Stderr: VBoxManage.exe: error: VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)

Question

 PS C:\vagrant_projects> vagrant up
Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
==> default: Checking if box 'opentable/win-2012r2-standard-amd64-nocm' is up to date...
==> default: Clearing any previously set forwarded ports...
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
   default: Adapter 1: nat
==> default: Forwarding ports...
   default: 5985 (guest) => 55985 (host) (adapter 1)
   default: 5986 (guest) => 55986 (host) (adapter 1)
==> default: Running 'pre-boot' VM customizations...
==> default: Booting VM...
There was an error while executing `VBoxManage`, a CLI used by Vagrant
for controlling VirtualBox. The command and stderr is shown below.

Command: ["startvm", "efff1950-9700-4fbf-8ab8-7a8ed3f31740", "--type", "headless"]

Stderr: VBoxManage.exe: error: VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code E_FAIL (0x80004005), component ConsoleWrap, interface IConsole

I am facing the above issue when i tried to "vagrant up" win-2012r2-standard-amd64-nocm box.

Solution

I ran into this as well, and found this article: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58820 (if it helps you).

I tried turning VT-x off:

PS C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox> .\VBoxManage.exe modifyvm 0150_default_1465225816011_20737 --paravirtprovider off --hwvirtex off

(Longmode doesn't seem to matter)

But then I ran into this issue: Vagrant stuck connection timeout retrying

Fundamentally, the VM starts a 64-bit system, and if you turn VT-x off, your VM can't boot in 64-bit.

---

The end result was that I needed to UNINSTALL (not just disable) Hyper-V.

It turns out the Hyper-V disables VT-x (and if you do any android development, you've run into this. It sounds like recent versions of windows/Hyper-V can't even be disabled, they must be fully installed.

This option is found in

Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features on or off

More info: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/118561b9-7155-46e3-a874-6a38b35c67fd/hyperv-disables-vtx-for-other-hypervisors?forum=w8itprogeneral

Comments

[AKS]

In my case, after I unchecked Hyper-V box/checkboxes under Turn Windows features on or off section in Control Panel and restarted my machine, running "vagrant up" is still throwing me the same error message. Any ideas! Thanks. stackoverflow.com/questions/37955942/…

[MaddHacker]

Sorry, I'm sure you've figured this out by now, but just in case you haven't @ArunSangal => In Windows 10, you have to fully uninstall Hyper-V in order for it to stop intercepting the requests for VT-x and returning "false" You can't just turn it off. hope that helps...

[AKS]

it's true, I had to do the same.