How to see if your Hyper-V virtual machine is generation one or generation two. Not sure if your Hyper V VM is generation one or generation two. This matters more than you think. It impacts performance, compatibility, and security. Keep watching to learn how to find out your Hyper V VM generation. Before we begin, be sure to subscribe to Ninja One's IT Video Hub and our YouTube channel for more tech content like this. Why knowing your VM generation matters? Knowing your VMs generation helps you plan upgrades, ensure OS compatibility, and improve performance. A good way to distinguish between VM generations is by looking at their features. Generation one, VMs use BIOS support older SS, and may lack security features. Meanwhile, generation two VMs use UEFI offer faster boot times, secure boot, and better scalability. How to know your Hyper V VM generation? There are three methods for checking your VM generation Hyper V manager, PowerShell, and configuration files. The first method is using Hyper V Manager. Open the Hyper V manager application, then choose the vm. You want to find the generation of the VM doesn't have to be turned on. The lower pane shows information about the selected vm, including its Hyper V generation. You can also use PowerShell to determine your VM generation. To do so, you'll need administrator privileges. Open PowerShell then run. This will return all VM names and their respective generations. The final method is using the VMs configuration files. Like the previous method, you will need admin privileges. First, locate your VMs config file. By default, it's located at this path. If you're using a recent vm, such as one that works with Windows Server 2016 or newer, your config file may be in the VM CX format. To read these files, use the following PowerShell command to create a temporary object. Once the temporary object is created, run, this will display key properties of the file, including the VMs Generation. For more information, check out our official blog post on how to see if your Hyper-V virtual machine is generation one or generation two. Linked in the description below.