Start a Conversation

Unsolved

M

2 Posts

1835

December 20th, 2018 18:00

Help With Bios-Virtualization and possible mismatch on ver.

Backstory: This tower was purchased at a pawnshop a couple of years ago.

Specs: Alienware, Product: 04vfw2, version: a01, running with a11 bios

I want to use this machine for virtualization and can run oraclebox just fine. My organization uses vmware and I want to simulate some of that environment. According to Intel's documentation this processor should be able to.

When I try to install VMware Workstation Player, it informs me that my CPU isn't capable of virtualization, but I have the oraclebox thing working for me, so that's a little confusing.

I have tried with the xd bit both enabled and disabled. Some forums have led me to believe a bios update may be in order so in that search I have hit a bit of weirdness. When I use my service tag for support it gives an a04 bios update that has a later date for service than the a11. Also I'm wondering why a11 could be installed instead of the manufacturer suggested software.

I have attempted the a04 update to my bios where it informed me that a later version is already installed (a11), but the service date can't be later than the a04 from what I could tell.

Thanks for reading this and for any information that you could share, I'm utterly confused and don't want to brick my machine, but really want to get vmware working like Intel suggests should be possible.

Side note:It took some time to determine it was an r1. Using Wikipedia and a list of aurora releases helped determine that, but if that isn't the end all be all, please let me know.

December 20th, 2018 18:00

And as far as I can tell the bios number goes up with revision. Everything suggests a11 is the latest, but I am still unsure.

9 Legend

 • 

47K Posts

December 21st, 2018 10:00

Dell part numbers are NOT specs.

Dell Alienware Aurora ALX Motherboard 4VWF2 MS-7591 CN-04VWF2

This is a VERY EARLY LGA 1366 Aurora.

This is not an ESX Server so virtualization would be VT-X end of story.

You cannot have future features in a vaacuum tube PC.

This system WILL NOT RUN current Microsoft Virtualization Hyper-V or VMWARE virtualization.   SLAT is not supported nor is VT-D and INTEL Security etc.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/system-requirements-for-hyper-v-on-windows

You need newer hardware to use shielded virtual machines or discrete device assignment. Those features rely on specific hardware support, as described below. Other than that, the main difference in hardware is that second-level address translation (SLAT) is now required instead of recommended.  This system is more than 10 years behind the curve and is not UEFI its old Bios for windows VISTA and 7.

For details about maximum supported configurations for Hyper-V, such as the number of running virtual machines, see Plan for Hyper-V scalability in Windows Server 2016. The list of operating systems you can run in your virtual machines is covered in Supported Windows guest operating systems for Hyper-V on Windows Server.

AURORA R1AURORA R1

 

No Events found!

Top