Hyper-V VM versions per Server OS

Q. What are the Hyper-V VM versions?

A. While Hyper-V VM versions have typically not been highly prominent they do exist and the upgrade between Hyper-V VM versions happens automatically as the Hyper-V host is updated. The table below shows the VM versions supported by the various versions of Hyper-V.

Note that Windows Server vNext supports both 6.0 and 5.0. This is because 6.0 uses a new binary-based VM configuration format (VMCX). However, you can also continue to use the XML based 5.0 format if you need continued compatibility with pre-vNext. Also note that vNext supports 4.0 to enable a live migration from a 2012 node. To convert a V5 VM to a V6 VM the Update-VMConfigurationVersion cmdlet.