Xen versions and features support matrix

This table summarises the support status of Xen releases, and of individual features within each release.

Important notes

The matrix is extracted automatically from the formal support status documents in each Xen release. The full formal support status document is linked to from the column heading for each version.

The individual entries are summaries; where a specific entry has more information in the full document a link, denoted [*], is provided. The statuses Supported, Experimental, and so on, are likewise defined in the full document.

Sometimes the same feature, or a similar feature, is named differently in the documentation for different releases. In such cases the table will show it as two separate features, with a discontinuity in support, even though support may have been continuous.

The support status of versions earlier than listed here is documented on the wiki.

Support Matrix

Release SupportXen-Version unstable 4.15 4.14 4.13 4.12 4.11 4.10
Initial-Release n/a 2021-04-08 2020-07-24 2019-12-18 2019-04-02 2018-07-10 2017-12-13
Supported-Until TBD 2022-10-08 2022-01-24 2021-06-18 2020-10-02 2020-01-10 2019-06-13
Security-Support-Until Unreleased - not yet security-supported 2024-04-08 2023-07-24 2022-12-18 2022-04-02 2021-07-10 2020-12-13
Release Notes RN RN RN RN RN RN RN
Feature SupportHost Architecturex86-64 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ARM v7 + Virtualization Extensions Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ARM v8 Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Cortex A57 r0p0-r1p1 Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported - - - - -
Host hardware supportPhysical CPU Hotplugx86 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Physical Memory Hotplugx86 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Host ACPI (via Domain 0)x86 PV Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ARM Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
x86/Intel Platform QoS Technologies Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
IOMMUAMD IOMMU Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Intel VT-d Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ARM SMMUv1 Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported Supported, not security supported Supported
ARM SMMUv2 Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported Supported, not security supported Supported
ARM SMMUv3 Tech Preview Tech Preview - - - - -
Renesas IPMMU-VMSA Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Tech Preview Tech Preview - - -
ARM/GICv3 ITS Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
Guest Typex86/PV Supported Supported - - Supported - Supported
x86_64 - - Supported[*] Supported[*] - Supported[*] -
x86_32, shim - - Supported Supported - Supported -
x86_32, without shim - - Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats - Supported, with caveats -
x86/HVMdomU Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/PVHdomU Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
dom0 Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental -
ARM Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Hypervisor file systemBuild info Supported Supported Supported - - - -
Hypervisor config Supported Supported Supported - - - -
Runtime parameters Supported Supported Supported - - - -
Toolstackxl Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Direct-boot kernel image formatx86 bzImage, ELF bzImage, ELF bzImage, ELF bzImage, ELF bzImage, ELF bzImage, ELF bzImage, ELF
ARM32 zImage zImage zImage zImage zImage zImage zImage
ARM64 Image Image Image Image Image Image Image
Dom0 init support for xlSysV Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
systemd Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
BSD-style Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
JSON output support for xl Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
Open vSwitch integration for xlLinux Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Virtual cpu hotplug Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
QEMU backend hotplugging for xl Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
xenlight Go package Experimental Experimental Experimental - - - -
Linux device model stubdomains Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview - - - -
Liveupdate of C xenstored daemon Tech Preview Tech Preview - - - - -
Liveupdate of OCaml xenstored daemon Tech Preview Tech Preview - - - - -
Toolstack/3rd partylibvirt driver for xl Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
Debugging, analysis, and crash post-mortemHost serial consoleNS16550 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
EHCI Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Cadence UART (ARM) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PL011 UART (ARM) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Exynos 4210 UART (ARM) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
OMAP UART (ARM) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
SCI(F) UART Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Hypervisor ‘debug keys’ Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported
Hypervisor synchronous console output (sync_console) Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*]
gdbsxx86 Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*]
Soft-reset for PV guests Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
xentracex86 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
gcov Supported, Not security supported Supported, Not security supported Supported, Not security supported Supported, Not security supported Supported, Not security supported Supported, Not security supported Supported, Not security supported
Processor trace supportx86 Tech Preview Tech Preview - - - - -
Memory ManagementDynamic memory control Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Populate-on-demand memoryx86 HVM Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Memory Sharingx86 HVM Experimental Experimental Experimental Expermental Expermental Expermental Expermental
Memory Pagingx86 HVM Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimenal Experimenal Experimenal Experimenal
Alternative p2mx86 HVM Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
ARM Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
Transcendent Memory - - - - Experimental Experimental Experimental
Resource ManagementCPU Pools Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Core Schedulingx86 Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental - - -
Credit Scheduler Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Credit2 Scheduler Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
RTDS based Scheduler Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
ARINC653 Scheduler Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*]
Null Scheduler Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
NUMA scheduler affinityx86 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ScalabilitySuper page supportx86 HVM/PVH, HAP Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*]
x86 HVM/PVH, Shadow, 2MiB Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ARM Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/PVHVM Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
High Availability and Fault ToleranceRemus Fault Tolerance Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
COLO Manager Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
x86/vMCE Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Virtual driver support, guest sideBlkfrontLinux Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
FreeBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
NetBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
OpenBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
Windows Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
NetfrontLinux Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
FreeBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
NetBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
OpenBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
Windows Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV Framebuffer (frontend)Linux (xen-fbfront) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV display (frontend)Linux Experimental (in "backend allocation" mode) Experimental (in "backend allocation" mode) Supported Supported - - -
PV Console (frontend)Linux (hvc_xen) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
FreeBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
NetBSD Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
Windows Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV keyboard (frontend)Linux (xen-kbdfront) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV USB (frontend)Linux Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV SCSI protocol (frontend)Linux Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
PV TPM (frontend)Linux (xen-tpmfront) Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
PV 9pfs frontendLinux Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
PVCalls (frontend)Linux Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
PV sound (frontend)Linux Supported Supported Supported Supported - - -
Virtual device support, host sideBlkbackLinux (xen-blkback) Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*]
QEMU (xen_disk), raw format Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
QEMU (xen_disk), qcow format Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
QEMU (xen_disk), qcow2 format Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
QEMU (xen_disk), vhd format Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
FreeBSD (blkback) Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
NetBSD (xbdback) Supported, security support external Supported, security support external Supported, security support external Supported, security support external Supported, security support external Supported, security support external Supported, security support external
Blktap2, raw format Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated
Blktap2, vhd format Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated Deprecated
NetbackLinux (xen-netback) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
FreeBSD (netback) Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
NetBSD (xennetback) Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external Supported, Security support external
PV Framebuffer (backend)QEMU Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV Console (xenconsoled) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV keyboard (backend)QEMU Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV USB (backend)QEMU Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
PV SCSI protocol (backend)Linux Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*]
PV TPM (backend) Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
PV 9pfs (backend)QEMU Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview
PVCalls (backend)Linux Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*]
Online resize of virtual disks Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
SecurityDriver Domains Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
Device Model Stub Domains Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
Device Model DeprivilegingLinux dom0 Tech Preview, with limited support[*] Tech Preview, with limited support[*] Tech Preview, with limited support[*] Tech Preview, with limited support[*] Tech Preview, with limited support[*] - -
KCONFIG Expert Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
Live Patchingx86 Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*]
ARM Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
Virtual Machine Introspectionx86 Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported
XSM & FLASK Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*]
FLASK default policy Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*] Experimental[*]
Virtual Hardware, Hypervisorx86/Nested PVx86 Xen HVM Tech Preview[*] Tech Preview[*] Tech Preview[*] Tech Preview[*] Tech Preview[*] Tech Preview[*] Tech Preview[*]
x86/Nested HVMx86 HVM Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental
vPMUx86 Supported, Not security supported[*] Supported, Not security supported[*] Supported, Not security supported[*] Supported, Not security supported[*] Supported, Not security supported[*] Supported, Not security supported[*] Supported, Not security supported[*]
Argo: Inter-domain message delivery by hypercall Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental - -
x86/PCI Device Passthroughx86 PV Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
x86 HVM Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats Supported, with caveats
x86/Multiple IOREQ servers Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental Experimental -
ARM/IOREQ servers Tech Preview Tech Preview - - - - -
ARM/Non-PCI device passthrough Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*] Supported, not security supported[*]
ARM: 16K and 64K page granularity in guests Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
ARM: Guest Device Tree support Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ARM: Guest ACPI support Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
Arm: OP-TEE Mediator Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview Tech Preview - - -
Virtual Hardware, QEMU Support scope restricted[*] Support scope restricted[*] Support scope restricted[*] Support scope restricted[*] Support scope restricted[*] Support scope restricted[*] Support scope restricted[*]
x86/Emulated platform devices (QEMU):piix3 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Emulated network (QEMU):e1000 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
rtl8193 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
virtio-net Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Emulated storage (QEMU):piix3 ide Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*] Supported[*]
ahci Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Emulated graphics (QEMU):cirrus-vga Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
stdvga Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Emulated audio (QEMU):sb16 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
es1370 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ac97 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Emulated input (QEMU):usbmouse Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
usbtablet Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ps/2 keyboard Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ps/2 mouse Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Emulated serial card (QEMU):UART 16550A Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/Host USB passthrough (QEMU): Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported Supported, not security supported
qemu-xen-traditionalDevice Model Stub Domains Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
as host process device model No security support, not recommended No security support, not recommended No security support, not recommended No security support, not recommended No security support, not recommended No security support, not recommended No security support, not recommended
Virtual Firmwarex86/HVM iPXE Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*] Supported, with caveats[*]
x86/HVM BIOSSeaBIOS (qemu-xen) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
ROMBIOS (qemu-xen-traditional) Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
x86/HVM OVMFqemu-xen Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported

Source materials

Generated from xen.git by docs/support-matrix-generate and docs/parse-support-md.

Input revisions of SUPPORT.md used:
Version Commit date Git commit
4.16 2021-05-03 15:31:43 +0200 d26c277826dbbd64b3e3cb57159e1ecbfad33bc8
4.15 2021-04-20 11:59:01 +0200 eb1f325186be9e02c3e89619cd154eb57f202eba
4.14 2021-05-04 14:58:33 +0200 10f0b2d49376865d49680f06c52b451fabce3bb5
4.13 2021-05-04 14:59:12 +0200 284132938900ce8c3b11babf7255f5c6dbb21716
4.12 2021-02-16 15:39:05 +0100 4cf5929606adc2fb1ab4e2921c14ba4b8046ecd1
4.11 2021-05-04 15:00:24 +0200 b1e46bc369bb490b721c77f15d2583bbf466152d
4.10 2020-12-15 14:47:28 +0100 6ea37c69c7d3948d9bb6f217235ae8bd767e8c46

Last checked/updated/regenerated: 2021-05-05 16:51+00:00