virtualbox.org

I have been running VM VIrtualBox for a long time. I don't use it often, but it is essential. I need to run some older software occasionally that only works in Windows XP. I think I last used it in November and it worked fine. Today, I get an error:
I found several YouTube videos saying this was occurring because the virtualization was turned off in the bios. It is not. I just checked it. Virtualization is enabled.

My computer is an old custom built with Asus Mobo and Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3930K CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20 GHz
Running Windows 10 Pro H2
VirtualBox 6.1.35r150636 (Qt5.6.2)

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.

mpack wrote: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.

Thanks. Here is a file, but the log isn't very long. Only 509 lines.

Long enough to show your problem.

00:00:05.116700 ********************* End of CFGM dump **********************
00:00:05.116764 HM: HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes

Please read this viewtopic.php?f=25&t=99390

Bill has linked you to a tutorial on how to disable Hyper-v, but I don't believe that is the problem here. The log message says that NEM (Hyper-v) is not available, and that VT-x is disabled in the host PC BIOS. VirtualBox 6.1.x requires VT-x/AMD-v for all VMs. See FAQ: I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests.

BillG wrote:Long enough to show your problem.

00:00:05.116700 ********************* End of CFGM dump **********************
00:00:05.116764 HM: HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes

Please read this

Working through the steps.

(1)Model is: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3930K CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ‡ Yes
Intel® 64 ‡ Yes
Instruction Set 64-bit
Instruction Set Extensions Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) ‡ Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) ‡ Yes
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT) ‡ Yes

So I think that is all good. ??

(2) Already Enabled. I checked it again yesterday.

(3) Will have to track down what else can be accessing the Virtual stuff.

(4) Too late to create a guest in 64 bit for my current 32 bit XP guest that I need to access.

Device Guard I changed from Not configured to Disabled - No Change

Working through some of those other settings. Crazy that this has been working for years on this computer, then quit.

I will have to reboot. Post again later.

kirkdickinson wrote: (2) [VT-x] Already Enabled. I checked it again yesterday.

The log says otherwise, and the log is seldom wrong. Please check again, make sure you are not looking at the virtual I/O setting. Perhaps take a photo of the setting you think is decisive, rather than just assert.

kirkdickinson wrote: (4) Too late to create a guest in 64 bit for my current 32 bit XP guest that I need to access.

Since XP guests are almost always 32bit, this step is not relevant to you. See the first paragraph of the linked FAQ (the note about 6.1.x).

kirkdickinson wrote: Crazy that this has been working for years on this computer, then quit.

Your original post does not explicitly say that this VM has ever worked ON THAT SAME HOST AND SAME VIRTUALBOX VERSION. As the faq mentions, the hardware requirements for 32bit VMs in VirtualBox 6.1 has changed. If the VM definitely worked with the same host and with VirtualBox 6.1.x then it becomes far more likely that something in the host OS must have changed. E.g. one recent bugbear is that Avast and AVG antivirus now grabs ownership of VT-x. They have an option to turn that feature off.

mpack wrote:

kirkdickinson wrote: Crazy that this has been working for years on this computer, then quit.

Your original post does not explicitly say that this VM has ever worked ON THAT SAME HOST AND SAME VIRTUALBOX VERSION. As the faq mentions, the hardware requirements for 32bit VMs in VirtualBox 6.1 has changed. If the VM definitely worked with the same host and with VirtualBox 6.1.x then it becomes far more likely that something in the host OS must have changed. E.g. one recent bugbear is that Avast and AVG antivirus now grabs ownership of VT-x. They have an option to turn that feature off.

Thanks for helping.

I said that I have been using it for a long time. I guess I didn't specify that I have been using it on this machine. I installed it a long time ago to run one program that I need about twice a year that won't run on any newer version of windows. Maybe 4 years. I have the same virtual, but regularly update all my installed programs. I looked it up and I used the Virtual box successfully in November of 2021 which would have been a flavor of 6.1 although not as new.

I will double check my Avast settings.

Hyper V is turned off in windows, but I thought I would run the commands found in the linked thread to disable it anyways since I need to reboot to double check the bios.

mpack wrote:

kirkdickinson wrote: (2) [VT-x] Already Enabled. I checked it again yesterday.

The log says otherwise, and the log is seldom wrong. Please check again, make sure you are not looking at the virtual I/O setting. Perhaps take a photo of the setting you think is decisive, rather than just assert.

My Bios version. Have to go into Advanced. Here are the settings. Restart after running the commands to disable the Hyper_V and checking the bios didn't change a thing.

Completely disabling Avast didn't do anything either.

Maybe it is time to dump this old program and find another solution.

You could try running an earlier version of VirtualBox which did not require hardware virtualization. I would try the last of the 6.0 versions. That still had software to emulate it.

I note that the BIOS photograph states that VT-x is "Supported". It does not say "Enabled". Those words are not interchangeable.

The BIOS might have three values for that setting, being "Not supported" (the current CPU does not have the feature), "Supported" (the CPU has the feature but it has not been enabled), and "Enabled" (the feature exists and is enabled).

mpack wrote:I note that the BIOS photograph states that VT-x is "Supported". It does not say "Enabled". Those words are not interchangeable.

FWIW, there's an "Intel Virtualization Technology Enabled" in the bottom half of the screenshot.

Right, so it does.

So, I downgraded to 6.0.24

I get a new different error.

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine WinXP.

Unsupported version 19 of data unit 'cpum' (instance #1, pass 0xffffffff) (VERR_SSM_UNSUPPORTED_DATA_UNIT_VERSION).

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

Was your vm in a saved state? If so , delete the saved state and reboot.

When you get it running, remember to downgrade the guest additions.