VirtualBox stopped working giving error AMD-V not available

[CoryB]

**SOLVED**

VirtualBox has been running on this machine for more than a year. I use it frequently with a Windows 2003 Server guest OS, but not every day. This morning I opened VB and attempted to start the W2003 guest OS and was presented with an error stating that AMD-V not available.

I verified that the BIOS was set correctly for virtualization. No change required.
I verified that no Hyper-V services were running. No change required.
I verified that all Hyper-V Windows features are unchecked. No change required.

Windows 10 version is 1803. I do not know / remember the version at the time VB ran flawlessly. I routinely get W10 updates weekly.
VirtualBox was updated today to 5.2.14 after having the above error with the previous version. With this latest version, error remains.
Processor is AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.20 GHZ
Memory is 16 GB

I have done many reboots and hard shutdowns with no resolution of the problem.
I downloaded and ran AMD-V Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V System Compatibility Check which indicates Hyper-V is already running. How can this be?

I have not found any posts that address an up and running install of VB breaking. Any help getting VB running again is greatly appreciated.

Note: The guest OS is Windows 2000 Server, NOT Windows 2003 Server.

[andyp73]

I downloaded and ran AMD-V Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V System Compatibility Check which indicates Hyper-V is already running. How can this be?

In short because in their infinite wisdom, Microsoft are making more and more features use Hyper-V in the background both without telling you and also without sharing the hardware VT-x or AMD-V support.

In your version of Windows 10 the list includes (but probably isn't limited to) DeviceGuard, CredentialGuard, Edge in a container. It isn't limited to just Microsoft though, some anti-virus tools are also now leveraging the virtualization technology and need to be told not to.

If we can see the VBox.log file from the guest in question then we may be able to glean more from it. Boot the guest, make sure the problem occurs then shut the guest down (by force if necessary). zip the log file and post it.

-Andy.

[CoryB]

Thank you Andy for your prompt response. I've attached a copy of the VBLog. Hope it helps!
By the way, I'm running the latest version of Malwarebytes and Norton Security.
Credential Manager is running, Device Association Service (not DeviceGuard) is running, and Windows Defender is running.
Cory

[CoryB]

I mis-stated the guest OS. It is NOT Windows 2003 Server, it IS Windows 2000 server. My apologies... A long frustrating day yesterday...

[mhanor]

The log says AMD-V is not available. Run CPU-Z, save the text report, archive it and attach it here.

[CoryB]

CPU-Z file attached as requested.
Thank you!

[mhanor]

Your host OS is running under a type 1 hypervisor, such as Hyper-V. Remove or disable the hypervisor.

[CoryB]

I am curious how you could tell my host (Windows 10) is running under a hypervisor in the file I posted. How would I disable or remove the hypervisor? To my knowledge the only setting that I have enabled for virtualization is in the BIOS.
As noted in previous posts, until recently VirtualBox ran Windows 2000 guest flawlessly. I have verified that all hyper-v windows features are off and have been off. What would cause Hyper-V to be re-enabled and running?

Thank you for your help!

[mhanor]

I looked at the cpuid info. To be sure, get coreinfo from Microsoft/Sysinternals and run

Code: Select all

coreinfo -v

You should see a * character inline with hypervisor.

Maybe the Hyper-v hypervisor hasn't been uninstalled properly. Or maybe a Windows update re-enabled it somehow.

[CoryB]

Yes you are correct, there is an '*' after HYPERVISOR followed by 'Hypervisor is present'. I imagine by 'is present' means a hypervisor is running???

Some research shows that Powershell can also detect if a hypervisor is present. Executing in ps this command (gcim Win32_ComputerSystem).HypervisorPresent results in 'True' being returned. So yes, this again confirms you are correct!

Sooo...

Now what?

Again, thank you!

[mhanor]

Identify the hypervisor and remove it or disable it.

[CoryB]

I am more at a loss than before. I created a second entry into boot options that specifically turns hypervisorlaunchtype to off. After shutting down and restarting several time using both boot options, the error condition remains for both options.

So I looked at my boot options, took a screen shot and attached. It shows both the default Windows 10 boot loader and the new 'No Hyper-V' boot loader I added with hypervisorlaunchtype set to Off. So both setting should not launch hypervisor.

Yet HYPERVISOR is present as coreinfo shows and VirtualBox cannot start my guest Windows 2000 OS.

Does anyone know why this is happening? How do I identify what hypervisor is loading? If I don't know, I can't imagine how I can disable / remove it!

Again, thanks to all helping!

[mhanor]

Run in Command Prompt, zip the output file and attach it here.

Code: Select all

sc query type= driver > %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\scquerydrivers.txt

[CoryB]

SOLVED IT! Microsoft is by default turning on Windows Defender System Guard which uses hypervision in newer updates. This is what hit me. They are doing this more and more and it will probably hit me again until a better resolution is found.

Read about it here

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/ ... d-p/167303

I opened Windows Defender Security Center, selected Device security, selected Core isolation details and turned off Memory integrity. Rebooted and now there is NO hypervisor running and VirtualBox is back running the Windows 2000 guest and others as before. Yippie! I believe this is something Andy brought to my attention in an earlier post.

Thanks to all for helping
Cory