How to find out if Intel VT-x or AMD-V Virtualization Technology is supported in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine



Are you interested in Virtual Machines, Virtualization, Hypervisor, whatever name you call it and not sure if your Windows box supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V? This post tell you how to find out for yourself.

But, first the big question:

Do you need Intel VT-x or AMD-V based CPU to run Virtual Machines?

The answer is both Yes and No. Intel VT-x or AMD-V capable processors have inbuilt set of processor instruction that can handle virtualization effectively. To be able to use these instruction, they need to be enabled in BIOS. By default they are not enabled. Some say that enabling virtualization in BIOS slows down the performance of the CPU. But these days, the lag is hardly noticeable. My experience is that, enabling Inter VT or AMD-V did not slow down the performance of my computer.

So to give it to you straight, If you plan to run 64 bit virtual machines on your computer, you need a Intel VT-x or AMD-V.. But if you plan to run 32 bit virtual operating system as guest, you don’t need Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU. Any normal CPU would work just fine.

How to check if your CPU has Intel VT-x or AMD-V?

You need to check for Intel VT-x if you are using Intel based CPU and AMD-V if you are using AMD CPU. They are the same technology offered by two different processor manufacturers.

You can check if your CPU has virtualization technology or not right from within Windows OS. All you have to do is to boot your computer if you have not done it already and follow any of the below methods.

For Windows 7 and Vista, follow from Method third onward. Method first and second is not applicable to Windows 7 and Vista. They work for Windows 8 and 10.

First method – Easiest option- Check your Task Manager

If you have Windows 10 or Windows 8 operating system, the easiest way to check is by opening up Task Manager->Performance Tab. You should see Virtualization as shown in the below screenshot. If it is enabled, it means that your CPU supports Virtualization and is currently enabled in BIOS. If it shows disabled, you need to enable it in BIOS. If you don’t see virtualization, it means that your CPU does not support virtualization.

Windows 10 task manager - performance tab - virtualization enabled screenshot

Windows 10 task manager – performance tab – virtualization enabled screenshot

Second method – Check using systeminfo command in windows terminal

Open Windows terminal or command prompt and type the following command:

systeminfo

systeminfo command prompt screenshot

systeminfo command prompt screenshot

Below is the systeminfo command screenshot in windows terminal. If you see “Yes” for Hyper V requirement properties, encircled in red box, it means that you have Virtualization capable CPU which could either be AMD-V or Intel VT-x. Please note that this method does not tell you which class of CPU(Processor) is present in your computer. All you can deduce from this is that, you have virtualization capable CPU, which could either be Interl VT-x or AMD-V.

systeminfo result Hyper V requirements screenshot

systeminfo result Hyper V requirements screenshot

Third method – Use third party utility such as securAble

You can download a utility called SecurAble . This is pretty old software but still it works. It works for both Intel and AMD CPU. All you have to do is to download and run this application. Below screenshot shown you result when you run this utility. If you see hardware virtualization as Yes, it mean that you CPU supports Virtualization.

securable utility run result screenshot

securable utility run result screenshot

Fourth method- Use utility tool provided by Intel or AMD

Intel and AMD provide their own utility which you will have to download and Run. One you run it, the result dialog box will have an entry for Vitalization. Below is the link for the utility tool for Intel and AMD and their corresponding result screenshot when you run it.

  1. Intel
    If you have Intel Chipset, download the utility Intel® Processor Identification Utility – Windows* Version, its a .msi file, so you will have to install it and run. In Intel Technologies tab, under Supported Intel Advanced Processor Technology you should see Intel Virtualization Technology as Yes. If you see this, your CPU supports Virtualization as shown in the below screenshot.

    Intel processor identification utilityIntel processor identification utility

    Intel processor identification utility

  2. AMD
    If you have AMD chipset, download the utility AMD Virtualization™ Technology and Microsoft® Hyper-V™ System Compatibility Check Utility. Its a .zip file. Extract it and run the amdvhyperv.exe file. This will ask you to allow it to extract files. Say yes and after the extraction is complete, run amdvhyperv.exe again from the extracted folder. You will see something like the below screenshot. Since I ran this on the Intel CPU system, the results fails. If you have AMD CPU and see something like this, it mean that you don’t have AMD CPU that supports Virtualization.If you see a sucess page, it mean that your AMD CPU supports Virtualization.

    AMD Hyper -V compatibility check screenshot

    AMD Hyper -V compatibility check screenshot

Fifth method – Use Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool (Works for Windows 7 and Vista and not for Windows 8 or 10)

If you have Windows 7 or Vista, Microsoft provides a utility tool called Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool to check if your CPU supports Hyper-V, which is a Virtualization software from Microsoft provided for free in Windows pro and above versions. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s alternate to VMware Workstation or Oracle’s Virtual Box. Download this tool (havdetectiontool.exe) and Run it. If you see something like the below screenshot, it means that your processor supports Virtualization.

Microsoft hardware assisted virtualization detection tool screenshot

Microsoft hardware assisted virtualization detection tool screenshot

So, that’s it in this post. Thanks for visiting my website. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

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Underneath a boring IT professional lies a passionate student of computer science. I love computers and this blog is about everyday computer issues that a common man faces. Through this blog I try to reconnect with my long forgotten self.

Show 26 Comments
  • jeeva March 25, 2022, 9:55 am Link Reply

    hello sir!! my cpu shows virtualixation is not capable so i cant understand the meaning. my pc support virtualization or not??

  • Lawrence July 14, 2020, 4:36 pm Link Reply

    “Virtualization Locked Off”

    “This processor’s advanced hardware support for virtualization has been disabled and “locked off” by some external influence – most likely by this system’s BIOS as the system was booting. Since enabling hardware virtualization will allow faster and more secure virtual machines and their hosting operating systems to run at 100% full speed, you may wish to poke around in your system’s BIOS to see whether you’re able to find any references to “hardware virtualization” or “VMX”, etc.”

    What should i do? please help

  • TnK June 8, 2020, 10:43 pm Link Reply

    Awesome site, thank you for posting this complete info about virtualization helped me a lot ^^

  • Madu alloysius Ifeanyi May 21, 2020, 6:42 pm Link Reply

    My Toshiba satellite c855d-s5202 supports virtualization but it’s disabled.
    And there’s no option in the BIOS to enable it
    BIOS version6.20 please help

  • Mark April 18, 2020, 3:15 am Link Reply

    Good Afternoon Shailesh,

    I typed systeminfo at the command prompt as you suggested. I get:
    Hyper-V Requirements: VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes
    Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: Yes
    Second Level Address Translation: Yes
    Data Execution Prevention Available: Yes
    However, when I try to create a virtual device in Android Studio, the software tells me my computer does not support virtualization.
    More system info:
    System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
    System Model: Satellite C55Dt-A
    System Type: x64-based PC
    Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.
    [01]: AMD64 Family 22 Model 0 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~2000 Mhz
    BIOS Version: Insyde Corp. 1.80, 1/27/2014
    How do I enter bios -> config -> SVM enable at the command prompt? I will investigate all of this further and get back to you. Thank you for your helpful article!

    Regards,

    Mark

  • Geeta April 13, 2020, 5:36 pm Link Reply

    Thanks. Very Helpful

  • Bookes March 12, 2020, 11:02 pm Link Reply

    Thanks for this article.
    I just checked my computer and the virtualization is disabled. How do I enable it?
    Please respond ASAP! Thank you.

  • Anonymous December 20, 2019, 3:01 pm Link Reply

    Thank you for the help. I really appreciate it.

  • willie-gee November 20, 2019, 1:53 am Link Reply

    please i really need your help,,,how can i enable bios on my laptop?

  • Utkarsh Agrawal November 11, 2019, 11:44 am Link Reply

    Thankyou so much. It helped me a lot.

  • NitishArora April 12, 2019, 5:56 pm Link Reply

    hii please help me my
    Acer Aspire E1-421 laptop Virtualization is disable how to enable
    in my bios is not show virtualization option
    plzzzzzzzzz help me 🙁

    • Shailesh Jha April 12, 2019, 8:10 pm Link Reply

      Try this:

      bios -> config -> SVM enable.

      • Avishka December 20, 2020, 1:27 am Link Reply

        there is no virtulization or svm in my laptop bios.what should i do

      • Avishka December 20, 2020, 1:27 am Link Reply

        there is no virtulization or svm in my laptop bios.what should i do
        AMD prosessor,Toshiba satellite

  • Sukh February 12, 2019, 10:12 pm Link Reply

    How to I enable vt-x? All I see is vt-d and my program I wanna run says to disable vt-d and enable vt-x

    • Shailesh Jha February 13, 2019, 10:36 am Link Reply

      Which program is that? VT-x or VT-d can be enabled or disabled through your BIOS only and its a Processor level feature. Check you processor manual to find if it supports VT-x or VT-d. If you laptop supports it, you will have the option to enable or disable it from BIOS.

  • kelvin October 8, 2018, 6:51 am Link Reply

    Please my Cup does not supported virtualization . Please how can i install Kali Linux it .

  • autocorrect off April 29, 2018, 5:19 pm Link Reply

    cool. thanks. virtualization: enabled. docker here i come

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