Hyper-V terminology

Hyper-V

The lone word Hyper-V represents the type 1 hypervisor technology developed and provided by Microsoft. This term does not refer to any particular product. It appears as an installable feature in Windows Server beginning with Version 2008, and in Professional and Enterprise desktop Windows operating system starting with version 8.

Hyper-V Server

Hyper-V Server is a standalone product available directly from Microsoft. It is a no-cost distribution of the hypervisor that is packaged in a heavily modified version of Windows Server.

Client Hyper-V

Client Hyper-V is the name given to Hyper-V as it appears in the desktop editions of Windows. The distinction is necessary as it has requirements and limitations that set it apart from Hyper-V as it exists in the server editions.

Host

The physical computer system that runs Hyper-V is called the host.

Guest

The term guest is often used interchangeably with "virtual machine." It is most commonly used to refer to the operating system inside the virtual machine.

Management operating system

As a type 1 hypervisor, Hyper-V is in direct control of the host's hardware and has no interface of its own. A management operating system is a special virtual machine that can interact with the hypervisor to control it and the hardware. In other hypervisors, this is known as the parent partition.