Virtualized Hyper-V server fails to boot with blue screen about winhv.sys

Written By Tami Sutcliffe (Super Administrator)

Updated at April 12th, 2022

When virtualizing a protected system, the Hyper-V server role can cause a blue screen to occur regarding winhv.sys.  This happens because the Hyper-V server role is unable to start inside a virtualized environment. 

Resolution: 

Use the Startup Option menu (f8) to boot the machine into Safe Mode

Disable the Hyper-V Hypervisor Role from starting in the VM.

  • Open an Administrator Command Prompt
  • Run the command: BCDEDIT /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
  • Then reboot the machine.

Note

Hyper-V VMs will not load when the Hyper-V Hypervisor Role option is set.

To re-enable Hyper-V after the restore execute:

  • Open an Administrator Command Prompt
  • Run the command: BCDEDIT /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto
  • Then reboot the machine.

Note

Using the steps in the following MSDN article you can create another boot entry in the Hyper-V server to boot without the hypervisor.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/04/14/creating-a-no-hypervisor-boot-entry.aspx



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