m17 R3, I9 10980HK - can't find BIOS setting for VTx / VTd

Welcome to the Dell Community @unorthodoxy 

It should be in the BIOS under Advanced Menu.

Virtualization technology.

Best regards,

U2

@unorthodoxy  I don't have that specific system, but the BIOS option might be called something like "Virtualization" rather than specifically VT-x.  It's unlikely that you'd need VT-d, which is virtualization for directed I/O, and if not I'd leave it disabled since malware that can exploit virtualization features in CPUs exists, so there's no point enabling features you won't be using.  Another possibility is that you have another hypervisor installed, such as Virtualbox or Hyper-V.  If so, that might be preventing VMware Workstation from using the CPU's virtualization features even though they're enabled.

@unorthodoxy  Check the Security section. It might be in a submenu too.

@unorthodoxy  Also I’d really recommend that you NOT set your Thunderbolt mode to No Security unless you have a specific need to do that for some Thunderbolt peripheral you’re using. Thunderbolt allows external devices direct access to PCIe, which in turn grants direct access to system memory. That capability can be leveraged by malicious peripherals for some pretty nasty purposes if someone ever gains even temporary physical access to your system. That’s why the default mode is User Authorization.

Thanks for the hints! 

Here are a couple of snapshots of the Main and Advanced BIOS screens. I can't find anything that even looks like it might be the virtualization control.  Any thoughts?

Thanks! 

p.s. - the "Performance Options" on the Advanced screen are Overclocking and Fan control.  Overclocking is off. Advanced

Re: Thunderbolt:

- I have no peripherals of this type, so I just disabled Thunderbolt entirely.   That should do it   

Good thought - but no, it's not in the security section, either. 

I checked with Intel's web site - the processor does support this.   So, the only 2 options I can think of are:

- 1)  the switch for this is in some undocumented location in the Windows or Alienware software, or :

- 2) they just plain forgot to include this in the BIOS.   This happened to me once years ago with an older HP. 

I'm beginning to think a support ticket might be needed... 

@unorthodoxy  Very strange.  If the option wasn't available, I would expect it to be forced enabled, not forced disabled.  Just to get a second data point here, try running HWInfo (https://www.hwinfo.com/download/).  They have a portable version that doesn't require an install.  Does that also show that virtualization is disabled?  This just seems very strange to me, because as you say, the CPU definitely supports virtualization, and on Dell systems I've seen recently, it's enabled by default.  And having it disabled by default with no BIOS option to enable it seems unlikely to me given how long this feature has existed.

As for Thunderbolt, hopefully you remember that you have it disabled if you get a Thunderbolt peripheral later rather than pulling your hair out for a few hours wondering why it doesn't work!  (Not that I've ever been in that position before...)

Right, so does that mean Dell took away your option to turn it off?  I have the same issue but I need to turn my virtualization OFF. The BIOS option is missing tho. I need to be able to use a DMA device for work and there is no way to do that unless I can turn off virtualization.  I paid $3000 for a PC that I might have to buy a different one. Never going Dell again, I can tell you that much.