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Does my CPU support hardware virtualization (Hyper-V)

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As the talk about hardware virtualization heats up from Microsoft and others you might find yourself wondering if the current hardware you're running supports it.  My HP xw9300 workstation doesn't (older AMD Opterons), but it looks like my xw8400 does (Intel Xeon 5150s).

 

More info on programs you can use (including the one above) found here: https://blogs.msdn.com/volkerw/archive/2007/05/21/hardware-virtualization-check-utility.aspx

Determine Virtualization Readiness in 3 Seconds

Some other tidbits of info:

  • Hyper-V requires to be running on a 64bit OS, so do'nt install the x86 version of Wink28 if you want to use it. 
  • Hyper-V (Virtual Server) is a server role in Win2k8, you just add it in server manager
    • Buy the addition with Hyper-V if you want to use it
  • You can have 64bit VMs, I threw on Win2k3 x64 and Win2k8 x64 on my box.
  • Your VMs can see more than one logical proc.
    • At the time of this post the VM had to be Win2k8 as well, downlevel can only see one proc.  My x64 Win2k8 VM can see four procs now!
  • Have to enable Hardware virtualization in the BIOS as well as DEP, the role will still install but when you try to start the VM you'll hit a problem.
  • To install the additions the VM has to be running WIn2k3 SP2, if not you might find yourself without a NIC until you get the additions installed.  You can add a legacy NIC if you find yourself in this situation.
  • If you just import an old VM VHD from one of your other servers, make sure its an ACPI-compatible one.
  • If you are looking to install hyper-v on a server running active directory, stop.  You won't be able to boot your DC anymore (see below)

If you install the Active Directory Domain Services role and use the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard (dcpromo.exe) to configure that role on the same physical computer on which the Hyper-V role is installed, you will receive a STOP error message 7B on the physical computer when you try to start a virtual machine.

To avoid this issue, do not install Active Directory Domain Services and Hyper-V on the same physical computer.

Microsoft Hyper-V site to find out more info if you like.

 Update:   Looks like AMD has released a tool help out here: https://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/03/31/amd-releases-hyper-v-check-tool.aspx

Technorati Tags: Hyper-V,Windows 2008,Virtualization

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hyper-V対応チェックツール(SecurAble)

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    We also have xw8400's, ours have 2 Xeon X5355 Processors in each of them.  I have updated the BIOS and enabled Intel-VT and DEP support but Hyper-V still give me the "unable to change state" error.  What BIOS option did you enable/disable to get your xw8400 to work? Wes

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hyper-V is probably one of the more exciting technologies to come out of Redmond, on the IT Pro side

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hey Wes, I enabled DEP and Virtualization under “OS Security” in the BIOS.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi, I got a YES as an output for all three of these features but still i am unable to use Hyper-V on my laptop. Please find the image here: www.sarabpreet.com/.../hYper-v-problem.jpg I am able to install Windows Server 2008 R2 64 bit with Hyper-V & also able to install the role. but after i installenable the role the laptop asks a reboot to effect the changes and boom .... laptop never gets the login prompt. I installed Windows Thrice just because of this from different media.... Note: I was able to login to windows through safe-mode but unable to figureout whats causing the problem. Pls. help. Thanks. Sarab

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi MC, yes this would be normal if you ran it inside a VM.  A VM cannot virtualize another guest.

  • Anonymous
    March 18, 2008
    My 8-way Opteron server running Hyper-V shows "No" for hardware virtualization support... sigh maybe someone will come out with a better tool to scan for capable machines at some point. :-)

  • Anonymous
    February 18, 2009
    Running the securable app from within and virtual environment, meaning, on a MS Hyper-V or ESX 3.5 guest OS, I get NO to hardware virtualization. Is this normal? What does this indicate?