Hyper-V Launcher guide

Requirements and installation

Hyper-V Launcher runs on Windows x64 and manages virtual machines on your local computer. You need Hyper-V enabled and a VM already created in Hyper-V Manager.

For a Windows desktop host, Microsoft lists Windows 10 or Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise as editions that support Hyper-V. Windows Home does not include the Hyper-V role. Your hardware must also support virtualization. See Microsoft’s Hyper-V requirements and instructions for enabling Hyper-V.

Download Hyper-V Launcher, run the setup, then open Hyper-V Launcher Console from the Start Menu. Use Hyper-V Manager to create and configure your VMs before adding launcher shortcuts.

Create a desktop shortcut for a Hyper-V virtual machine

A shortcut opens a local VM without navigating through Hyper-V Manager each time. You can place it on your desktop, in the Start Menu, or both.

1. Open Virtual Machines in Hyper-V Launcher.
2. Select the VM you want to use and click Create Shortcut.
3. Enter a shortcut name that you will recognize.
4. Select Desktop Shortcut, Start Menu Shortcut, or both.
5. Choose what should happen when the VM connection closes, then click Save.

Double-click the desktop shortcut or open it from the Start Menu. Hyper-V Launcher starts a stopped or saved VM before opening its connection window.

You can also select a configured shortcut on the Shortcuts page and click Launch. To change its name or close action later, select it and click Edit.

Launch Hyper-V virtual machines from the system tray

Click or right-click the Hyper-V Launcher icon in the Windows notification area, then select a configured shortcut from the menu. The shortcut uses the same close action as when launched from the desktop.

If the icon is hidden, check the notification area’s hidden icons menu. Choose Open Hyper-V Launcher in the tray menu to manage your shortcuts.

In Settings, enable Start on Windows login to have the tray application start when you sign in. A VM must have a configured shortcut to appear in the tray menu.

Pause or shut down a VM when its window closes

Each shortcut has its own close action. Choose it when creating a shortcut, or select an existing shortcut on the Shortcuts page and click Edit.

Leave in current state

Closing the connection window does not request a VM state change. A running VM can keep running in the background.

Pause the Virtual Machine

This option saves the VM’s state. Launching the shortcut again starts the saved VM so you can continue from that state.

Shutdown the Virtual Machine

Requests a guest shutdown. The implementation can fall back to turning off the VM when a particular shutdown failure occurs, so save your work inside the guest before closing the connection.

Click Save, then launch the configured shortcut to use the selected action. The action runs when that shortcut’s VM connection window closes. Opening a separate connection directly through Hyper-V Manager does not use the shortcut’s close action.

Start a VM from a remote connection

Enable Start shortcut from remote connection when creating or editing a shortcut. Hyper-V Launcher listens on a port on the Hyper-V host. An incoming connection starts the VM and forwards traffic to the destination port inside the guest.

1. Enable Remote Desktop inside a guest operating system that supports hosting Remote Desktop connections. Make sure it accepts connections and that the Hyper-V host can reach the guest over its virtual network.
2. Choose an unused Local port on the Hyper-V host, for example 3390. Use a different local port for each shortcut with remote connections enabled; avoid ports already used by other services.
3. Set Remote port to the guest's Remote Desktop listening port, usually 3389, then click Save.
4. Keep Hyper-V Launcher Service running. From your Remote Desktop client, connect to the host's name or IP address followed by the local port, for example my-hyperv-pc:3390. Sign in with the guest's credentials.

The local port belongs to the host; the remote port belongs to the VM. For example, a connection to my-hyperv-pc:3390 is forwarded to port 3389 on the guest. The guest must report an IP address to Hyper-V and be reachable from the host. Allow the chosen host port through your firewall only for the networks and clients that need access; use a trusted network or VPN for remote access.

If the connection fails while the VM starts, wait for the guest and Remote Desktop service to become ready, then reconnect. Check the host port, guest networking, guest Remote Desktop settings, and that the launcher service is running.

The shortcut's close action can also run after a remote connection disconnects. The launcher waits until no other proxied connections to that VM remain, and ignores connections lasting two seconds or less. Save your guest work before disconnecting when using a shutdown action.

Automatically create and clean up VM shortcuts

Open Settings to choose how newly created and deleted VMs are handled. Settings are saved as you change the checkboxes.

• Enable Automatically create Virtual Machine shortcuts to create a shortcut when a new VM is detected. Choose Create Desktop shortcut and Create Start Menu shortcut for the locations you want.
• If you prefer to decide each time, turn off automatic creation and enable Show a new shortcut prompt when a new Virtual Machine is created. The prompt option is disabled while automatic creation is enabled.
• Enable Automatically delete shortcuts when a Virtual Machine is deleted to remove the associated shortcuts when deletion is detected.

These settings handle VM creation and deletion events. For machines you already have, create shortcuts from the Virtual Machines page. Automatic creation and cleanup depend on the installed Hyper-V Launcher Service.