something that's really neat. You can choose whether you have an internet connection at all, which is fantastic because if you want to test a piece of software that you don't trust in a VM, you don't want to give it network access. Of course you don't. But for our purposes, we're definitely going to want to be able to use the internet in this virtual box, in this virtual machine. We're just going to select default switch and it's just going to basically pipe through our internet on the existing system. We have a really cool part called a Virtual hard disk. And basically what this is doing is without creating a whole partition, it's making, like the name implies, a virtual hard disk. Just somewhere for our system to write files and to read files. [8:02] It's naming it. YouTube.vhdx and our location. That's the location we chose earlier. So that's where files and programs that are on that computer are going to take up space. It has a maximum size. It's an allocation of 127 gigabytes. I'm going to do like 100. That'll be plenty for our purposes. If you want, if you've done, if you created a virtual disk in the past, you can use it again. But we're going to go ahead and do it next. ### Booting the ISO: "press any key" fix [8:29] Install an operating system later. You can do it later. We're going to do it right now. Install an operating system from a bootable image file. That's where we're just talking about ISOs. So we go to, oh, here's a base Windows 11. We'll open that up. Finish this. Creating our This configuring everything. So now we got this little YouTube virtual machine and all we're going to do is going to right click it, press start, and then we're going to connect. It's almost like we're remote desktoping into here. Now it's going to give us this prompt, press any key to boot from CD or DVD. So practically what an ISO file is, is like a digital disc. You know, I've actually been ripping movies and got a whole stack of discs right here. [9:14] But it's like taking this and making it virtual. It's like a flash drive versus a Google Drive, I guess. Not exactly comparable, I know. Just press Enter. Uh-oh. What's this? Okay, so I just read something off of Grok and it said to press... A key and then press start. Oh, I said to press spacebar or enter. Connect and then start. Okay. So now it's going to take us through the normal Windows setup. I'm not going to do that right now. I'm actually working on another video soon, coming up very soon, actually, where I'll be installing normal Windows on a VM and also Windows that's been debloated using the Chris Titus tool. ### Booting Ubuntu: turn off Secure Boot [10:01] We're going to show you booting from Linux machine real quick. So let's go call this YouTube Linux box. Okay, we're going to store in a different browse. Go to our previous thing, select folder, finish. And we are going to go to our controller, our DVD drive, and add an image file, browse. All right, this is the one we actually just downloaded. Open up that Ubuntu. Okay. Connect, starting. Okay, maybe I just didn't use, maybe I didn't use Secure Boot. I could be going crazy. Okay, security, enable Secure Boot, off, apply. I swear if this doesn't work. [10:45] Yep, it was Secure Boot. Guys, I really thought I boot from, I really thought I booted from Secure Boot last time and it worked. Apparently, I was wrong. So that one's on me and whatnot. ### Why virtualization matters [11:01] But that is how you install a virtual machine. Let me know in the comments below if you would like to see another video where maybe I go into some of the configuration settings such as changing your resolution in a virtual machine. That's one thing I've really been enjoying about Hyper-V. It seems to play a lot nicer with my high resolution screens than ones I've tried in the past. It just seems to be more native, which I would hope so. They're charging you like 200 bucks because it's part of Windows Pro. I just wanted to close with a thought, a last consideration, if you will, that Whenever people buy crazy computers, a lot of that reason is for virtualization because you can't do a lot of VMs at once if you only have six cores, if you only have four cores. [11:54] That's why people get 12, 16 cores, 32 threads, 32 cores. You know, heck, the sky's the limit. Of course, there's also other professional applications that make use of that multi-threaded performance, but a huge application really is virtualization. And it's a wonderful technology. I can't stress this enough. If you have a computer that you can keep on 24-7 and it has enough resources to run some VMs, you have a home server. You know, it could be something really crazy. It could be something just, you know, pretty modest that's only running a couple services. Maybe you got Pi-hole filtering your network of ads and Just junk on the internet. Or maybe you've got a whole Jellyfin server and also it's like an editing rig and it's 10 gig and it's just like the bee's knees. [12:46] What I want you to understand more than anything is You don't have to start with a beast of a machine because virtualization is literally like making more of your machine. The idea that there's more use in your computer than you think there is because you can turn it into other computers. Like, what? So cool. So cool. ### Cloud VMs and AI agents [13:05] And also a relevant technology just to sort of grasp right now in the age we're living in, especially with... You know, these new agent tools, like I'm testing three of them right now. It's insane. But I'm testing Instinct and Muse and Grokbot. And each of them have a little cloud VM. So, you know, just remember, the cloud is somebody else's computer. And somebody else's computer is running a pretend computer inside of it. It's actually probably running thousands or hundreds at least of those. And that's where your Muse agent, your... Instinct agent and your Grokbot are all living. And the really cool and powerful unlock to think about is if you're using these agents, is if you have a program that works on Linux, at least on Grokbot, it will probably install it for you. [13:59] And you'll be able to use that computer in the cloud, which is so cool. I had my Grokbot install Blip. If you don't know what Blip is, Blip is a fantastic airdrop alternative and it works over internet. You don't have to be in the same location. You can do it with other people that have Blip or with yourself. So I had my Grokbot make itself an email, sign up for Blip and install it on its Linux box. And it did it, but unfortunately I wasn't able to ever send anything to it because I think those boxes are pretty bare bones. It was definitely throttling it in some way or just Grokbot couldn't understand how to use it because it's not really a CLI tool. [14:48] So that was a dream that was unfortunately crushed. But my Grokbot does have Blip on its computer. It's just not working. But it could work in your virtual machine. Yes, it could. So that's all for today.