Power Option Effects on Hyper-V Performance

Q. Do power configurations affect Hyper-V performance?

A: By configuring different Windows power profiles, you can enable the highest possible performance at the expense of using more power or use a balanced approach that gives a lower performance but also uses less power. These settings have a direct effect on the potential performance of virtual machines (VMs) so in high utilization environments that need the highest possible performance, it might be necessary to change the active power scheme.

By default, Windows Server 2012 uses the Balanced power plan. This is the recommended plan in most environments. However, the High performance plan can be enabled by using the Power Options control panel applet. Once it's enabled, you might see a performance improvement.

If you're not seeing the performance you expect in tests, or based on user experience in VDI-type environments, try enabling High performance-- but understand this will result in higher power usage and therefore higher electricity costs.