Create and configure a virtual switch with Hyper-V

Article
01/16/2025
Applies to:

✅ Windows Server 2025, ✅ Windows Server 2022, ✅ Windows Server 2019, ✅ Windows Server 2016, ✅ Windows 11, ✅ Windows 10, ✅ Azure Local, versions 23H2 and 22H2

This article shows you how to create and configure your virtual switch using Hyper-V Manager or PowerShell. A virtual switch allows virtual machines created on Hyper-V hosts to communicate with other computers.

When you first install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server, you can optionally create a virtual switch at the same time. To learn more about virtual switches, see Hyper-V Virtual Switch.

For more information about how you can set up your networking infrastructure with Windows Server, review the Networking documentation.

Prerequisites

Before you can create and configure your virtual switch, your computer must meet the following prerequisites:

The Hyper-V server role must be installed.

Hyper-V must be enabled

Virtual switch types are: external, internal. and private. Determine what type of virtual switch you need to create.
Identify which network you connect your computer to. Review the Core network planning article for more information.
Have administrative rights.

Create a virtual switch

Once you complete the prerequisites, you're ready to create your virtual switch. In this section, we create a basic virtual switch by following these steps.

Hyper-V Manager
PowerShell

Here's how to create a virtual switch using Hyper-V Manager.

Open Hyper-V Manager.
From the Actions pane, select Virtual Switch Manager.
Choose the type of virtual switch, then select Create Virtual Switch.
Enter a name for the virtual switch, then perform one of the following steps.
1. If you selected external, choose the network adapter (NIC) that you want to use, then select OK.
  
  You're prompted with a warning that the change may disrupt your network connectivity; select Yes if you're happy to continue.
2. If you selected internal or private, select OK.

Here's how to create a virtual switch using the New-VMSwitch command.

Run PowerShell on your computer in an elevated session.
Find existing network adapters by running the Get-NetAdapter cmdlet. Identify the network adapter name that you want to use for the virtual switch.
```
Get-NetAdapter
```
To create an external virtual switch, run the following commands, replacing the placeholder <value> with your own values.
```
New-VMSwitch -Name <switch-name>  -NetAdapterName <netadapter-name>
```
Or

To create an internal or private switch, run the following command. Again, replace <switch-name> with the name of your switch and <switchtype> with either Internal or External.
```
New-VMSwitch -Name <switch-name> -SwitchType <switchtype>
```

For more advanced PowerShell scripts that cover improved or new virtual switch features in Windows Server, see Remote Direct Memory Access and Switch Embedded Teaming.

An external virtual switch allows your virtual machines to connect to an external network. You can also allow the management operating system to share the same selected network adapter. To begin, follow these steps.

Hyper-V Manager
PowerShell

Here's how to allow the management operating system to share the selected network adapter switch using Hyper-V Manager.

Open Hyper-V Manager.
From the Actions pane, select Virtual Switch Manager.
Select the virtual switch you wish to configure, check the Allow management operating system to share this network adapter and select OK.

You'll be prompted with a warning that the change may disrupt your network connectivity; select Yes if you're happy to continue.

Here's how to allow a virtual switch to be shared with the management OS using the Set-VMSwitch command.

Run PowerShell on your computer in an elevated session.
To allow a virtual switch to be shared with the management OS, run the following commands. Replace the placeholder <vmswitch name> the name of your virtual switch.
```
Set-VMSwitch -Name <vmswitch name> -AllowManagementOS $true
```

Virtual LAN (VLAN) identification

You can specify the VLAN identification (ID) used by virtual machines network adapters and virtual switches. For virtual switches connected to either an external or internal network, you can specify the (VLAN) ID. The VLAN ID number is used by the management operating system and virtual machines communicating through this virtual switch.

You can also configure your virtual switch with other VLAN options, such port mode and the native VLAN ID. For these options, you need to use PowerShell and ensure the configuration is compatible with your networks configuration.

To configure the VLAN identification for the switch, follow these steps.

Hyper-V Manager
PowerShell

Here's how to specify the VLAN ID using the Hyper-V Manager.

Open Hyper-V Manager.
From the Actions pane, select Virtual Switch Manager.
Select the virtual switch you wish to configure, check the Enable virtual LAN identification for management operating system.
1. You can enter any VLAN ID number or leave the default, then select OK.
  
  You're prompted to warn you that the change may disrupt your network connectivity, select Yes if you're happy to continue.

VLAN identifiers should be consistent with your network to ensure compatibility between your computer, virtual machines, and other network devices.

Here's how to set a VLAN identification using the Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan command.

Run PowerShell on your computer in an elevated session.
To set the VLAN ID to tag traffic and set the port mode to access, run the following commands. Replace the placeholder <vmswitch name> the name of your virtual switch and <id> with your VLAN ID.
```
Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -ManagementOS -VMNetworkAdapterName <vmswitch name> -Access -VlanId <id>
```
Or

To set port mode to trunk, the native VLAN ID, and allowed VLAN ID list, run the following commands. Replace the placeholder <vmswitch name> the name of your virtual switch and <id> with your VLAN ID. Replace <allowed ids> with a list of allowed VLAN IDs, for example, 200-210.
```
$parameters = @{
     ManagementOS = $true
     VMNetworkAdapterName = <vmswitch name>
     Trunk = $true
     NativeVlanId = <id>
     AllowedVlanIdList = <allowed ids>
}
Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan @parameters
```

This example uses splatting to pass parameter values from the $parameters variable to the command. Learn more about Splatting.

NAT networking

Network Address Translation (NAT) gives a virtual machine access to your computer's network by combining the host computer's IP address with a port through an internal Hyper-V Virtual Switch.

This has a few useful properties:

NAT Conserves IP addresses by mapping an external IP address and port to a much larger set of internal IP addresses.
NAT allows multiple virtual machines to host applications that require identical (internal) communication ports by mapping these to unique external ports.
NAT uses an internal switch -- creating an internal switch doesn't cause you to use network connection and tends to interfere less with a computer's networking.

To set up a NAT network and connect it to a virtual machine, follow the NAT networking user guide.

Next step

Now that you set up a virtual switch, here are other articles to help you continue with Hyper-V.

Learn about Switch Embedded Teaming (SET).
Learn how to create a virtual machine in Hyper-V.
Learn about other configuration options in the Set-VMSwitch and Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan PowerShell reference articles.

Share via

Create and configure a virtual switch with Hyper-V

Prerequisites

Create a virtual switch

Virtual LAN (VLAN) identification

NAT networking

Next step

Feedback

Additional resources

Share via

Create and configure a virtual switch with Hyper-V

Prerequisites

Create a virtual switch

Management Operating System sharing

Virtual LAN (VLAN) identification

NAT networking

Next step

Feedback

Additional resources