[6 Solutions] How to Fix the Hypervisor is Not Running in Windows

Error: the virtual machine could not be started because hypervisor is not running

Hyper-V is a popular type 1 hypervisor due to its easy installation and affordable cost. However, if you have incorrect firmware settings, or installed other hypervisors, you may receive the error: the virtual machine could not be started because hypervisor is not running.

It prevents you from creating and continue using Hyper-V VMs, and you may even lose your important VM data. Fortunately, there are many ways to fix this error Hyper-V virtual machine not starting. In this article, I will introduce 6 solutions of them.

Why hypervisor not running?

Many factors could lead to the Hyper-V not present or not running issue. For example:

• Your hardware does not support virtualization features
• BIOS is not set up correctly
• You installed other incompatible hypervisors
• Hyper-V is not installed completely
• Hyper-V is not set up for self-boot,
• Hyper-V services is not running properly
• …

How to fix Hypervisor is not running error in Windows

In this section, I will introduce 6 solutions based on these common causes of this error Hyper-V VM won’t start.

Solution 1. Make sure your CPU is SLAT capable

According to the personal experience of many people, if your CPU is not SLAT capable, your computer may not support built-in virtualization. Then you may then encounter this Hyper-V error.

To check if your CPU is SLAT compatible or not, you need to visit your CPU manufacturer's website for specification details, or use third party software. In fact, this is the first step in your troubleshooting process.

Solution 2. Allow Virtualization in BIOS

In addition to hardware, if your BIOS is not set up correctly, you may also receive the error when running Hyper-V VMs.

For example, you need to make sure Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-D) or SVM mode is enabled in your BIOS.

As for how to open BIOS setup, the key varies by motherboard manufacturers. For example, Esc, F1, F2, F10, F11, F12 or Delete.

Solution 3. Uninstall other incompatible hypervisors

Hyper-V is not compatible with other hypervisors such as VMware Workstation or VirtualBox. Therefore, if you have other hypervisors installed on your Hyper-V host, then you may receive this error.

To resolve this issue, you simply need to uninstall these incompatible hypervisors.

If you just want to switch to other virtualization platforms like VMware, you still need to convert Hyper-V to VMware in advance.

Solution 4. Reinstall Hyper-V features via Control Panel or DISM command

If the Hyper-V services are not installed completely or properly, then you may encounter this error when booting the Hyper-V VM. You can reinstall all Hyper-V features via the 2 following ways.

● Reinstall Hyper-V features via Control Panel

1. Open Windows Settings from the Start menu, and click Apps.

2. On Apps & features page, click Programs and Features below Related settings.

3. Click Turn Windows features on or off on the pop-up window.

4. Check Hyper-V and all sub-options from the features list. Click OK to save the change and reboot.

● Use DISM command to enable Hyper-V features

1. Open Command Prompt by press the Windows Key + R and type cmd, run it as administrator.

2. Run the following command to enable all features of Hyper-V:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Hyper-V -All

Solution 5. Use bcdedit command to set Hyper-V to launch automatically

If you have not set the Hyper-V hypervisor to open automatically after boot, then you may encounter the error: Virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running. To reconfigure it in the boot data file, you can use bcdedit command.

Run Command Prompt as administrator, and then run the following command to set Hyper-V to launch automatically:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto

3. Restart the Hyper-V server to check if you can boot the VM normally.

Solution 6. Restart Hyper-V VMM service

If you still cannot open the Hyper-V virtual machine normally after the above methods, then you still need to check if the Hyper-V VMM service is running properly and start automatically.

1. Open Windows Services list by press the Windows Key + R and type services.msc.

2. Find Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management from the services list, and double-click on it to open Properties.

3. Set Startup type as Automatic, and make sure the service is running.

4. Restart the Hyper-V server to check if you can boot the VM normally.

Importance: Backup your Hyper-V VMs before fixing the issue

Before you start any fixes, taking backups of your VM data is a reliable insurance to avoid unexpected data loss. Besides, it is important to have regular backups for VMs to ensure business security. Threats like data loss and system crashes can occur at any time and cause serious problems.

Here I introduce you to a free Hyper-V backup software -- AOMEI Cyber Backup. It gives an easy way to back up Hyper-V virtual machines and restores them whenever you need. It offers you the following benefits.

✦ Agentless Backup: create complete and independent image-level backup for VMware ESXi and Hyper-V VMs.
✦ Multiple Storage Destinations: backup to local or external storage, and network share destinations.
✦ Automated Execution: create backup schedules to automate virtual machine protection.
✦ Perpetual Free: you can use AOMEI Cyber Backup Free Edition with no time limit.

AOMEI Cyber Backup supports Hyper-V in Windows 8/8.1/10/11, Windows Server/Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 and later versions.

Next, I will show how to quickly create a Hyper-V VM backup task. You can click the following button to download the freeware.

*You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.

How to quickly create a backup task via AOMEI Cyber Backup

Note: The first time you use AOMEI Cyber Backup to back up VMs on a Hyper-V host, you will need to Bind Device for authentication.

1. Launch AOMEI Cyber Backup, navigate to Backup Task and click + Create New Task. Set the Task Name, Device, Target, and Schedule as needed.

2. Now you can click Start Backup and select Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only.

While the Free Edition covers most of VM backup needs, you can also upgrade to Premium Edition to enjoy:
▶ Batch VM Backup: Batch backup large numbers of VMs managed by vCenter Server or standalone ESXi hosts.
▶ Backup cleanup: Configure a retention policy to auto delete old backup files and save storage space.
▶ Restore to new location: Create a new VM in the same or another datastore/host directly from the backup, saves the trouble of re-configuring the new VM.

Summary

If you received the Hyper-V error: Virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running. There are many reasons such as hardware does not support virtualization, BIOS is not set up correctly, Hyper-V is not installed completely, Hyper-V is not set up for self-boot, etc. In this article, I introduced 6 solutions to these factors.

To avoid these unexpected errors leading to the accidental loss of your VM data, regular virtual machine backup is a both reliable and affordable data protection measure. To make it efficient, I suggest you backup your VMs with professional backup software, for example, AOMEI Cyber Backup.