Hi,

What's your system model?

The version of VMWARE and Windows along with the Exact part number of your board is required.

Newer versions of windows Require SLAT 64 bit instructions to run.

The Aurora is not a VMWARE ESX PowerEdge XEON Server.

R4 is not a valid model. What model Alienware do you have?

Thanks for the responses, to answer the questions raised:

The model number Is Aurora R4, VMware Workstation versions 10, 11 & 12 workstation have been tried (on some Dell precisions we have encountered version specific issues with VMware).

The OS is Windows 7 Utimate, but Windows 10 Pro has also been tried.

We have two R4s, bought at the same time, however the builds differ. The one R4 has always run VMware, however I seem to remember enabling Virtualisation in an earlier BIOS version, during the initial setup of the system. The second system has always been used with our developemnt software as a native install, but now we want to use VMware on this system instead but no option for virualisation is available in the BIOS. When the VMWare Guest starts up (all versions), the Host goes to BSOD as soon as the guest OS splash screen appears. 

I'm afraid I don't know how to identify the Mobo part number. The OriginalBuild list is below, I don't know if the Mobo part number is listed here?

Support for Alienware Aurora R4 | Dell UK  

I'll have a look once the current simulation is completed.

Cheers!

Amazon.com: FPV4P Dell Alienware Aurora R4 ALX Intel Desktop Motherboard s2011: Computers & Accessories 

Amazon.com: 7JNH0 Dell Alienware Aurora R4 ALX Intel Desktop Motherboard s2011: Computers & Accessories 

The PWA is the motherboard so this chassis

06G5H : ASSEMBLY, CHASSIS, PWA INTEGRATED, STANDARD, 875, AUR4, IVBE

Dell functional spare part description: MB SVC Kit

(Order for Base 06G5H, V6986, Contains MB 8FMMC - support Ivybridge E) DPK for WIN8 Home

WIN7 - 41DDY

WIN8 Home - KR0CX

WIN8 PRO - TRGPK

I think the 875 means

Intel Core i7 i7-875K 2.93 GHz Processor  (BX80605I7875K) 

FPV4P  7JNH0  8FMMC are Motherboard Numbers for the USA.  Look by the Power Connector for the Label

with QR code.  The Label with the QR code is one place and the other place is by the CPU Socket.

CN-XXXXXX means made in china  MX-XXXXXX means Made in Mexico

It should not be too hard to figure out since you have a working one. I suggest you create a "manifest" spreadsheet between the "VMWare working" Aurora-R4 and the one other one. Documenting things like:

Intel CPU model Installed, and is

- Is Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x) supported ?
- Is Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) supported ?
- Is Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT) supported ?

Motherboard revision

BIOS currently installed
- Available VT options

... things like that.

Once you know the differences, you can re-focus your troubleshooting.

It should be possible to "back-flash" the BIOS if that is the discrepancy. However, there is a "bricking risk" so be very careful (I usually recommend doing it from DOS/FreeDOS).

However, in general ... if a common BIOS option switch is missing on a machine, that sometimes just means the feature is "forced ON" (with no way to Disable) ... not the other way around.

If VMWare crashes on startup, I don't think I would move right to a BIOS problem. There are many other explanations. Surely, VMWare supplies troubleshooting docs ... maybe even a pre-install "VMWare System Readiness" diagnostic utility.

Virtualization Depends on more than Just the Bios,  The CPU and the Chipset, and the OS must also support SLAT etc.   This is why Hyper-visor doesn't work with older units that worked fine with Virtual PC 2007 for XP.   If you upgraded the bios you may have to clear the cmos and then check INTEL TXT and other parameters to see if they are available aka VT-x  VT-d  which may be labeled INTEL Virtualization.

To verify compatibility, open up PowerShell or a command prompt (cmd.exe) and type systeminfo. If all listed Hyper-V requirements have a value of Yes, your system can run the Hyper-V role. If any item returns No, check the requirements listed in this document and make adjustments where possible.

Windows 10 Hyper-V System Requirements | Microsoft Docs 

Although this document does not provide a complete list of Hyper-V compatible hardware, the following items are necessary:

• 64-bit Processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT).
• CPU support for VM Monitor Mode Extension (VT-c on Intel CPU's).
• Minimum of 4 GB memory. As virtual machines share memory with the Hyper-V host, you will need to provide enough memory to handle the expected virtual workload.

The following items will need to be enabled in the system BIOS:

• Virtualization Technology - may have a different label depending on motherboard manufacturer.
• Hardware Enforced Data Execution Prevention.

From the picture below:

BP/N 0FPV4P

CN-0FPV4P-69702-3BD-1004-A00

Hope this helps

Thanks Speedstep,

I tried running the Systeminfo on several of the workstations that I have nearby, but none of them present the information shown in your screenshot for 'Hyper-V Requirements' as I think this reporting feature is not included in the windows 7 version of the tool.

Win7 is being used as the developement software we are using does not currently support Windows. It was a good point raised earlier that (I think) VMware may offer a tool that shows the system support for VMware, so I was intending to try this once I get some downtime on the affected PC.

Thanks Tesla,

The reason the BIOS was thought to be the issue is that earlier versions of the BIOS included an option to enable Virtualisation support. When this setting was disabled (default) Vmware would not work (obvious). Enabling this allowed VM operation, but the option is not avaiable in later version of the BIOS. As far as I know I don't have access to the information regrding the detailed build of each Mobo, so whilst I can catalogue that they are different, I don't think there is anything more I can do with this information. For now I'll look into a tool that con confirm whether the BIOS options are enabled. I also wondered if it would be possible to transfer the funtionality of the Win10 CMD.exe to Win7 without causing other issues?

Windows 7 doesn't have Hyper V that requires windows 8.0 or higher.

It does have XP mode with Windows 7 PRO which is the virtual PC I was referring.

Download Windows XP Mode from Official Microsoft Download Center 

I've installed a windows 10 build and the Systeminfo command shows that the Hyper-V requirements are met as shown in your screen dump above.

So.. I'm now rebuilding onto a clean HDD using a generic (MSDN) Win7 Pro install disk. Hopefully in a day or so the system will be able to run with up-to-date drivers again and I can repeat the test. As previously stated there is no Mb option for VT. I haven't looked for HEDEP, thanks for the reminder.

Phil_654 wrote:

Thanks Tesla,

1. The reason the BIOS was thought to be the issue is that earlier versions of the BIOS included an option to enable Virtualisation support. When this setting was disabled (default) Vmware would not work (obvious). Enabling this allowed VM operation, but the option is not avaiable in later version of the BIOS.

2. As far as I know I don't have access to the information regrding the detailed build of each Mobo, so whilst I can catalogue that they are different, I don't think there is anything more I can do with this information.

3. For now I'll look into a tool that con confirm whether the BIOS options are enabled.

4. I also wondered if it would be possible to transfer the funtionality of the Win10 CMD.exe to Win7 without causing other issues?

1. If you were to post here the results of the manifest survey, I might be able to spot a difference between the working Aurora-R4, and this one.
 
2. I don't think it's the problem, however, while examining both machines, it would be good to document. A tool like CPUz on msinfo32 should display it.

3. Good

4. No, I would not do that. Just clean install either Windows-7/64bit or Windows-10/64bit. Might as well be the same version as the working machine.