No 64bit guest options on an HP z440 with Win10 x64 Ent

[paulhaskew]

I am running VirtualBox 5.1.18 r114002 on an HP z440, with an Intel Xeon E5-1650 v4 processor, using Windows 10 x64 Enterprise, and have both VT-x and VT-d enabled in the BIOS. Also, I checked that Hyper-V is not installed, used PowerShell to double check, and used bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off, to prevent it from launching. The only AV on the machine is Windows Defender.

Virtualization shows that it is enabled in the task manager, however, when I go to create a VM I am greeted with only the 32bit options.

After reading through the forums, including the frequently referenced FAQ topic, and blog posts I am a bit stumped as to why this isn't working. I've attached a debug report and any help is greatly appreciated.

[socratis]

From DriverServices:

SERVICE_NAME: hvservice
DISPLAY_NAME: Hypervisor/Virtual Machine Support Driver
        TYPE               : 1  KERNEL_DRIVER  
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING 
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)

Something is using Hyper-V. You could take a look at another thread and see if that helps: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=81835

[paulhaskew]

Unfortunately I already performed the steps of installing/removing Hyper-V via powershell to no avail.

The driver being loaded is C:\Windows\System32\drivers\hvservice.sys which appears to be the Hypervisor Boot Driver. This is a clean Windows 10 Enterprise install, so I am unaware of any applications requesting a hypervisor. App-V is disabled as well. Any ideas on how I can determine what is calling hvservice.sys and loading it into memory? Checked services.msc and all of the hyper-v services are disabled or manual.

[socratis]

No clue, I'm on OSX lately, but there are tools out there than can show you the links of what loads what, I simply don't have it available at the moment.

I'm not saying that Hyper-V is running, I'm saying that something is using it. I've seen antivirus use it. But it's a new phenomenon, so you'll have to search for yourself. I have a clean Windows 10 installation and it definitely doesn't load that.

[mpack]

Unfortunately I already performed the steps of installing/removing Hyper-V via powershell to no avail.

And then you rebooted the host from a full power down, right? Not a hibernation.

[paulhaskew]

mpack, correct.

I figured out what the issue is. It is a mixture of things...

UEFI BIOS mode is enabled, which in turn is forcing Windows 10 into Virtual Secure Mode. So it isn't a driver loading at OS boot time, but prior to OS load.

Downside is, the OS install I have at the moment requires that UEFI be enabled, and that Credential Guard and Device Guard be enabled. This will most likely be a requirement for many others going forward due to the security enhancements it provides. Search on technet for the blog with: Windows 10 Device Guard and Credential Guard Demystified, as the title. I can't post links for another few hours. Makes me wonder if there is a way to get these two to play nice with each other and allow VirtualBox the access it needs to be able to run 64bit virtualization as well.

Downside is when I set UEFI to legacy, and disable UEFI boot, the OS doesn't boot anymore. So at some point I'll need to wipe my workstation and install windows once more to ensure it isn't a UEFI based install. As an aside, my laptop, joined to the same domain, but the BIOS is set to Legacy, doesn't have this issue.

Hopefully some of this information is helpful and can be added to your FAQ post.

[socratis]

BINGO!!!

You're absolutely right! As soon as I read the words "Credential Guard" and "Device Guard", it hit me. And imagine, I had already read the article! I also looked for and found a few previous references in the forums:

• VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX) - Hyper-V is disabled, VT-x enabled (last post).
• VirtualBox Compatibility with Device Guard/Credential Guard.
• VERR_VMX_NO_VMX and BSOD on win 10

And of course the biggest confirmation of them all; Microsoft themselves in KB 3204980: Virtualization applications do not work together with Hyper-V, Device Guard, and Credential Guard. From the article (emphasis mine):

Cause

• This behavior occurs by design. Many virtualization applications depend on hardware virtualization extensions that are available on most modern processors. This includes Intel VT-x and AMD-V. Only one software component can use this hardware at a time. The hardware cannot be shared between virtualization applications.

Resolution

• To use other virtualization software, you must disable Hyper-V Hypervisor, Device Guard, and Credential Guard...

The statement about VT-x/AMD-v not being able of being shared is (as far as I know) a false/hyperbolic one, since you can definitely have VirtualBox and VMWare running side-by-side. What you can't have is Hyper-v with anything else. I wonder why... oh, that's right; by design.


I'll give a shout to mpack, who's the owner of the FAQ to update the article, as I suspect we're going to be running more and more into this. Thanks!

[mpack]

Well, I never intended the FAQ to intemize every possible other application that could be using VT-x, but I'll make a note of this one.