Windows guests

Use these guides to configure Windows images and instances. Cloud operators should also read Windows guest administration for host prerequisites.

Security and performance

Windows security features have different requirements:

• Using a virtual TPM explains how to provide TPM 2.0 for Windows 11 and features such as TPM-backed BitLocker key protection. vTPM support isn’t restricted to Intel hosts.

• Hyper-V enlightened VMCS describes an Intel-specific optimization for guests running Hyper-V, including virtualization-based security (VBS) and memory integrity (HVCI). It can reduce nested virtualization overhead while those features remain enabled.

vTPM and eVMCS serve different purposes and can be configured independently. Neither setting enables VBS inside Windows.

• Hyper-V enlightened VMCS
  • Before you begin
  • Enable eVMCS