Having trouble using Ubuntu 12.04 ISO in Virtual Box

Question

I followed step-by-step from this site :

Installing Ubuntu inside Windows using VirtualBox


This is my system info:

System Information
-———————-
Time of this report: 11/14/2012, 22:40:29
Machine name: CHRISTOPHER-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/05/10 19:13:52 Ver: 08.00.10
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.3GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8174MB RAM
Page File: 2227MB used, 14117MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode
DxDiag Previously: Crashed in Direct3D (stage 2). Re-running DxDiag with “dontskip” command line parameter or choosing not to bypass information gathering when prompted might result in DxDiag successfully obtaining this information

I get the following VirtualBox Error: Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Ubuntu 64bit.

    VT-x features locked or unavailable in MSR. 
    (VERR_VMX_MSR_LOCKED_OR_DISABLED).

    Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
    Component: Console
    Interface: IConsole {db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392}

I have no idea what's going on. I got Ubuntu up on running on my laptop, but I just got a desktop and I can't seem to get it working.

Downloaded ubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-i386 from Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS (Precise Pangolin)

Solution

For optimal performance of Virtual Box we need to enable VT-x (on Intel systems) or AMD-V (for AMD systems) in our BIOS settings in case our CPU has this feature.

To use this virtualization technology we then can enable this in the system settings for a virtual machine from Virtual Box Manager (Settings -> System -> Acceleration).

By doing so we are even able to run a 64-bit guest on a 32-bit host.

The architecture of the virtual machine (32- vs. 64-bit) also needs to be defined in the machine's General settings. In your case when installing the -i386-version this would be 32-bit (for 64-bit use the -amd64-images).

See also the following question: amd64 virtual machine in virtualbox

Comments

[Daniel W.]

you should try going into your bios settings and see if virtualization is enabled. Cause that's a virtualbox error message not ubuntu. And I think VT-x features are cpu virtualization features. But you can look it up in the virtualbox settings.

[Eliah Kagan]

@guntbert Agreed. Many Windows users run with administrative accounts all the time, but the risk is now somewhat mitigated by User Account Control. I've run VirtualBox and VMware in Windows 7 and 8, which have UAC (and I had it enabled in both). I have never had to use the "Run as administrator" option to virtualize a guest with either. Installing software requires acting as an administrator. Occcasionally on some systems configuring virtual hardware settings requires acting as an administrator. Actually running a VM does not.