Guide - Omarchy on Hyper-V

[max-pv]

Hyper-V is Microsoft's take on virtualization. This thread is a logical continuation of #176.

Why Hyper-V?

First of all, why run Omarchy in a VM at all? The answer is simple: to try it out and see if it works for you. I wanted to test Omarchy and initially started with VirtualBox, but I found the experience with VirtualBox unacceptable due to input latency. Nonetheless, thanks to @matsest for the VB guide — it helped me get started.

Hyper-V provides a much better and smoother experience with Omarchy in a virtualized environment than VirtualBox. Animations are much smoother, and the input latency is acceptable, making it closer to the bare-metal version of Omarchy. One drawback of Hyper-V is that it's not available on every edition of Windows - only on Pro, Education, and Enterprise.

This guide is written based on a fresh install of Omarchy on Hyper-V in Windows. Most things work right out of the box; however, the screen resolution is stubborn and won’t change from the default 1024x768.

Installing

Installation is very straightforward.

1. (Optional) Enable Hyper-V if it’s not already enabled by following the official MS guide
2. Run Hyper-V Manager from the Windows Start menu
3. Click "Quick Create" in the left pane of the window
4. Select your Arch Linux ISO file by pressing "Local Installation Source" and uncheck "This VM will run Windows."
5. Click "Create," then edit the VM settings to allocate plenty of RAM and CPU cores
6. Close the settings, click "Connect," and then click "Start."
7. Follow the regular installation steps described in the Getting Started guide
8. Tip: After Arch is installed, before rebooting, click "Media" in the window header -> "Eject" to ensure you boot into the installed Arch system, not the Arch installer ISO

Changing Screen Resolution

To get a larger screen (mostly adapted from the Arch Wiki article on Hyper-V), follow these steps:

1. Update /etc/default/grub by adding video=hyperv_fb:[desired resolution] to the end of the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT. For example:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet splash video=hyperv_fb:1920x1080"

2. Run the following command to update GRUB:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

3. Update ~/.config/hypr/monitors.conf as per the Monitors guide for 1080p resolution (used in this guide)
4. Power off the VM (the next step requires the VM to be off)
5. On the host machine, on Windows, open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command:

Set-VMVideo -VMName 'Name-of-VM' -HorizontalResolution 1920 -VerticalResolution 1080 -ResolutionType Single

7. Boot up Omarchy VM again

Now, Omarchy should use the 1920x1080 resolution. You're all set to use Omarchy in Hyper-V!

[13janderson]

How has your experience been since using it for some weeks now? Would you still recommend trying omarchy out in a VM?

[spapas]

For anybody using this guide, it seems that grub is not longer used and has been replaced with limine so the instructions need to be updated ...

[ewan-DVT]

for limine instead of grub:

1. edit /boot/limine.conf
2. add new config entry "interface_resolution: 1920x1080"

rest of the instructions apply as-is.

[jokaperes]

do you get the big black bars when in full screen on hyperv manager?

[ewan-DVT]

No - did you match your monitor's default resolution exactly?

[jokaperes]

yes, 2560x1440 instead of 1920x1080 in all steps, also i think u cant run it with 165hz, right?

[ewan-DVT]

Probably not. You'd have to see what hyperv supports, I'm happy with my 2560x1080@60 😁

[axelfontaine]

For those that want an automated solution, I created a Powershell install script for Omarchy on Hyper-V that automatically takes you all the way from downloading the latest ISO to the Omarchy set up up and running: #1580

[breadpittunbreaded-stack]

Those steps on the screen resolution were a big help, I made a Hyper-V vm and it wasn't feeling good. Can't wait to give it another shot. I'm not 100% but I think you also need to ensure TPM: On Secure Boot: Off. When making VM. I had boot's hang when installed with TPM off, but I don't know that conclusively.

[ewan-DVT]

Glad it helped, I'm enjoying running it in a hyperv as a reduced commitment approach - I just miss being able to copy & paste between host and guest (and no audio). And you definitely need to disable secure boot - as per the Omarchy getting-started guide:

Remember that many PCs ship with Secure Boot and/or TPM on in the BIOS. You have to turn these off to be able to install Omarchy. They're Microsoft security schemes meant for Windows and Microsoft-affiliated Linux distributions.

[mehdivakili]

thanks for this Guide; i'm now running Omarchi on hyper-v and it's been an excellent experience so far.
the only problem for me is that there is no audio. is there any solution for this?

[hronro]

Great guide! Has anyone figured out how to share the clipboard between Omarchy and the host OS (Windows 11)?

[ewan-DVT]

Nope, guest services not supported / won't build (there are discussions about failed attempts elsewhere) so no clipboard or audio etc for now sadly.

[edwinsaunders]

Anybody struggling with black bars, i did two thing for my 27" 2560x1440 monitor:

1. In powershell, I ran this (Note the Vertical Resolution is intentionally set to 1600): Set-VMVideo -VMName "(your vm name)" -HorizontalResolution 2560 -VerticalResolution 1600 -ResolutionType Single
2. In the monitors.conf (menu>setup>monitors): i used:
   env = GDK_SCALE,1.75
   monitor = Virtual-1, 2560x1440@180, auto, 1.666667 (note: use actual vertical resolution here, my monitor is 180hz, replace with yours, although i'm not sure if anything beyond 60 Hz actually works)

Note: the VM will still start too big for the screen until you log in. Also, when logging out it goes back to 2560x1600 as well.

I don't know if there's anything else i did before that that contributed to getting it working (i tried a bunch of things with Grok unsuccessfully), but after doing these two things specifically, i got it working. The powershell command activated a higher resolution slightly too big vertically, and the monitors.conf settings scaled it to fit on the screen properly.

Hope it helps.