With Windows 8 comes one of the greatest new functions according to me, Hyper-V.
No more need to pay for VmWare, having compatibility issues with VirtualBox or having another third-party application installed to virtualize.
To install Hyper-V is quite easy, all you need to do is to add the feature and reboot.
Start with opening “Programs and Features” from the control panel, and press “Turn Windows Features on or off”.
In the new window that opens, tick the box called “Hyper-V” to install all features, or expand the section to choose what you want/need to install.
When the installation has completed, reboot your computer and you should be able to start the Hyper-V Manager.
Worth noting, depending on your hardware, you might need to configure BIOS/UEFI to allow virtualization. For more info on this topic, consult the manual for your motherboard.