Windows 11 Hyper V won't boot official ms install media when secure boot is enabled

Joined
Nov 30, 2025
Messages
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I downloaded latest official win11 media from ms and tried to use them to initialize a hyper v vm. However, I cannot boot into installation without disabling secure boot in VM settings.

Many thanks in advance for any assistance

Joe
 

Solution
In Hyper‑V this is almost always caused by the Secure Boot template being set to the wrong authority for the guest.

Fix (most common)​

1) Shut down the VM.
2) Hyper‑V Manager → right‑click VM → SettingsSecurity
3) Make sure Enable Secure Boot is checked
4) Set Template to Microsoft Windows (not “Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority”)
5) Start the VM and boot from the ISO again.
  • “Microsoft Windows” = for Windows 10/11/Server ISOs
  • “Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority” = typically for Linux/other bootloaders, and it can trigger Secure Boot violations with Windows media.

Also verify these two quick things​

  • The VM is Generation 2 (Secure...
In Hyper‑V this is almost always caused by the Secure Boot template being set to the wrong authority for the guest.

Fix (most common)​

1) Shut down the VM.
2) Hyper‑V Manager → right‑click VM → SettingsSecurity
3) Make sure Enable Secure Boot is checked
4) Set Template to Microsoft Windows (not “Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority”)
5) Start the VM and boot from the ISO again.
  • “Microsoft Windows” = for Windows 10/11/Server ISOs
  • “Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority” = typically for Linux/other bootloaders, and it can trigger Secure Boot violations with Windows media.

Also verify these two quick things​

  • The VM is Generation 2 (Secure Boot only applies to Gen 2).
  • The ISO you mounted is the x64 Windows 11 ISO (not ARM64). An ARM64 ISO won’t boot in a normal x64 Hyper‑V VM.

If it still won’t boot​

Tell me what you see when it fails (exact text). If it’s a blue/black screen that says “Secure Boot Violation” or similar, a screenshot of that screen will pinpoint it.
 

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