HYPER-V VMs: Cygwin /bin/getent group 'Virtual Machines' cannot find the group

[Bill Stewart]

On Mon, Mar 2, 2026 at 12:19 PM Martin Wege wrote:

>
> Hello,
>
> we use HYPER-V virtual machines on Windows 10 and Windows 11. It seems
> they use a "special" kind of group called 'Virtual Machines', which
> Cygwin (3.6.5) /bin/getent cannot lookup:
>
> getent group 'Virtual Machines'
> <nothing>
>
> Does anyone have ideas or clues how to get getent group to work with
> this kind of Windows group?
>
> We want the Cygwin gid for that group, and use Cygwin commands to work
> with those files...

Information on this group is in the documentation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/manage/understand-security-identifiers

SID: S-1-5-83-0

Display name: NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\Virtual Machines

Description: A built-in group. The group is created when the Hyper-V
role is installed. The Hyper-V Management Service (VMMS) maintains the
membership of this group. This group requires the 'Create symbolic
links' right (SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege) and the 'Log on as a
service' right (SeServiceLogonRight).

Not sure how you use it in Cygwin, though...