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How to Disable Virtualization in Windows 11 Safely

November 3, 2026
How to Disable Virtualization in Windows 11 Safely

“Virtualization” in Windows covers three different things: the Hyper-V hypervisor, virtualization-based security (VBS) with its Memory Integrity switch, and the CPU virtualization setting in your firmware. You turn each off in a different place, and each costs you something different. This guide shows you how to check which ones are running, how to switch each one off, what you lose, and when it is worth doing, including the related question of core parking.

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TL;DR

  • Check first. Run msinfo32 and a one-line PowerShell query to see whether a hypervisor or VBS is actually running before you change anything.
  • Memory Integrity is the quickest switch: Windows Security, Device security, Core isolation. It is a security feature, so turn it off only for a measured reason.
  • Hyper-V, Memory Integrity and Credential Guard depend on one another, so turning off Hyper-V means turning off the dependent features too.
  • Measured gaming losses from VBS were around 5% on average, with a worst case of 15% in one test set. Your own before-and-after test decides.
  • Core parking changes often do nothing on modern Windows 11 systems. Verify before you tweak.

Table of Contents

Three things people mean by “virtualization”

Most search results blur these together, which is why people disable the wrong thing and see no change.

Firmware virtualization (Intel VT-x, AMD-V). This is a CPU feature switched on or off in UEFI/BIOS. Virtual machines and emulators need it. It has no meaningful performance cost when idle, and turning it off is rarely what you want.

Hyper-V and the Windows hypervisor. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s hypervisor. Once it runs, Windows itself sits on top of it. That is why some virtual machine programs complain that they cannot run alongside Hyper-V.

Virtualization-based security (VBS). VBS uses the hypervisor to build an isolated region of memory that untrusted code cannot reach. Tom’s Hardware describes it as a secure memory enclave separated from unsafe code. Memory Integrity (also called HVCI, shown in Windows Security as Core isolation) is the best-known feature built on it. Microsoft explains that it checks kernel-mode drivers and binaries before they start, so unsigned or untrusted drivers and system files cannot load into memory.

The reason to separate them: if your goal is to run an older emulator, you want Hyper-V off. If your goal is a few more frames, you are looking at VBS and Memory Integrity. If your goal is to run a virtual machine, you want firmware virtualization on.

Three Windows virtualization layers and their purposes

Check what is running before you change anything

Two checks take under a minute and stop you from chasing a setting that is already off.

Is a hypervisor running?

Press Windows + R, type msinfo32 and press Enter. Scroll to the bottom of the System Summary. Microsoft says the message “A hypervisor has been detected” indicates the hypervisor is running. If you see that line, something on your PC is using it, whether Hyper-V itself, VBS or another feature built on it.

Is VBS on?

Open PowerShell as administrator and run this query, which Microsoft documents:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DeviceGuard -Namespace root\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceGuard

Look at VirtualizationBasedSecurityStatus. A value of 0 means VBS is not enabled, 1 means it is enabled but not running, and 2 means it is enabled and running. Only a 2 is costing you anything.

To see whether firmware virtualization is on, open Task Manager, go to the Performance tab and select CPU. The Virtualization line shows Enabled or Disabled. System Information also lists “Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware.”

Does VBS actually slow games down?

Sometimes, and by a smaller margin than forum posts suggest. The best published numbers come from Tom’s Hardware. In its 2021 benchmark of Windows 11 security features, gaming losses averaged about 5% with VBS and HVCI on the tested systems. In a later guide, the same outlet found some games ran as much as 15% slower with both enabled, while most users and applications saw differences of 5% or less.

Hardware matters too. The same 2021 report notes that Microsoft says newer CPUs with Mode Based Execution Control (MBEC) reduce the overhead of HVCI, so the hit is less severe than on older processors. If you have a recent processor, expect the low end of that range.

Here is a practical way to read this:

Your situationLikely effect of turning VBS off
Recent CPU, GPU-bound at 1440p or 4KOften within run-to-run noise
Older CPU, high-refresh 1080p, CPU-boundMost likely to show a gain
Office, browsing, video callsRarely noticeable
Audio or video production with real-time loadWorth measuring, since spikes matter more than averages

The only way to know which row you are in is to measure. Run the same benchmark or the same in-game test scene three times with Memory Integrity on, change it, restart, and run it three times again. Compare the averages and the 1% lows, not a single run.

Our separate walkthrough on testing Memory Integrity before you disable it covers that measuring routine in more detail.

Does VBS actually slow games down?

How to turn off Memory Integrity

This is the setting behind most searches for disabling VBS or Core isolation in Windows 11, and it is the gentlest option.

  1. Type “Core isolation” into Windows Search and open it.
  2. Switch Memory Integrity to Off.
  3. Restart your PC when prompted.

That sequence matches Tom’s Hardware’s instructions. If the switch is greyed out, or Windows reports incompatible drivers, an old driver is blocking the feature or a policy is controlling it. Updating or removing the flagged driver is usually better than forcing the switch.

After the restart, run the PowerShell query again. If VirtualizationBasedSecurityStatus still shows 2, something else is keeping VBS alive. That is the next section.

When VBS stays on after Memory Integrity is off

Memory Integrity is one feature that uses VBS. Credential Guard is another, and the Hyper-V platform itself is a third reason the hypervisor keeps running. Microsoft states that Memory Integrity and Credential Guard depend on Hyper-V and should also be disabled when you disable Hyper-V, and it lists Intune, Group Policy or registry entries as the ways to do that.

In practice, work through this order:

  1. Confirm Memory Integrity is off in Core isolation.
  2. Check whether your PC is managed by an employer or school. If it is, Group Policy or Intune may be re-enabling VBS, and you should ask your IT team rather than override it.
  3. Turn off the Hyper-V hypervisor (next section).
  4. Restart, then re-run msinfo32 and the PowerShell query.

A word on the registry: editing VBS keys by hand is the method many guides lead with, but a wrong value can leave you with a PC that behaves unpredictably, and some firmware setups protect VBS with a UEFI lock that needs a confirmation prompt at the next boot. Use the supported Windows interface first, and use the registry only by following Microsoft’s own instructions for the exact key.

How to turn off Hyper-V in Windows 11

Use this when a virtual machine program, an emulator or an older game protection layer says it cannot run under Hyper-V.

Through Windows Features

Open “Turn Windows features on or off.” Microsoft’s guidance is to clear Hyper-V Hypervisor under Hyper-V, then Hyper-V Platform. Click OK and restart. TechTarget also confirms that this dialog or the PowerShell cmdlet are the standard routes in Windows 11.

Through an elevated command

From an administrator PowerShell window, Microsoft gives this command:

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-Hypervisor

From Command Prompt, the DISM equivalent is:

DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Microsoft-Hyper-V-Hypervisor

There is also a stronger pairing in Microsoft’s guidance on blocking virtualization features: run Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature with the Microsoft-Hyper-V-All feature name, then bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off, both in elevated PowerShell. That prevents Hyper-V from running at all. It is written for administrators, so use it when you are certain you do not need Hyper-V.

To reverse the boot setting later, set hypervisorlaunchtype back to its automatic value, or simply re-enable the feature in Windows Features. Note what you changed in a text file as you go. That habit saves hours.

A note on firmware settings

You do not need to touch UEFI/BIOS to turn off Hyper-V. If you ever do go into firmware to change virtualization options, Microsoft Support warns that the screens differ by manufacturer and advises changing only what is needed, since other changes might prevent access to Windows.

What you give up

Be clear about the trade before you flip anything. Amazon’s documentation on VBS notes that disabling it reduces Windows security, leaves the kernel more exposed to malicious code and raises the risk of credential theft. The same page advises disabling only when required for specific performance or compatibility needs.

That is a reasonable bar. Good reasons include:

  • A measured, repeatable frame-rate or latency gain in a game you play every day.
  • A required program that will not run next to the hypervisor.
  • A driver you depend on that cannot pass Memory Integrity checks and has no updated version.

Weak reasons include a vague sense that the PC should be faster, or a tip from a video with no benchmark. If you do switch it off, stay careful about what you install: download drivers and software from the maker’s own site, keep Windows Update running and keep Microsoft Defender active.

Core parking: what it is and whether to turn it off

Core parking comes up in the same searches because it is another “hidden Windows setting” people blame for lost performance. It is not a virtualization feature, but the questions overlap, so here is the short version.

Microsoft describes core parking as an engine that makes global scalability decisions about a workload and determines the optimum set of cores to run it. Windows balances performance against energy use, so idle cores can be parked to save power and unparked when work arrives.

Can changing it help? There is some history. AMD’s Ryzen Balanced power plan disabled core parking, and AMD’s benchmarks reported gaming uplifts over the Windows 10 default plan at the time. But that was a 2017 situation on a specific platform. More recently, RigPolice tested a Windows 11 system and found no cores parked at stock settings, so the tweak changed nothing there. On the server side, Microsoft says modifying the default core parking behavior in Windows Server 2012 is not recommended or supported because it can degrade CPU performance.

For real-time workloads such as audio production, the question is more nuanced, and this guide on why core parking tweaks may not help explains how CPU spikes there often have other causes. The honest checklist:

  1. Open Task Manager, Performance, CPU, and look at the logical processors during your problem workload. Are cores sitting idle while one is pegged?
  2. Check your power mode. Our note on Windows power mode shows how it changes behavior without registry edits.
  3. If the load is spread across cores, there is nothing for a core parking tweak to fix.
  4. Only then consider an advanced power setting change, and benchmark it as you would VBS.

If your concern is scheduling rather than parking, see our five-step test for processor scheduling changes, and for related throttling behavior the piece on Windows 11 power throttling.

A safe routine for any of these changes

Whatever you decide to switch off, the same routine keeps you out of trouble:

  1. Baseline. Record frame rates, boot time or the CPU graph for the workload that bothers you. Run it at least three times.
  2. Change one thing. Memory Integrity, or Hyper-V, or a power setting. Never several at once, or you will not know which helped.
  3. Restart and retest. Both Memory Integrity and Hyper-V changes need a restart to take effect.
  4. Keep the change only if the gain is real. A difference smaller than your run-to-run variation is not a gain.
  5. Write down how to undo it. The undo path matters more than the tweak.

If gaming is the goal, the biggest wins often come from elsewhere: background apps, startup load, game mode and drivers. Our guide to optimizing Windows 11 for gaming starts with those.

Perspective

We built Tempered around one idea: a performance change should be measured, explained and reversible, and nothing should happen without your approval.

Virtualization settings are a perfect example. Memory Integrity and VBS are security layers, not junk. Switching them off can be the right call for a particular game on a particular machine, and it can be a pointless risk on another. A tool that disables them automatically because “optimizers” are supposed to would be guessing. We would rather show you your live CPU, RAM, GPU and disk numbers, say which constraint is real, and let you approve the specific change.

That is also why we do not invent issues or clean the registry to look busy. Each suggestion comes with a plain-language reason and the expected outcome, and each change is tracked with a one-click Undo. If a tweak does not help your PC, you can see that and put it back.

Our approach is designed to be anti-cheat safe for gamers, which matters because the loudest advice online is often the riskiest.

Ian

Let the numbers decide, with an undo

If you would rather not hunt through msinfo32, PowerShell and Core isolation by hand, Tempered reads your live hardware metrics (CPU, RAM, GPU, disk and uptime), points to the constraint that is actually holding your PC back, and proposes specific changes you approve one at a time. It works on Windows 10 and 11, needs no technical background and does not require an AI API key.

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The Free plan includes a limited number of AI scans. Paid plans start at $5.99 per month for Torque and $12.99 per month for Torque Max, which raise the scan limits and unlock premium features. Every change is logged, so undoing one takes a click. You can start at tempered.to.

FAQ

Is it safe to disable VBS on Windows 11?

It is safe in the sense that Windows runs normally, but you lose a protection layer. Microsoft’s documentation and others note that without VBS the kernel is more exposed to malicious code and credentials are easier to steal. Turn it off for a measured performance or compatibility need, and keep your software sources trustworthy.

Does turning off Memory Integrity improve FPS?

It can, mostly on older CPUs and in CPU-bound games. Tom’s Hardware measured an average loss near 5% with VBS and HVCI on, and up to 15% in some games, while most applications showed 5% or less. Benchmark your own game before and after to see whether it applies to you.

How do I turn off Hyper-V if a program says it cannot run under it?

Clear Hyper-V Hypervisor in Windows Features, or run the Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature or DISM command Microsoft lists, then restart. Also turn off dependent features such as Memory Integrity and Credential Guard, since they rely on Hyper-V. Confirm afterward in msinfo32 that the hypervisor message is gone.

Should I disable CPU core parking?

Usually there is nothing to gain. On a recent Windows 11 test system, no cores were parked at stock settings, so the tweak changed nothing. Check your logical processors under load first, and only adjust power settings if you can measure a problem.

Do I need to change my BIOS to disable virtualization in Windows?

No. Turning off Hyper-V and Memory Integrity happens inside Windows. Firmware virtualization is a separate switch that virtual machines need, and Microsoft advises changing only what is necessary in UEFI/BIOS because menus vary by manufacturer.

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