(Solved*) Discrepency in the vbox.log for XP 32bit guest

[loukingjr]

I saw this yesterday when I was comparing my logs to another user's.

Code: Select all

00:00:01.941883 Guest OS type: 'WindowsXP'
00:00:01.945450 fHMForced=true - 64-bit guest

I have my guest set to 32bit so I'm not sure why I see this in the log.

edit: VB 4.3.14, Mac Host.

[mpack]

I would need to see the complete log.

Isn't VT-x always forced on Mac hosts? Though in the past I thought it said so.

[loukingjr]

I would need to see the complete log.

Isn't VT-x always forced on Mac hosts? Though in the past I thought it said so.

Yes, VT-x is always enabled.

The reason I was asking is because that's where I thought one looked to see what template was used.

[mpack]

Did you ever use that "longmode" hack that was necessary for a short time?

[loukingjr]

Not that I remember. Plus this is a fresh install of OSX and VirtualBox as of a month ago I think.

edit: I had to look up "longmode" hack It's tough getting old.

[loukingjr]

It's no big deal of course. All my guests run fine. Guest additions are fine. I just didn't want to tell people they should have chosen Windows XP (32bit) every time I see that line in their logs.

[socratis]

Isn't VT-x always forced on Mac hosts? Though in the past I thought it said so.

Yes, VT-x is always enabled.

It doesn't really have to be. I just disabled on my XP 32-bit (it gave me a warning because I was using 2 CPUs, took it down to 1) it booted fine and the "fHMForced=true - 64-bit guest" disappeared from the logs. It is in the logs if VT-x is enabled.

[loukingjr]

I just meant hardware virtualization is always enabled on Mac hosts.

So how when reading someone's log can we tell the difference whether they are running 32bit or 64bit Windows XP?

[socratis]

It would be "Guest OS type: 'WindowsXP'" vs "Guest OS type: 'WindowsXP_64'" (for VBox after 4.3.1x, even earlier maybe?). I believe it is just the VT-x presence that triggers the "fHMForced=true - 64-bit guest". This is because VT-x is mandatory for 64-bit guests, but it's also mandatory for things like SMP guests.

[loukingjr]

sounds logical. I never had a 64bit version of XP so I never checked to see it said WindowsXP_64.

although it doesn't have to say "fHMForced=true - 64-bit guest" at all. It could say "Vt-x Enabled"

[socratis]

Neither do I have an XP64 VM, I just created a fake one. It never booted
Yes, makes sense for the "VT-x enabled", although I'm not sure it is the only condition that triggers it...

[loukingjr]

* I still don't understand the logic but that's okay.