Linux VM's not working on HP Workstation Z440

[B1tm4p75]

So last week I bought a 'new' refurbished HP Workstation Z440 with 10 cores and 32 Gb memory after my old Dell T5400 Workstation died. I want to use this workstation mostly for virtualization, so it's a bit sad that I now can't get thing to work.

On my old Workstation I had Virtualbox running and without problems I could work with the Kali Linux .ova file I downloaded. To my surprise this Linux version is not booting on my new HP Z440 Workstation. It loads Grub and then I see the menu where I can choose Kali GNU/Linux, when I make my choice, (or wait for timeout) the screen turns black with a blinking underscore and next nothing happens. There is no activity on the SATA icon.

Ofcourse I searched this forum and tried all suggestions. Than I came up with the idea to create other Windows and Linux VM's on my Z440 to see if that would work. Turns out that I can run Windows 7 and Windows 10 VM's without problems. I then installed Fedora 33 to see if another Linux version would work, but there the same issue appears, blank screen with blinking underscore.

Then I copied the Kali .ova file to my HP omnibook laptop and installed Virtualbox there. I created the Kali VM with default settings just like I did on my workstation and there it boots like a charm!

So, my question, why is it working on my laptop, but not on my workstation? I attached the log files of both the working and the not working environments.

Worth to mention: I'm using the latest virtualbox version, My Z440 has a Nvidia Quadro M4000, and I suspect that might have something to do with it. It's running with the latest drivers v457.9

I hope anyone can spot something in the logfiles that I overlooked. If there is someone who has a Quadro M4000 that runs Linux VM's without issues, please let me know.

[B1tm4p75]

an addition; I was suspecting my video card to be the problem, but I came across this information somewhere: 'VBox is basically going to use a virtual GPU which will make use of your ‘Processor’ (internally) and not your Nvidia graphics card(hardware). ' So, if that is the case, my video card cannot be the cause of the problem.

But still, it's a weird situation, my workstation does run Windows VM's but not Linux VM's.

[scottgus1]

Hyper-V is enabled. See HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM (Hyper-V is active).

[B1tm4p75]

Hyper-V is enabled. See HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM (Hyper-V is active).

I went through all these steps multiple times before and repeated this once again, but this does not solve the issue. I am still getting the green turtle.

I did discover one thing, when I start msinfo32.exe and look at the details screen, at the bottom is says that a hypervisor has been detected. So indeed 'something' is still running a hypervisor while all the usual suspects have been illiminated.

When I go to the services tab via msinfo32.exe I see that all hyper-v services are stopped. To make sure I disabled all these services, but that does not make a difference.

So, I disabled a lot of services and removed software that might be causing it, but not found the process that is causing this. Is there a way to pinpoint which process is using a hypervisor? using systinternal tools or something? If msinfo32.exe can detect it, it should be possible to look into it deeper somehow?

[B1tm4p75]

After some searching on google on 'how to kill green turtles' I came across the powershell script DG_Readiness_Tool.ps1 from Microsoft. I ran it with the option -Disable to make sure Windows Defender Device Guard and Windows Defender Credential Guard were completely disabled. But after shutdown and reboot the green turtle is still there.

I used to like turtles...

I also altered the Windows boot loader with the command: bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
But that also makes no difference

[B1tm4p75]

I came across a very informatice article here: https://petri.com/how-to-disable-hyper- ... windows-10

I followed all steps, also made sure SECURE BOOT is disabled in my BIOS, but still when I check my system with systeminfo.exe

the last line displayed is still: Hyper-V Requirements: A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.

So, I'm out of options, no idea what is causing this.

[Martin]

I also altered the Windows boot loader with the command: bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
But that also makes no difference

Did you make sure that you did a complete shutdown / reboot? (disable fast startup or hold shift key while clicking 'reboot' on the Start menu)

[B1tm4p75]

I also altered the Windows boot loader with the command: bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
But that also makes no difference

Did you make sure that you did a complete shutdown / reboot? (disable fast startup or hold shift key while clicking 'reboot' on the Start menu)

Yes, the system was completely shutdown several times. When I check this setting after shutdown with command dcdedit it still says it is off:

PS C:\Windows\system32> bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale nl-NL
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {b997f04d-72be-11eb-bf07-957ca4b4d093}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale nl-NL
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {b997f04f-72be-11eb-bf07-957ca4b4d093}
displaymessageoverride Recovery
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {b997f04d-72be-11eb-bf07-957ca4b4d093}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
hypervisorlaunchtype Off

[scottgus1]

Sorry you're still having trouble! Many folks have tried the bcdedit command procedure and have got Hyper-V and the green turtle to go away.

The Petri.com link seems quite detailed and solid, as well as consistent with what we have seen.

Please try the procedure once again, making note that the "shutdown -s -t 2" command does a full old-school shutdown (same as Martin's recommended "hold down the Shift Key", which is more than the "shutting down the PC with the Start Menu Shut Down command" which allows Windows Fast Start, which does not allow the bcdedit command to take effect.

Otherwise you still have something on your computer that requires Hyper-V and which turns it on again. Did you ever uninstall Docker? The HMR3Init tutorial, the 64-bits tutorial referenced therein, and the Petri link you found are all we have to show how to kill off Hyper-V.

[B1tm4p75]

Hi, I did the procedure again followed by a 'shutdown -s -t 2' but the green turtle is still there.

I never had Docker on my system. I did have Visual Studio and Node.JS with some plugins for Angular, so I did uninstall those and visual studio completely, But that did not make any difference.

For the rest almost all software I use on my workstation is also on my Laptop and on my laptop Virtualbox is working without problems. On my Workstation I installed LibreOffice, but I can't imagine that is causing the issue. The only real difference is that my laptop has version 1909 of Windows 10 Pro and my workstation has 20H2. got some new updates today it's now build 19042.844. My laptop is company managed so it's a little behind with updates, but when my laptop is updated to 20H2 and it breaks Virtualbox, I'll let you know.

For now I can use my laptop as a workaround.

When I bought this Workstation I had in mind to use it for virtualization work, so it's a pitty it's not working. If I ever find out what service/app/process is acting as a hypervisor that is causing the problem I will post another reply.

[scottgus1]

I never had Docker on my system.

Sorry, I confused your topic with another one, my mistake.

You do have an HP, though, which has the ProtectTools and might cause trouble.

One of my hosts is on version 2004 build 19041.804, not quite 20H2 yet, but it does run without the turtle. If I remember correctly, other 20H2 users have got the turtle to go away.

If you have a spare hard drive I'd try a fresh install of 20H2 with nothing else, then Virtualbox, and see if Virtualbox works. I'd be surprised if a fresh new 20H2 can't run Virtualbox on your computer. Then add other programs one at a time, reboot, and try Virtualbox each time.

[B1tm4p75]

Thanks for the suggestions, ProtectTools are not installed. When I got this refurbished workstation it installed windows after I booted it for the first time and it activated withoud problems, so the sources were on the harddisk. I have another harddisk I could use for a fresh install, but I did not get any installation media/licence with this workstation, but I might figure out where to get those and give it a try.

[scottgus1]

Microsoft's Media Creation Tool will make a USB stick you can install the OS from, and the OS should re-license itself once it is internet-connected.

[B1tm4p75]

I was able to re-install Windows 10 on a spare disc that had a MBR partition. When I booted from this new installation, systeminfo.exe was displaying the correct hypervisor information and Virtualbox was working correctly on my HP Z440. No more green turtle! I had to disable UEFI in the BIOS and set things to Legacy support to make things work.

I then decided to re-install my harddisc that came with the system. It was set to GPT instead of MBR so I enabled UEFI again in the BIOS to be able to install Windows on it and boot from it. After this fresh installation, systeminfo.exe was displaying that a hypervisor was found, so I could not start a machine in Virtualbox without the green turtle showing up.

Then I used EaseUS Partition Master to convert it from a GPT to a MBR disc. After this I disabled UEFI in the BIOS again and set device support to Legacy again. I reinstalled Windows 10 on my now MBR disc and after this systeminfo.exe was showing the four VM options again instead of finding a hypervisor. So now things work, no more green turtles!

Maybe this problem is caused by tha fact that the HP Z440 is somewhat of a hybrid model when it comes to BIOS/UEFI. All I know is that this solved my problem. Ofcourse it would be better and safer to use GPT on a disc instead of MBR, but I guess I then should have bought a new workstation and not a refurbished one.

Hope this helps anyone with the same issue!

[scottgus1]

I had to disable UEFI in the BIOS

Interesting! The 64-bits tutorial linked in the NEM tutorial above says this:

On some Windows hosts with an EFI BIOS, DeviceGuard or CredentialGuard may be active by default,

I wonder if you had these enabled at first. These turn on Hyper-V.