You Can’t Run Hyper-V and VirtualBox at the Same Time

I recently purchased a new computer to replace my 10+ year old machine at home.  I’ve been using Hyper-V for virtualization because it was built into Windows 10 and allowed me to immediately use the Virtual Machines I had previously set up with VirtualPC under Windows 7.  However, Hyper-V’s features with Linux guest systems is extremely limited and since I use VirtualBox regularly on my Mac at work, figured I’d install it and move my Linux guests over to it.

I started off attempting to set up a Kali Linux VM in VirtualBox. I immediately noticed VirtualBox wasn’t recognizing my system as 64 bit, and wouldn’t let select more than one CPU. I have 12 cores, so I would think I’d be able to assign more than one.  Upon the first attempt at booting the VM I ran into a BSOD in Windows 10 (side note: at least the BSOD in Windows 10 is friendlier than in the past).  Subsequent attempts at booting the VM all ended with me staring at a BSOD in my host OS.

After a lot of experimentation and googling, you can’t have Hyper-V installed if you want to use VirtualBox on Windows 10.  You’ll need to remove Hyper-V completely before you can run a guest OS in VirtualBox.  I assumed you could have them both installed, but not run simultaneously.  Nope.  Hyper-V will need to completely removed before you can VirtualBox.  Once I removed Hyper-V, VirtualBox recognized my system as 64bit, and I was able to assign more than one CPU to the guest OS.  The VM booted right up.  And since I’m not planning on running any Windows VMs, I won’t miss any of the features that Hyper-V offers over VirtualBox.

Now, it’s possible that VMWare Workstation Player can run along side Hyper-V, or at least not cause a BSOD, but it’s also $150.