By Amazon Web Services
Publication Date: 2026-08-20 21:43:00
Introduction
Developers and engineers increasingly rely on tools that require hardware virtualization support – Docker Desktop, WSL2, Android Studio emulators, and AI agents such as Claude Cowork. Until now, using these tools on a virtual desktop meant choosing between self-managed infrastructure or asking users to work on local hardware outside of your managed environment.
Nested virtualization on Amazon WorkSpaces Personal and Amazon WorkSpaces Core bundles solves this. Your WorkSpaces now expose processor-level virtualization extensions to the guest OS, enabling Hyper-V and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) workloads at no additional cost.
This post explains what nested virtualization is, what it enables, and what you need to know to get started. For step-by-step instructions on enabling nested virtualization – including console, CLI, and API guidance – see:
What is nested virtualization?
In a traditional cloud desktop, the underlying EC2 instance already runs inside a hypervisor. “Nested” virtualization means enabling a second level of hypervisor inside that instance. At the hardware level, this exposes processor virtualization extensions to the guest operating system, which allows it to run its own virtual machines.
On Windows, this enables Hyper-V – the Windows hypervisor that underpins WSL2, Docker Desktop, Windows Sandbox, and other virtualization-based features. On Linux, this enables KVM,…
