I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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RadoslavL
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Joined: 14. Apr 2021, 11:43

I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by RadoslavL »

There was a problem in my windows 7 installation and i tried to disable hardware virtualization. Well i can't turn it on now, because it's grayed out
mpack
Site Moderator
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by mpack »

What version of VirtualBox? VirtualBox 6.1.x does not have an option to enable or disable hardware virtualization.

It does have an unrelated option to enable nested virtualization, but you've given me no reason to believe you should care about that. You don't need that to run any VMs on your host.

Virtualization on the host is enabled and disabled in the host BIOS, not in VirtualBox. It's a feature of your PC.
RadoslavL
Posts: 7
Joined: 14. Apr 2021, 11:43

Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by RadoslavL »

It does! I tried to run windows 7 and the installation crashed. I created another VM and the other one worked. Virtualization is enabled by default for me and on VBox it's enabled by default too, but i turned it off
mpack
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Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by mpack »

Please show me a picture of the grayed out option.

And please tell me the VirtualBox version.
RadoslavL
Posts: 7
Joined: 14. Apr 2021, 11:43

Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by RadoslavL »

Unfortunally my account is not 1 day old so i can't post the image.
However i can post the link to the image - (mod edit _ link removed)
Type that in a browser and put the missing dots in place
Last edited by scottgus1 on 14. Apr 2021, 14:39, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: took image link out - please crop & resize to under 128kB size, use Upload Attachment
scottgus1
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Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by scottgus1 »

Pictures can be posted using the forum's Upload Attachment tab on the first day first post.
RadoslavL
Posts: 7
Joined: 14. Apr 2021, 11:43

Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by RadoslavL »

There! When this setting is off the installation crashes
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mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
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Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by mpack »

So you are referring to the "nested paging" setting?

Please provide a VM log file. Make sure the VM is fully shut down, then right click it in the manager UI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.
RadoslavL
Posts: 7
Joined: 14. Apr 2021, 11:43

Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by RadoslavL »

There you go
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Windows 7-2021-04-14-15-07-28.zip
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mpack
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Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by mpack »

Hardware virtualization is turned on, and is of course used by the VM since that is no longer optional in 6.1.x.

Trying to run Win7-64bit in only 1024MB of RAM and 1 core doesn't seem like a good idea, however doing much better will be hard since your Asus host is extremely limited - only 6GB RAM total, and Win10-64bit installed as the host OS.

You also have no Extension Pack installed, no Guest Additions, and you seem to be running the VM from drive H: which I hope is not a USB flash drive!

These choices will not give good performance.
RadoslavL
Posts: 7
Joined: 14. Apr 2021, 11:43

Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by RadoslavL »

H: is a hard drive. My SSD is almost full so i put the VM in the H: drive
BillG
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Re: I can't turn on hardware virtualization, because it's grayed out

Post by BillG »

That will be much slower, especially when booting up or doing updates.

If you have automatic updates enabled, Windows 7 will try to install hundreds of updates. That could take quite a while on a slow vm.
Bill
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