2025 Windows-Ubuntu Virtualization Stack

The modern Windows virtualization stack has evolved to support production-grade Ubuntu workloads with near-native performance. According to Microsoft’s 2025 WSL3 documentation, these configurations now achieve:

Core Components

# 2025 Windows-Ubuntu Stack Configuration
{
  "hypervisor": "Hyper-V 2025",
  "wsl_version": 3,
  "ubuntu_images": [
    {
      "name": "ubuntu-24.04-eds",
      "version": "2025.1",
      "features": [
        "nested_virtualization",
        "gpu_acceleration",
        "azure_arc_ready"
      ],
      "default_vcpus": 4,
      "memory": "8GiB"
    }
  ],
  "management_tools": [
    "Windows Admin Center 2025",
    "Terraform WSL Provider",
    "Ansible for Windows"
  ]
}

Creating Optimized Ubuntu VM Templates

WSL3-to-Hyper-V Conversion

Convert WSL instances to full Hyper-V VMs with 2025’s enhanced tooling:

# Convert WSL instance to Hyper-V VM
wsl --export Ubuntu-24.04 ubuntu-template.tar
ConvertTo-HyperVTemplate -SourceTar ubuntu-template.tar `
                         -OutputVHDX ubuntu-2025.vhdx `
                         -Generation 2 `
                         -SecureBoot Enabled `
                         -TPM Emulated

Automated Template Customization

Cloud-init for Windows-hosted Ubuntu VMs:

#cloud-config
package_update: true
package_upgrade: true
package_reboot_if_required: true

packages:
  - linux-azure
  - walinuxagent
  - hyperv-daemons

write_files:
  - path: /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-windows-integration.cfg
    content: |
      datasource_list: [ HyperV ]
      datasource:
        HyperV:
          apply_network_config: true
          hostname: windows-guest

runcmd:
  - systemctl enable walinuxagent
  - systemctl enable hv_kvp_daemon

Multi-VM Deployment Patterns

Terraform for Windows Hyper-V

# Deploy Ubuntu VM cluster on Windows host
terraform {
  required_providers {
    hyperv = {
      source  = "everydaystack/hyperv"
      version = "2025.1"
    }
  }
}

resource "hyperv_vm_cluster" "ubuntu_devops" {
  name                = "eds-devops-cluster"
  base_template       = "ubuntu-24.04-eds.vhdx"
  node_count          = 5
  cpu_cores           = 4
  memory              = 8192
  storage_path        = "C:\\Hyper-V\\ClusterStorage"
  
  node_config = {
    "node1" = { ip_address = "192.168.1.101" }
    "node2" = { ip_address = "192.168.1.102" }
  }

  provisioner "remote-exec" {
    inline = [
      "cloud-init status --wait",
      "sudo apt-get update",
      "sudo apt-get install -y ansible"
    ]
  }
}

Ansible Dynamic Inventory

# ansible_inventory.ps1
$VMs = Get-VM -Name "eds-devops-*" | Where-Object { $_.State -eq 'Running' }
$Inventory = @{ all = @{ hosts = @() } }

foreach ($VM in $VMs) {
    $IP = (Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VM.Name).IPAddresses[0]
    $Inventory.all.hosts += @{
        $VM.Name = @{
            ansible_host = $IP
            ansible_user = 'ubuntu'
            ansible_ssh_private_key_file = '~/.ssh/eds_hyperv_key'
        }
    }
}

ConvertTo-Json $Inventory -Depth 3

Cloud Hybrid Management

Azure Arc-Enabled Ubuntu VMs

# Onboard Windows-hosted Ubuntu VMs to Azure Arc
curl -sL https://aka.ms/EveryDayStackArc | sudo bash -s -- `
    --resource-group "eds-prod-east" `
    --location "eastus" `
    --subscription "xxxx-xxxx-xxxx" `
    --tags "Platform=HyperV,Owner=DevOps" `
    --custom-location "windows-hyperv-cluster01"

Performance Optimization

GPU Acceleration Setup

# Enable NVIDIA CUDA on Windows-hosted Ubuntu VMs
Set-VMGpuPartitionAdapter -VMName ubuntu-gpu01 `
                          -InstancePath "\\?\PCI#VEN_10DE&DEV_XXXX" `
                          -PartitionCount 4

# Inside Ubuntu VM:
sudo apt install -y cuda-toolkit-12-5
sudo nvidia-persistenced --user root
sudo systemctl enable nvidia-persistenced

Storage Performance Tuning