Microsoft recently clarified their documentation by releasing a specific page to list the supported guest or virtual machine operating systems on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V (including Hyper-V Server 2012 R2) and Windows 8.1. This page lists the supported Windows client and servers OSs. On the list you will curently (21 July 2014) find:
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server 2012
- Window Server 2008 R2 with SP1
- Windows Server 2008 with SP2
- Windows Home Server 2011
- Windows Small Business Server 2011
- Windows Server 2003 with SP1
- Windows Server 2003 with SP2
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 8
- Windows 7 with SP1
- Windows 7
- Windows Vista with SP2
- Windows XP with SP3
- Windows XP x64 with SP2
Remember: “supported” and “it works” are two very different things in the Microsoft world:
- Supported: You call Microsoft, and they will assist, including engineering if there is a bug (subject to time/effort vs priority).
- It works: Lots of operating systems can install and run in Hyper-V VMs, but they fall outside of the support statements. In other words, they might work fine, but Microsoft won’t support them.
Microsoft DOES support a wide array of Linux distributions/editions/architectures. There is a specific support page for Linux because of the complexity that the variety of distributions introduce. Newer releases come with the Hyper-V Linux Integration Services (LIS) as a part of the install. Older ones require you to download the LIS and install them into the guest OS. On the list you will curently (21 July 2014) find:
- CentOS 5.5-5.6, 5.7-5.8, 5.9-5.10, 6.0-6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 7.0
- RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.5-5.6, 5.7-5.8, 5.9-5.10, 6.0-6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 7.0
- Debian 7.0-7.4
- Oracle Linux UEK R3 QU1, UEK R3 QU2, 6.4, 6.5
- Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 SP2, 11 SP3
- Open SUSE 12.3
- Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04
The support pages (particularly the Linux ones) are subject to frequent change so I suggest that you use the links in this post as a jumping point to get to the newest release by Microsoft. I will not be updating this post to reflect the latest changes – this is a blog, not a documentation site.