Recommended antivirus exclusions for Hyper-V hosts
If antivirus software is installed and running on a Hyper-V host, there are several exclusions and options that you should configure for optimal operation of Hyper-V and the running virtual machines.
Configure the real-time scanning component within your antivirus software to exclude the following directories, files, and processes:
- All directories that contain VHD, VHDX, AVHD, AVHDX, VSV, and ISO files
- The following default virtual machine configuration directory, if it’s used, and any of its subdirectories:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V
- The following default virtual machine virtual hard disk files directory, if it’s used, and any of its subdirectories:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks
- The following default snapshot files directory, if it’s used, and any of its subdirectories:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Snapshots
- The following default Cluster Shared Volumes path, if you’re using Cluster Shared Volumes, and any of its subdirectories:
C:\ClusterStorage
- Any custom virtual machine configuration directories, if applicable
- Any custom virtual hard disk drive directories, if applicable
- Any custom replication data directories, if you’re using Hyper-V Replica
- If antivirus software is running on your file servers, any Server Message Block protocol 3.0 (SMB 3.0) file shares on which you store virtual machine files
- Vmms.exe
Note This file may have to be configured as a process exclusion within the antivirus software.
- Vmwp.exe
Note This file may have to be configured as a process exclusion within the antivirus software.
