Uh-oh! Are Hyper-V Windows 10 and VMware Workstation compatible?

I came across this today and I really did not delve to deeply but is the gist of this right? that if I have VMware Workstation already installed that I am going to run in to problems creating a VM using Hyper V? TIA.

are Hyper-V Windows 10 and VMware Workstation compatible

Hi there
The "Virtual Disk" formats are compatible (vmdk files) so you won't have to change data files but you will need for each system (HYPER-V or VMWARE) the VM's particular configuration file as these won't be identical. I.E you can clone your VM and use it in HYPER-V provided you set the config correctly.

Also as cereberus has pointed out you can't run HYPER-V and VMWARE concurrently.

With VMWARE you might also need to add some specific drivers --sound / usb etc -- however these won't cause any problems if you decide to switch back again to HYPER-V. Don't forget also that on the first boot up of a VM under VMWARE you will need to install / update vmware tools --this handles mouse / video etc properly. If you switch back to HYPER-V this doesn't have to be uninstalled.

Cheers
jimbo

Newbie here : )



@sml156

>VMware (for me at least) will not run a guest with hyper v enabled.


So is it as "simple" as say if I want to run VMware all I have to do is go into the gui and disable hyper v and then reboot? and I can then run VMware. Right now I have Virtualization enabled in the bios but Hyper V is not as yet enabled and VMware works with Vitualization turned on in the bios.



@cereberus


>You can have both installed but you cannot run both from same session from Windows.


Copy that. I would not want to do that anyway. Just one at a time.

>Just create a simple boot second boot entry that allows you to boot into Windows to run hyper-v, and then reboot to run vmware. See link below.

Following those instructions might just be for the moment a little bit too much above my comfort level. Can I accomplish the same thing as I mentioned above just by simply turning off Hyper V and rebooting if I wanted to run VMware?

@jimbo45


>The "Virtual Disk" formats are compatible (vmdk files) so you won't have to change data files but you will need for each system (HYPER-V or VMWARE) the VM's particular configuration file as these won't be identical. I.E you can clone your VM and use it in HYPER-V provided you set the config correctly.


Thanks for that but sorry a lot of what you said above is clearly above my rudimentary understanding at the moment. I do know that I have no interest in cloning the VM from VMware (if that was what you were referring to) and that when I try out Hyper V I will be doing a fresh install and starting from scratch. Regarding the insight on VMware all I have really done so far was install it and create my first VM just to see if it all worked : ) I did not install any drivers and while I am familiar with the importance of vmware tools I can not recall if I actually even got that far (though I think I did). I have since deleted that VM without ever firing it up again!

Do you also agree that I can solve the problem of Hyper V and VMware by simply disabling Hyper V as I mentioned above when I want to go back to VMware?

Thanks to all.

cereberus said:

It takes less than a couple of minutes to follow the link how to create a boot entry. It really is easy. Certainly easier than messing around as you are asking.

>It really is easy.

You are giving me too much credit : ) Just a few minutes ago I created my first VM (win 1803 iso) using Hyper V and while there were a few hiccups along the way it seems that it booted up just fine and it shut down without incident as well.

I'll probably fool around with this quite a bit more but when I do decide to go back and try VMware I still believe I will first try just turning off Hyper V in "turn windows features on and off" and see if that works and if it does great. If not or if I feel daring I'll go ahead and see what havoc I can create by using BCDEdit. Thanks for the help