A hands-on, continuously expanding Hyper-V learning environment built to develop real systems administration experience through experimentation, research, and practical implementation.
As someone who is passionate about systems administration, the objective of this project is to explore, experiment, tinker, research, learn, and ultimately have fun while continuously building out my skillset.
This lab was created from a desire to learn Microsoft’s virtualization platform, Hyper-V, and gain direct hands-on experience by setting up a customized environment from scratch. The primary system configured as the Hyper-V host for this project is a Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Gen 2 running Windows 11 Professional.
Hyper-V is built into both Windows Server editions and Windows Pro / Enterprise editions, allowing systems that meet the minimum hardware specifications to create and manage virtual machines (VMs).
Hyper-V is a Type-1 (bare-metal) hypervisor — regardless of whether it is installed on enterprise server hardware or a standard laptop. The hypervisor layer runs directly on the physical hardware and introduces a lightweight virtualization layer that sits between the hardware and the operating system.
When Hyper-V is enabled, Windows transitions into what is known as the root partition, and all virtual machines run inside isolated child partitions. This structure allows multiple VMs to share the same physical resources (CPU, memory, storage, network) while maintaining isolation and stability across all workloads.
This lab will serve as the foundation for many future projects involving Windows Server, Linux, networking, virtualization, and enterprise-style network environments. It begins with understanding Hyper-V itself and will expand into additional labs over time.
The Hyper-V lab is organized into multiple sections, each with its own dedicated page:
Future sections will be added as the environment grows.
Hyper-V is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. This content is for educational purposes and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.