Infrastructure, Cloud, Security & Automation

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2026 5:26 pm**

How to Disable Hyper-V, VBS, WSL2, Sandbox & Memory Integrity for Better VMware Workstation Performance on Windows 10

If VMware Workstation feels slow, nested virtualization is not working properly, or VMs experience performance issues, disable Microsoft's virtualization features that interfere with VMware.

Recommended Settings

Core Isolation → Memory Integrity = OFF
Credential Guard = OFF
Windows Sandbox = OFF
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) = OFF
Hyper-V = OFF
Virtual Machine Platform = OFF
Windows Hypervisor Platform = OFF
Microsoft Defender Application Guard = OFF (if installed)
Device Guard = OFF
Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) = OFF

Step 1: Disable Windows Features

Press Windows + R, type:

Code: Select all

optionalfeatures.exe

Uncheck the following features:

Hyper-V
Virtual Machine Platform
Windows Hypervisor Platform
Windows Sandbox
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Microsoft Defender Application Guard (if present)

Restart the computer.

Step 2: Disable Hypervisor Using PowerShell (Administrator)

Run:

Code: Select all

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

Restart Windows.

Step 3: Disable Memory Integrity

Navigate to:

Code: Select all

Windows Security
→ Device Security
→ Core Isolation
→ Memory Integrity

Set Memory Integrity to OFF and reboot.

Step 4: Disable Credential Guard

Open PowerShell as Administrator:

Code: Select all

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa" /v LsaCfgFlags /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Restart the system.

Step 5: Verify Hyper-V is Disabled

Run:

Code: Select all

systeminfo

The following line should NOT appear:

Code: Select all

A hypervisor has been detected.

PowerShell One-Liner (Run as Administrator)

Code: Select all

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All -NoRestart
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -NoRestart
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName HypervisorPlatform -NoRestart
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Containers-DisposableClientVM -NoRestart
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux -NoRestart
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

Restart Windows after running the commands.

Result

After disabling these features, VMware Workstation Pro typically gains:

Better VM performance
Lower CPU overhead
Improved disk I/O
Faster VM startup times
Full access to Intel VT-x / AMD-V
Improved nested virtualization support

Tested on Windows 10 and Windows 11 with VMware Workstation Pro.