Hyper-V runs directly on Windows 11 Pro. No separate hypervisor host, no dedicated server. The 64GB RAM in my laptop means I can run three or four of these VMs simultaneously without hitting a wall.
These are enterprise workloads — not desktop OS testing, but the server infrastructure I use to learn, break and fix things in a controlled environment.
Two Dynamics CRM environments covering the on-premise versions that many businesses still run. CRM2011 uses a Gen 1 VM because that era of server software predates the UEFI boot requirements Gen 2 enforces. CRM2016 runs Gen 2 with full UEFI and Secure Boot.
Useful when a client calls about a Dynamics issue on an old install and I need to reproduce it without touching production.
Three IIS servers that I use as a small web farm. NODE1 and NODE2 sit behind a load balancer. Testing session persistence, ARR routing rules, shared application pool identity across nodes — this cluster handles all of it without me touching a production server.
SQL Server 2019 on a Gen 2 VM. Development target for database work, stored procedures and testing backup and restore procedures. Easier to nuke and restore from snapshot than to deal with a corrupted dev database on a shared server.
Centralised logging. Ships logs from other VMs in the lab for aggregation and alerting. Keeps the noise off the domain controller and lets me see cross-VM events in one place.
A clean server environment I use for demos and screencasts. Stays at a consistent baseline so a demo starting point is always one snapshot restore away.
Windows Server 2016 running RRAS for VPN testing. Useful for verifying client connectivity, split tunnelling configs and certificate-based authentication before pushing changes to a real VPN server.
Two Gen 1 VMs I built to replicate hardware configurations from specific physical machines. Legacy software installs and driver validation without touching the actual hardware.
With 64GB RAM, running three of these at once is comfortable. My typical combination: AD domain controller + SQL2019 + one application server. That trio stays under 20GB RAM when I keep SQL Server's max memory setting at 4GB.
Hyper-V checkpoints make this lab safe to experiment in. Break something, roll back, try again.
Windows Server 2022 for home lab licensing — Standard includes two VM licenses which covers most lab scenarios.
A full Active Directory domain. Domain controller, DNS, DHCP — the whole stack. I spin this up when I need a realistic AD environment for testing GPO changes, delegation models or anything that requires an actual domain rather than a workgroup.
As an Amazon Associate, IT Lad earns from qualifying purchases made through links on this page. Read the full affiliate disclosure.