Determine if my PC supports HW Virtualization

Question

How, in general, does one determine if a PC supports hardware virtualization? I use VirtualPC to set up parallel test environments and I'd enjoy a bit of a speed boost.

Solution 1

Download this: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Also check, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization

Edit: Additional, I know it's for XEN but the instructions are the same for all VMs that want hardware support. http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/HVM_Compatible_Processors

I can't try it from work, but I'm sure it can identify whether you've got the Intel VT or AMD-V instructions. Intel will have a "vmx" instruction and AMD will have a "svm".

On linux you can check /proc/cpuinfo, "egrep '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo"

Solution 2

The first thing is to run VPC, open Options, and see if the HW virtualization option is available.

If it isn't you may still have it. Many machines have HW virtualization disabled in the BIOS. If you believe this is the case you'll need to confirm with your processor mfg that MW virtualization is supported, then find out from your BIOS mfg how to enable that feature.

@Nick what processor do you have?

Solution 3

Try cpu-z or SecurAble on windows or on linux, cat /proc/cpuinfo and look for the flags: vmx (Intel) or svm (AMD)

All of those will tell you if the hardware supports it, but as others said it must be enabled in the BIOS. (But checking first will avoid an unnecessary reboot...)