Enable/Disable The New Virtualization HWE stack in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

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Ubuntu announced a virtualization HWE stack for the latest Ubuntu 26.04 LTS one day ago. Check what it is and how to enable or disable it.
In Ubuntu 26.04, a new virtualization HWE stack is introduced:

This extends HWE beyond the kernel. Instead of only enabling newer hardware through the kernel, Ubuntu can now also move the key virtualization components that are needed to expose, configure and operate that hardware in virtualized environments.
NOTE: This features is intended for organizations and users who use kernel’s built-in KVM/QEMU for running and managing virtual machines. Leave it uninstalled if you don’t run VMs or use VirtualBox / VMWare Workstation
July 28, 2026

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Pretty cool, this new virtualization HWE stack lets AI run confidential, privacy hardened workloads. So we don’t have to choose between stability and innovation. :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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I like how canonical fork a group of vm components and tweaks under one hypervisor.