Windows Server 2008 R2 on 32 Bit Host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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thorpen
Posts: 1
Joined: 13. Jun 2009, 00:16
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 R2 on 32 Bit Host

Post by thorpen »

Hi,

I have Virtual Box running on a 32 Bit Windows 7 Host. I am trying to create a Windows Server 2008 R2 VM, but get an error as my host is not 64 Bit capable. I have seen various articles saying that Virtual Box should allow you to run a 64 Bit Guest on a 32 Bit Host but I cannot seem to figure it out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Windows Server 2008 R2 on 32 Bit Host

Post by Perryg »

Windows 7 beta & Release Candidate is a development OS and not supported by the community (us volunteers/mods) directly. Because it's still in development, changes can be made at the last moment, which could cause to render all support done in previous versions useless and possibly cause serious issues.

Now that that is out of the way you might get this to work by checking your bios and see if the hardware-v is turned on. If you can not find it then it will not work.

You should also read this, taken from the VBox users guide.
<snip>
64-bit guests on some 32-bit host systems with VT-x can cause instabilities to your system. If you experience this, do not attempt to execute 64-bit guests. Refer to the VirtualBox user forum for additional information.
<snip>
gvrtalks
Posts: 2
Joined: 14. Jun 2009, 06:39
Primary OS: MS Windows Vista
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 2008

Re: Windows Server 2008 R2 on 32 Bit Host

Post by gvrtalks »

I tried this exact same thing but got varied results depending on the underlying chipset:

a) On a 64-bit AMD processor, I was able to install 64-bit Windows Server 2008 as a guest OS (I was running Windows 7 32-bit host OS).

b) On an Intel core 2 duo, with the exact same host OS, I was not able to install 64-bit Windows Server 2008

My dilemma is since both chipsets are 64-bit, how come on one it works fine while the other it doesn't. Any ideas?

Cheers!
Ven
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