VB with OS/2 on Server

[jjurbaneCS]

My customer runs Windows Server 2008. They have installed Windows 7. They claim that their system has Hardware Virtualization on a "deep level." 'm not sure what that means.

When I try to configure a Virtual on this system with OS/2 - eComStation as the guest - the "acceleration" tab is greyed out. The guest won't boot.

Is there a way to "trick" VirtualBox into realizing the Hardware Virtualization is really enabled?

By the way Oracle & VirtualBox - thank you so much for supporting eComStation!

[Perryg]

What trick? either you have VMX enabled or you don't.

[LewisR]

PMFJI...

Indeed, merely having the virtualization available is insufficient. The system board must support VTx, the CPU must support VTx, and the BIOS must have VTx enabled. Once those prerequisites are met, the VTx option should no longer be greyed out.

As Perry said, there is no trick, and no faking it.

HTH

[dlharper]

You also have to make sure nothing else is using it. Hyper-V is a common culprit.

[jjurbaneCS]

Yes, that's what I thought.

But their network supervisor said that Hardware Virtualization is set at a "deeper level."

I don't know what that means, but she's the customer. Who am I to argue?

[LewisR]

You also have to make sure nothing else is using it. Hyper-V is a common culprit.

Never a good idea to run more than one hypervisor on the same host. Bad things happen (it's like "crossing the streams"). Your point is well-taken, though: only one hypervisor may access the virtualization at a time (though that single hypervisor can manage multiple guests configured to utilize VTx).

But their network supervisor said that Hardware Virtualization is set at a "deeper level."

I don't know what that means, but she's the customer. Who am I to argue?

I think you at least need to get the board model number and firmware revision as well as the CPU model. As a consultant myself, I am emphatic about not being able to do my job in a vacuum. On boards which support VTx, it is possible to enable it in the system BIOS but still have a CPU installed which does not support VTx. Thus, your customer may believe that the hardware virtualization has been set at a "deeper level," and indeed, it may even be, but she may be unaware that the CPU doesn't support this (so she's turned on the lights but there is no wire running to the fuse box, so the end result is that it's still dark).

Isn't this stuff fun? <gdr>

Good luck!

[Perryg]

I think you need to have your customer define what they really mean by a deeper level. Nothing is deeper than than the CPU and bios.

The only thing that I can think of when trying to understand what they might mean is the 2008 server is itself running in a hypervisor and they are trying to nest another hypervisor. If that is the case the nest will never see the VMX flag.