VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit [Solved]

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit [Solved]

Post by JoachimBr »

I just upgraded to 4.3 hoping to run Ubuntu 13.04 smoothly.
However, the 64 bit version of Ubuntu does no longer appear as choice when creatng a new VM.
When trying to install from the ubuntu iso, I get a message that 64 bit CPU is required
In addition, the number of processors is grayed out. (pre 4.3 I could select up to 4-CPUs on the green scale, which would be expected)

Virtualbox is installed automagically in the "Program Files" directory and Taskmanager report that VB is 64 bit (No *32 label)

I did remove the old installation and cleaned the registry with CCleaner, removed the two VB directories under my user account and reinstalled fresh.

I am on Windows 7 64-bit with Service Pack 1 running on HP Elitebook 2540p Inteli i5 M540 (Two cores with HT)

Any suggestion where to start looking?

Br Joachim
Last edited by JoachimBr on 5. Nov 2013, 15:19, edited 2 times in total.
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by Ramshankar »

JoachimBr wrote:I just upgraded to 4.3 hoping to run Ubuntu 13.04 smoothly.
However, the 64 bit version of Ubuntu does no longer appear as choice when creatng a new VM.
Hmm, it should be available, see attached screenshot.
JoachimBr wrote:When trying to install from the ubuntu iso, I get a message that 64 bit CPU is required
In addition, the number of processors is grayed out. (pre 4.3 I could select up to 4-CPUs on the green scale, which would be expected)
VirtualBox 4.3 counts physical CPU cores rather than hyperthreads and it is advisable to assign guest CPUs based on physical cores and not hyperthreads. Hence the change. Previous versions were incorrectly not warning about this and caused problems when people overcommitted the number of CPUs.
JoachimBr wrote:Virtualbox is installed automagically in the "Program Files" directory and Taskmanager report that VB is 64 bit (No *32 label)

I did remove the old installation and cleaned the registry with CCleaner, removed the two VB directories under my user account and reinstalled fresh.

I am on Windows 7 64-bit with Service Pack 1 running on HP Elitebook 2540p Inteli i5 M540 (Two cores with HT)

Any suggestion where to start looking?
Br Joachim
Please upload VBox.log for the VM you created.

You can force 64-bit mode by doing:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname> --longmode on
Or by choosing a 64-bit guest type from the GUi.
Attachments
64-bit guest type should be there in the list.
64-bit guest type should be there in the list.
ubuntu-64-guest-type.png (62.77 KiB) Viewed 248784 times
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JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by JoachimBr »

Thanks Ramshankar,

The command VBoxManage did the trick and my VM Started.
Still the CPU-Count is grayed out, i.e. no warning could be given. (Running much slower now but I'll take that in another thread)

The goes here
Attachments
VBox.log
(64.92 KiB) Downloaded 2386 times
Create Virtual Machine.jpg
Create Virtual Machine.jpg (74.39 KiB) Viewed 248778 times
klaus
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 1110
Joined: 10. May 2007, 14:57

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by klaus »

I bet your real issue is that VT-x/AMD-V is disabled on your system or used by something else. Then VirtualBox does not offer 64 bit guests and doesn't allow increasing the VCPU count. If only you'd have provided VBox.log as mentioned in the Troubleshooting chapter of the manual then we could say a bit more. So far it's just guesswork.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by mpack »

I see he did in fact post a log (just above his screenshot), however the log seems inconsistent with the report. It shows an Ubuntu 64 VM successfully using VT-x on 4.3.0.

I take it this log is from a different VM. Was it on the same host? If yes then has anything happened to the host since the VM was working (e.g. OS update, major new software install).
JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by JoachimBr »

klaus wrote:I bet your real issue is that VT-x/AMD-V is disabled on your system or used by something else. Then VirtualBox does not offer 64 bit guests and doesn't allow increasing the VCPU count. If only you'd have provided VBox.log as mentioned in the Troubleshooting chapter of the manual then we could say a bit more. So far it's just guesswork.
Yes could be that it has been turned off in BIOS for some reason. I will check next time I reboot. However, it did work well on 4.12 (I.e. 64 bit did work as expected) just before upgrading to 4.3
JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by JoachimBr »

mpack wrote:I see he did in fact post a log (just above his screenshot), however the log seems inconsistent with the report. It shows an Ubuntu 64 VM successfully using VT-x on 4.3.0.

I take it this log is from a different VM. Was it on the same host? If yes then has anything happened to the host since the VM was working (e.g. OS update, major new software install).
Here is what I did regarding the log.
First I created the VM, called USB and it did not start.
I executed the VBoxManage command as suggested (VBoxManage modifyvm USB --longmode on)
I checked that I could start the VM, which I indeed could.
Then I submitted the log.

So, yes everything is about the very same VM called USB
JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by JoachimBr »

I downgraded to 4.2.18 and then 64 bit operating systems are available
I noted another thing as well
In 4.3 the Acceleration tab in system settings is grayed out while it is enabled in 4.2.18

/Joachim
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by Ramshankar »

Could you please upload VBoxSVC.log for VirtualBox 4.3 when you get the grayed out acceleration settings?
It should be located in ".Virtualbox" folder on your users directory.
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JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by JoachimBr »

The log is here with (The problem present when this log was created)
VBoxSVC.log.6.log
(5.95 KiB) Downloaded 2565 times

But actually, after upgrading from 4.2.18 to 4.3 this time, the problem with 64 bit, acceleration and CPU:s is gone. That part is now working.

When I had the problem, I first upgraded from 4.2.12 and when it did not work, I uninstalled and cleaned as much as I could as I mentioned above but the problem persisted.
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by Ramshankar »

Okay I see the problem. It's a bug in VBox 4.3 when your BIOS does not set the lock bit in the VMX feature capability MSR. This will be fixed in the next maintenance release.

Most BIOSes set this bit. The reason the problem's gone once you start a hw virt. VM is because the VM initialization code does the right thing and sets this lock bit and goes ahead and enables VT-x. Once the lock bit in the MSR is set there is no way of changing it without resetting the CPU. The code that gets this wrong, resides in the support driver which the GUI queries through VBoxSVC to find out hardware virtualization capabilities. The "longmode" setting forces hardware virtualization to be used for the VM which is why it worked.
Last edited by Ramshankar on 18. Oct 2013, 09:52, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: corrected typos made from phone
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JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit

Post by JoachimBr »

Ok, -very good. I'll be waiting for the maintenance release then.

/Joachim
JoachimBr
Posts: 15
Joined: 17. Oct 2013, 10:05
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 13.04

[Solved] Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit [Confirmed]

Post by JoachimBr »

Great 4.3.2 Solved it :D

/Joachim
jjstankowicz
Posts: 4
Joined: 29. Nov 2013, 23:05

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit [Solved]

Post by jjstankowicz »

Not sure if I should be posting this here, or starting a new thread, but I have almost exactly the same problem (i.e. no "Ubuntu (64 bit)" option in GUI, greyed out "Processor(s)" ), and neither 4.3.2 nor 4.3.4 fix it.

I'm also on a Windows 7 SP1 host, with a direct-from-manufacturer laptop.
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: VB 4.3 Does not recogize 64 bit [Solved]

Post by Ramshankar »

jjstankowicz wrote:Not sure if I should be posting this here, or starting a new thread, but I have almost exactly the same problem (i.e. no "Ubuntu (64 bit)" option in GUI, greyed out "Processor(s)" ), and neither 4.3.2 nor 4.3.4 fix it.

I'm also on a Windows 7 SP1 host, with a direct-from-manufacturer laptop.
Better start a new topic. Does your CPU have VT-x? Have you enabled it in the BIOS?
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