As indicated in the previous section, a 64-bit CPU is required by Hyper-V. 64-bit processors from both Intel and AMD are supported (excluding Itanium), although the processors must support a number of key virtualization features in order for Hyper-V to run.
- * '''Hardware assisted virtualization''' - Processors with support for hardware assisted virtualization provide an additional privilege mode above ring 0 (referred to ring -1) in which the hypervisor can operate essentially leaving ring 0 available for guest operating systems to run. Processors with Intel VT or AMD-V support include hardware assisted virtualization.
- * '''Hardware based Data Execution Prevention''' - Hardware based Data Execution Prevention (DEP) allows the processor to mark sections of memory as non-executable. This feature is available in processors with AMD NX and Intel XD support.
Details of the CPU type installed in a system can be obtained from the hardware vendor. Specific CPU features are available in the specification provided by the CPU manufacturer.
