64bit Host - 64bit Guest without hardware virtualization ?

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gusgan
Posts: 4
Joined: 6. Jun 2007, 12:43

64bit Host - 64bit Guest without hardware virtualization ?

Post by gusgan »

Using a 64bit guest in a 64bit host isn't possible without hardware virtualization on the host processor. Will this be changed in future versions of Virtualbox ?
(i.e. Windows-7 XP-mode showed the same behaviour in the first revision, but has been changed by now)
Technologov
Volunteer
Posts: 3342
Joined: 10. May 2007, 16:59
Location: Israel

Re: 64bit Host - 64bit Guest without hardware virtualization ?

Post by Technologov »

>Will this be changed in future versions of VirtualBox ?

Unlikely.

Two reasons:
1. Developing software virtualization for 64-bit guests is very difficult task
2. Nearly all modern CPUs support hardware virtualization
Uzume
Posts: 90
Joined: 9. Sep 2009, 21:10
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: MS Windows 2003, PureDarwin

Re: 64bit Host - 64bit Guest without hardware virtualization ?

Post by Uzume »

Technologov wrote:2. Nearly all modern CPUs support hardware virtualization
There is quite a significant family of Intel Atom processors that support Intel 64 (x64) and not VT-x. In fact, currently there are no Atom processors that support both Intel 64 and VT-x (there are some that support VT-x and some that support Intel 64 however).
Entegy
Posts: 160
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 23:59
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 10.04 x64, XP SP3, Server 2008 R2, Fedora 13 x86/x64
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Re: 64bit Host - 64bit Guest without hardware virtualization ?

Post by Entegy »

gusgan wrote:(i.e. Windows-7 XP-mode showed the same behaviour in the first revision, but has been changed by now)
Actually, Windows Virtual PC has never supported 64-bit guests. It only supports 32-bit XP, Vista and 7. I believe that hardware virtualization is required for 64-bit guests in any virtualization solution.
gusgan
Posts: 4
Joined: 6. Jun 2007, 12:43

Re: 64bit Host - 64bit Guest without hardware virtualization ?

Post by gusgan »

That's right, only 32-bit guests are possible, but hardware virtualization is no more needed mandatory.
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