Virtualization in BIOS

Question

Hello, Can anyone tell me what the Virtualization setting in the BIOS does for me on my Latitude D620? The description says 'This field specifies whether a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) can utilize the additional hardware capabilities provided by Intel(R) Virtualization Technology.' I'm running Windows XP Pro on this Latitude, and I do tinker with other operating systems using Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007. What I am asking here is what benefits, if any, does enabling this setting do for me? Thanks, Michael

jcn77056 · Answer

I have mine enabled on both my D830 and D630.  VMWare uses it when running virtual machines.  It also enables running 64 bit clients on a 32bit host.  You can read Intel's blurb about it here for the details.   I don't think Virtual PC supports it yet.  Virtual Server might but I'm happy with the free version of VMWare.

Hydralisk00222 · Answer

jcn77056 wrote:

I have mine enabled on both my D830 and D630. VMWare uses it when running virtual machines. It also enables running 64 bit clients on a 32bit host. You can read Intel's blurb about it here for the details.

I don't think Virtual PC supports it yet. Virtual Server might but I'm happy with the free version of VMWare.

Virtual PC + Virtual Server support virtualization.

jhorvath7 · Answer

Sorry for the vague details in this post, but I thought I'd better put this out there at least give a heads-up on a potential problem...   I have a D630 running Vista that I just updated with the A06 BIOS.  After the BIOS update I noticed the virtualization setting for the first time and enabled it, figuring I'll be using a virtual product sooner or later.   When Vista came back up, I started having all sorts of problems... my wireless NIC couldn't find any networks and Vista said their was a problem with the NIC hardware.  I got one error saying the Ready Boost service had died.  I couldn't get into the 'Programs and Features' part of Control Panel at all - it'd sit there and come back with a COM error.  Trying to open Outlook 2007 immediately came back with a dialog saying something along the lines of 'RtlRando entry point not found in ntdll.dll'.   Reboots didn't fix, nor did 'full' shutdowns, where I pulled the power and battery for a minute.   I finally went back into the bios and disabled the Virtualization feature, I booted and everything's been fine.  I can't imagine anything else that could have caused it, and my mediocre Vista knowledge keeps me from saying that BIOS option caused it for certain...  just keep this in mind if you enable that feature and have problems.

jcn77056 · Answer

I don't see this with Windows XP on either a D630 or D830.    Another feather in the cap for Windows ME II.  :smileysurprised:

Hydralisk00222 · Answer

jcn77056 wrote:

Another feather in the cap for Windows ME II. :smileysurprised:

so funny! :smileyindifferent:

when I switched around virtualization on my D620/D630 with vista installed nothing wrong happened.

Message Edited by Hydralisk00222 on 01-23-2008 04:00 PM

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