AMD A10-8700P and 64bit clients

[Wouter]

Dear collegues,
I am using a Acer Aspire E5-752G-T776 notebook with a A10-8700P processor with Windows 10.
The problem is, I can't mount 64bit clients.
There are no Windows virtualisation services started (as far as I can see) and I can't find any virtualisation info in the BIOS.
Acer said the processor can't do 64bit virtualisation. ("AMD has VT-x with Extended Page Tables." Seems to mean that only x86 virtualisation is possible)
Has anyone information on IF 64bit virtualisation can work and HOW I can make it work?
Thanks, Wouter

[mpack]

AMD does not have VT-x with anything, since VT-x is the name of the Intel feature. That mistake would make your Acer support contact pretty worthless.

The AMD feature is called AMD-v.

You either don't have AMD-v enabled in the host BIOS, or you do have Hyper-v enabled in the Win10 boot options. These states need to be reversed.

FAQ: I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests.

[Wouter]

Thanks mpack,
the Hyper-V services in Windows are switched to manual and are not started (is that enough?).
AMD-V (or something like it) however is not visible in the BIOS, I have even flashed the BIOS with the lastest version form Acer but nothing visible has changed.
Do you know another way to enable the Virtualisation?
Thanks, Wouter.

[socratis]

The A10-8700P has AMD-V capabilities according to a couple of articles (ex. http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Seri ... 218.0.html), so its a matter of enabling it in the BIOS. You'll have to look closer because you're the one sitting in front of your computer, not us. Beware that sometimes computer manufacturers purposely hide that capability to differentiate between their cheap and expensive models.

Hyper-V: I'm not sure if it's enough to have it set to "Manual". I would remove it altogether. Search for "Windows features" and go to "Turn Windows features on or off". Make sure Hyper-V is not selected.

Finally, look at the article that mpack linked and ask yourself what else you might be having running in your guest that may be stealing the AMD-V capabilities.

[Wouter]

Thanks socratis,
As far as I can see at the moment, the situation is:
- the processor seems to allow 64-bit virtualization (I am waiting for reply fom AMD);
- Acer states that only 32-bit virtualization is possible (what that means in relation to AMD-V, I don't know. I haven't found information about AMD-V and bitrate yet)
- Acer states that there is no possibility in the BIOS to change this setting;
- both a test tool form AMD and "LeoMoon CPU-V" state that AMD-V is not enabled (AMD says in the BIOS);
- Acer states that the AMD processor is the limiting factor and I should have done more research before buying my notebook.
- as far as I can find there are no processes that can be using Virtualization.

[mpack]

Hopefully you posed the question correctly and didn't ask e.g. if the A10-8700P supports VT-x, which it can't because it isn't made by Intel.

From the rest of what you've said, my guess is that it's what Socratis already said: they don't allow you to enable AMD-v on this notebook, because they want to differentiate models. However, it's up to you to search the BIOS thoroughly to acertain that for sure. Nobody here (AFAIK) is an expert in that make of notebook.

p.s. Sometimes the vendor will disable the feature because the notebook just doesn't have the resources to run a hefty VM. I have not looked up up the spec of your notebook, but they usually are built for low weight and high battery life, not for performance.

[scottgus1]

only 32-bit virtualization is possible (what that means in relation to AMD-V, I don't know

What that is likely to mean is that you can only virtualize OS's that won't need AMD-V. For Virtualbox this means only 32-bit one-processor guests with less than 4GB memory, and that run OS's that don't inherently need AMD-V. So no Windows 8 or 10, even if 32-bit. XP, Vista, 7, Linux are OK if 32-bit, less than 4GB ram and one processor. See https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes for more info

[Perryg]

I have worked with various manufactures in my past life and can tell you the reason they do not support some features is only because they do not want to support it. HP had so many people that pitched a fit they finally broke down and updated their bios to allow uses to select hardware virtualization. It just takes a lot of people to get the manufacture to adjust course. Sadly you seem to be among those that don't have a large enough voice to get their attention.

[Wouter]

Well,
AMD was clear, the A10-8700P processor supports 64-bit virtual clients.
Acer is also clear, "Oh dear, how sad, never mind". The BIOS is as it is and we don't give you a way to enable the AMD-V virtualization. If you have a problem with that, go to your seller. I have given them some options, send a BIOS with the AMD-V enabled, send a BIOS where I can enable the AMD-V, etc. they wouldn't have it..
I have contacted the seller and they seem to be cooperating (at least more then Acer).
Acer however I won't recommend to anyone again.
Thanks to you all, Wouter.

[mpack]

AMD was clear, the A10-8700P processor supports 64-bit virtual clients.

Just to clarify a likely misconception: it isn't for the CPU to "support 64bit virtual clients" (or not). It is VirtualBox which only supports 64bit VMs when VT-x or AMD-v is available. This was mainly because the devs didn't see the point in putting development resources into other scenarios: almost all 64bit-capable CPUs also have VT-x/AMD-v. A different VM platform might support 64bit VMs when VT-x is not available, though I doubt it, because of the fact I just mentioned, and because the more modern OS's usually have other requirements of the CPU that probably aren't compatible with legacy recompiler virtualization techniques.