Install Azure Local in a HomeLab – Hyper-V VM & Evaluation Guide
In this video, I show you how to install Azure Local in a Hyper‑V virtual machine, making it easy to evaluate Azure Local in your HomeLab or at work—without requiring dedicated physical hardware.
I’m Thomas Maurer, EMEA Global Black Belt (GBB) for Sovereign Cloud at Microsoft, and in this walkthrough you’ll see how Azure Local can be deployed in a nested virtualization setup for learning, testing, and proof‑of‑concept scenarios.
Whether you’re an IT pro, cloud architect, consultant, or platform engineer, this video helps you understand:
How Azure Local works in practice
What’s possible in an evaluation or demo environment
How to get hands-on experience before moving to production
🔍 What you’ll learn in this video
Running Azure Local inside a Hyper‑V VM
Using Azure Local for HomeLab and work evaluations
Key considerations and limitations of virtualized setups
When to use this approach vs. physical hardware
⚠️ Important note
This setup is intended for evaluation, learning, and demo purposes only. Production deployments of Azure Local require certified physical hardware.
📌 Why Azure Local?
Azure Local brings Azure services closer to where your data lives, enabling hybrid and sovereign cloud scenarios with consistent operations, security, and management—especially important for regulated industries and sovereign environments.
If you’re exploring hybrid cloud, sovereign cloud, or edge scenarios, this is a great place to start.
👍 If you find this useful, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share—and drop your questions or HomeLab ideas in the comments!
📖 Chapters
00:00 Intro
5:37 Prepare Active Directory
9:49 Download Azure Local Software
11:35 Create VM and Install OS
22:24 Set up Azure Environment
27:17 Register Azure Local Node
31:50 Deploy Azure Local
⭐ About
Thomas is a EMEA Global Black Belt (GBB) for Sovereign Cloud at Microsoft, helping organizations across the region harness Microsoft’s sovereign, hybrid, multicloud, and edge solutions. He works directly with C-level leaders and technical teams to remove roadblocks, accelerate digital transformation, and shape long-term cloud strategies that meet business and regulatory needs.
With over 15 years of experience in cloud and datacenter, including his previous role as Principal Program Manager and Chief Evangelist for Azure Hybrid, he combines deep technical expertise with a passion for customer success. He specializes in creating scalable architectures, solution accelerators, and thought leadership that drive adoption and innovation on Azure.
Thomas is a passionate community advocate and frequently speaks at industry events such as Microsoft Ignite and Microsoft TechDays.
If you want to know more about Thomas, check out:
🌍 Website / blog - https://www.thomasmaurer.ch
🐦 X.com - / thomasmaurer
💼 LinkedIn - / thomasmaurer2
#Microsoft #AzureLocal #SovereignCloud