The following table shows which 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows you can use as a guest operating system for generation 1 and generation 2 virtual machines.
64-bit versions of Windows |
Generation 1 |
Generation 2 |
Windows Server 2019 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows Server 2016 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows Server 2012 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
✔ |
✖ |
Windows Server 2008 |
✔ |
✖ |
Windows 10 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows 8.1 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows 8 |
✔ |
✔ |
Windows 7 |
✔ |
✖ |
32-bit versions of Windows |
Generation 1 |
Generation 2 |
Windows 10 |
✔ |
✖ |
Windows 8.1 |
✔ |
✖ |
Windows 8 |
✔ |
✖ |
Windows 7 |
✔ |
✖ |
Boot method |
Generation 1 |
Generation 2 |
PXE boot by using a standard network adapter (Synthetic NIC) |
✖ |
✔ |
PXE boot by using a legacy network adapter (Legacy NIC) |
✔ |
✖ |