# ExHyperV: A WPF Front End for Hyper-V Settings the Manager Never Exposed > ExHyperV is a C# WPF application that wraps Hyper-V WMI and HCS so advanced VM settings become GUI fields. It targets Windows users who already run Hyper-V and want the options Hyper-V Manager hides. **Justsenger/ExHyperV** — The Excalibur of Hyper-V / Hyper-V 神器 - Repository: https://github.com/Justsenger/ExHyperV - Stars: 4,678 · Forks: 221 - Language: C# - License: GPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-09-23 · Updated: 2026-09-23 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/justsenger-exhyperv ## The gap ExHyperV fills between Hyper-V Manager and raw WMI Hyper-V Manager covers the common path: create a VM, attach a disk, set memory and network. The settings that matter for tuning, such as which scheduler the host uses or how PCIe passthrough behaves, sit behind WMI classes and the Host Compute Service. The README states the project exists to expose those advanced features through a graphical interface, and it names the sources it draws on: Hyper-V documentation, the author's HyperV-WMI-Documentation repository, and the HCS API overview on Microsoft Learn. The audience is narrow and specific. You need Windows with the Hyper-V role enabled, which the README notes requires Pro or Server edition. You need to be comfortable running an unsigned portable executable. In exchange you get a WPF window instead of a PowerShell session or a WMI explorer. The README is blunt about the trade-off: it says that due to limited personal time and energy, the project may contain untested scenarios or bugs, and it asks users to file hardware and software issues on the tracker. ## How ExHyperV talks to Hyper-V: WMI, HCS and a WPF shell The architecture is a desktop client, not a service. The UI is built with WPF-UI, a library that supplies the Fluent-style controls and the light and dark themes that follow the system setting. The repository layout matches that: a src/ directory holding the Visual Studio solution, plus doc/ and img/ at the top level. Underneath the interface, the README says the project digs into Hyper-V documentation, WMI and HCS. That is the data flow. Read operations pull current VM and host configuration through the WMI provider; write operations push changed values back through the same provider, with HCS handling the parts of the virtualization stack that WMI does not expose. There is no agent, no background daemon and no web API documented. Everything runs in the user's session against the local host. The README also includes a technical section it says will be maintained long term, covering Hyper-V itself. That section describes Hyper-V as a Type-1 hypervisor, explains the root partition and child partitions, and walks through the Classic, Core and Root schedulers. It is documentation for the user, not for the code, and the README admits it may contain inaccuracies. ## Installing ExHyperV and making a first change There is no installer and no package manager entry. The README's Quick Start says to download the latest release from the Releases page, extract the archive, and run ExHyperV.exe directly. The binary is portable in the sense that it runs from the extracted folder. If you prefer to build from source, the README gives two routes. The first is Visual Studio with the .NET desktop development workload, opening /src/ExHyperV.sln. The second uses the .NET SDK from the project directory: ```pwsh cd src dotnet build ``` The command changes into the src directory and compiles the solution. The README does not state the target framework or the output path, so check the build log for where the executable lands. Before ExHyperV can do anything, Hyper-V itself must be enabled. The README offers the PowerShell route, which it notes requires Pro or Server edition, followed by a reboot: ```powershell Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All ``` After the reboot the README says processes such as vmms.exe, vmcompute.exe and vmmem run in the background and the Hyper-V Manager icon appears in the Start menu. That is the state ExHyperV expects. Launch ExHyperV.exe once Hyper-V is live, pick a VM, and change one setting at a time so you can attribute any regression to a single edit. ## Where ExHyperV is the wrong tool The README does not document rollback, and that is the limitation to take seriously. If a scheduler or passthrough change leaves a VM unbootable, there is no described undo path inside the application. The README's own warning about untested scenarios means you should assume the safe route is a VM you can rebuild from scratch, not a production workload. Platform scope is the second constraint. This is a Windows-only WPF application. If your Hyper-V hosts are managed from Linux, from a CI pipeline, or through configuration management, ExHyperV has nothing to offer, because the documented interface is a desktop executable. There is also no documented CLI, so anything scripted has to go back to PowerShell and WMI directly. The README also flags a hazard specific to PCIe passthrough: it notes that when FLR is not supported, restarting a VM may restart the host. That is a Hyper-V behaviour rather than an ExHyperV bug, but it is exactly the class of setting this tool makes easier to reach, which raises the cost of a careless click. ## ExHyperV versus the built-in Hyper-V Manager The obvious alternative is Hyper-V Manager, which ships with the role and costs nothing extra to trust. The difference is coverage, not polish. Hyper-V Manager exposes the mainstream VM lifecycle: creation, disks, switches, checkpoints, basic memory and processor counts. It does not present the scheduler choice or the deeper WMI-backed knobs that the README describes ExHyperV as targeting. For a team that only ever creates and deletes VMs, Hyper-V Manager is the correct answer and ExHyperV adds surface area for no benefit. For someone specifically chasing a scheduler setting, a memory configuration or a passthrough option, the alternative is not another GUI but a hand-written WMI query or a PowerShell script against the Hyper-V module. ExHyperV's proposition is that you trade the auditability of a script for a form with labelled fields. Whether that trade is worth it depends on how often you make the change and how well you understand the underlying property. ## Maintenance, releases and what GPL-3.0 means here The last push to the default branch was on 2026-09-10, and the most recent release listed is V1.5.2-Beta0904 from 2026-09-04, following V1.5.1 on 2026-08-15 and V1.5.0 on 2026-07-19. The cadence over that period is roughly monthly, and the beta tag on the newest build suggests the stable line trails it. The repository is not archived. Upgrade cost is low by design. There is no installer to migrate and no database schema, so replacing the extracted folder with a newer build is the whole procedure the README describes. The risk sits in configuration drift: if a newer build changes how a setting is written, you will not find a documented migration note, because the README does not describe one. The licence is GPL-3.0. If you use ExHyperV internally to manage your own hosts, that is ordinary use. If you want to ship a derivative product or bundle the binary into something you distribute, the copyleft terms attach to that distribution. The README does not discuss commercial licensing or exceptions, so treat the GPL as the only option offered. This is a description of the licence, not legal advice. ## Conclusion Adopt ExHyperV if you already run Hyper-V on Windows and want a GUI for scheduler, memory and passthrough settings that Hyper-V Manager does not surface. Do not adopt it if you need a headless or cross-platform management path, or if you cannot tolerate a project whose README warns that untested scenarios and bugs may exist. Before relying on it, read the doc/ folder, check whether the setting you need is covered, and test the change on a VM you can rebuild. ## FAQ ### Is Hyper-V still used? The README treats Hyper-V as a current Type-1 hypervisor and builds ExHyperV on top of its WMI and HCS interfaces. It does not discuss whether the platform is being retired or replaced. ### What is replacing Hyper-V? The README does not name a replacement for Hyper-V. It groups Hyper-V with Proxmox, VMware ESXi and Xen as Type-1 hypervisors and does not comment on any migration path away from it. ### Can you explain Hyper-V in a simple way? The README describes Hyper-V as a Type-1 hypervisor where the host becomes a privileged virtual machine in the root partition and created VMs are child partitions that are isolated from each other. It compares them to isolated rooms for running untrusted programs or testing system functions. ### Why do I have a Hyper-V virtual Ethernet adapter? The README does not explain the virtual Ethernet adapter. It only notes that after Hyper-V is enabled, processes such as vmms.exe, vmcompute.exe and vmmem run in the background and the Hyper-V Manager icon appears in the Start menu. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/Justsenger/ExHyperV/issues) - [Justsenger/ExHyperV on GitHub](https://github.com/Justsenger/ExHyperV) - [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/Justsenger/ExHyperV/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/Justsenger/ExHyperV/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/Justsenger/ExHyperV/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/justsenger-exhyperv