No 64 bit machine options on a 64 bit Vista machine

[sdondley]

I'm trying to share a Debian.vdi guest machine with a friend. It's a 64 bit machine, Debian linux flavor.

When my friend goes to create a new virtual machine with VirtualBox, he has no option to create a 64 bit machine. All of his options are 32 bit only.

I'm very confused because he has a 64 bit version of Vista (Home Premium) and a 64 bit processor (Acer Aspire x1700, Intel 2220, 2.4 GHz).

I googled around and had him try to turn on Intel virtualization in his BIOS but he says he has no such setting.

He has the latest version of VB, 4.3.10.

[loukingjr]

Don't say I never did anything for you...

It's under advanced chipset features
Acer
Aspire X1700 Service Guide

[sdondley]

Thanks. I did, in fact, refer him to the page from the same manual you linked to me: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/1219/A ... ml?page=21

He claims the option for virtualzation simply is not there.

[loukingjr]

Thanks. I did, in fact, refer him to the page from the same manual you linked to me: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/1219/A ... ml?page=21

He claims the option for virtualzation simply is not there.

well he is either mistaken or he doesn't know what computer he owns.

[sdondley]

I'm going to have him take a photo of the screen.

[loukingjr]

I'm going to have him take a photo of the screen.

maybe he just doesn't know how to navigate in setup. although, it is possible for some bizarre reason Acer decided to remove the setting in their bios. I suppose a call to support might answer that.

[sdondley]

It's definitely possible he got lost in there. He has never seen a BIOS screen before in his life. But when I asked him to confirm if he was in the advanced chip settings, he says he was.

[loukingjr]

send him to this page perhaps...
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... spx?id=592

[sdondley]

Screenshot: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/153 ... G_0003.JPG

I'll have him try that tool. Thanks!

[loukingjr]

you're welcome. It's interesting the manual shows something else. I wonder if he needs a firmware update. I still think he should ask Acer.

[sdondley]

The software said: This computer does not have hardware-assisted virtualization.

Guess he's SoL?

[loukingjr]

The software said: This computer does not have hardware-assisted virtualization.

Guess he's SoL?

seems so. he could always run 32 bit guests.

[sdondley]

Yeah, but the problem is that I want to share a 64 bit machine with him.

It's kind of fishy I can't find anything about this anywhere else. It just seems weird a 64 bit machine running 64 bit OS can't run a 64 bit guest. But I don't know jack about virtualization so maybe it's not that weird.

[loukingjr]

Yeah, but the problem is that I want to share a 64 bit machine with him.

It's kind of fishy I can't find anything about this anywhere else. It just seems weird a 64 bit machine running 64 bit OS can't run a 64 bit guest. But I don't know jack about virtualization so maybe it's not that weird.

sometimes companies would market the same computers and charge more for "extra" features. one way of doing that would be to disable certain features for a basic level machine, and leave other services enabled so they could sell it for more money. It's also possible when someone OEMs a computer to different companies, a company may not want to buy the exact same machine if they had no marketing advantage. I don't know if that is what happened here. It's odd though that the service manual says he has a feature that he doesn't.

[mpack]

There's a significant lack of hard facts in this thread, e.g. a log file from the PC in question would tell us a lot.

And incidentally, while a 64bit CPU is a requirement for running a 64bit guest, it isn't sufficient. The main reason for this is that with hardware virtualization being almost universal on latest 64bit CPUs there's no incentive to spend resources on developing a software-only emulator. A parallel situation did not exist when the 32bit support was developed.

A 64bit host OS is not technically a requirement btw, though of course 64bit VMs tend to be memory hogs so you'd quickly run out of RAM on most 32bit hosts.