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XPS 8700 virtualization support
I am planning to purchase Dell XPS 8700 with 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4770 Processor. One of my goals is to use Client Hyper-V feature of Windows 8.1 Pro. Can anybody confirm that this system supports hardware virtualization? Thank you Woody
Woody_L
2 Posts
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June 1st, 2015 10:00
What do you mean by „my Win8.1pro cannot install Hyper-V”? I have the same system as you have with the same BIOS version A08. I had no problem to create VM from my old systems: Win 7 Home Premium, Vista Ultimate, XP Pro and Home, Win Server 2003 EE. Below is my “recipe” for creating VM on XPS 8700 – I hope it will work for you as well.
How to create Virtual Machine in Windows 8.1 Pro from existing system
A. Source machine
Clean and defragment all hard disks, from which will be created virtual copy.
Download from technet.microsoft.com program Disk2vhd.
Run Disk2vhd for each HD and create VHD copy preferable on the external HD (external HD as a target will save the time of the files transfer).
B. Target machine
I. System set-up
In BIOS set „Virtualization Technology” as „Enabled”.
Boot system and from the “Start screen” go to the “Turn Windows features on or off” window.
Set „Hyper-V” as „Enabled” (check all positions under “Hyper-V” item: Management Tools” with sub-items and „Platform”).
Reboot.
II. „Virtual Switch” creation
From the “Start screen” run “Hyper-V Manager”.
From the „Actions” panel (left side) select „Virtual Switch Manager” in the subpanel for the „host machine”.
For „New virtual network switch” select „External” and click “Create Virtual Switch”.
Set the name, select “External network” and NIC, which should work with VM.
Click „OK”.
III. VM creation
Transfer all virtual drives (VHD files) created by Disk2VHD program to the target location on the host machine.
From the “Start screen” run “Hyper-V Manager”.
From the „Actions” panel (left side) select „New -> Virtual Machine...” ” in the subpanel for the „host machine”.
Run „New Virtual Machine Wizard”:
Screen 1: Specify Name and Localization (folder) for new VM;
Screen 2: Specify Generation – select 1;
Screen 3: Assign Memory – set size and check “Use Dynamic Memory” if you want to use this type;
Screen 4: Configure Networking – select Virtual Switch created in the step II;
Screen 5: Connect Virtual Hard Disk – select „Use an existing virtual hard disk” and link to VHD with OS for VM (set in point 1);
Screen 6: Summary – check VM set-up and press „Finish”.
After VM creation is completed go to the position „Settings...” for new VM (Actions panel on the left):
Go through the „Hardware” option screens and set all parameters for VM as desired;
Go to „Integration Services” element in the „Management” panel and set all the services as „Enabled”;
Click “OK”.
Go to the option “Connect…” for the new VM – it will open window for it (option „Start...” will run VM in the background).
Run VM using „Power” button – it should start and install all essential virtual drivers.
The guest system (VM operating system) maybe would need some additional drivers available through „Integration Services”. To install them you can do following:
On the host system localize file vmguest.iso (usually it is in the folder: C:\Windows\System32);
In the virtual CD drive for VM attach this file in guest system (VM window Menu toolbar: Media-> DVD Drive-> Insert Disk…);
Run setup.exe from virtual CD drive;
Reboot.
After reboot the guest system (your new Virtual Machine) should run smoothly!!!
Dennis Smith
946 Posts
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April 23rd, 2014 12:00
The XPS 8700 will support HW virtualization. There is also another thread here that goes into a little more detail on it as well.
Sdacia
3 Posts
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May 27th, 2015 18:00
Dell XPS 8700 (I got it in Nov 2014) now has proc. i7-4790 (that must support hyper-v)
BUT my Win8.1pro cannot install Hyper-V.
I blame BIOS A08 (04/16/14). Looks like it does not have separate settings to enable/disable all required items (probably SLAT aka EPT is missing). It has:
CPU XD support (aka DEP) is enabled - check.
"virtualization technology" is enabled (i guess it is aka VMX) - kind of check.
but no SLAT, VT-d, or "trusted execution" bios items.
Dell support is helpless and clueless about Hyper-V.
If anybody was able to run Viper-V on Dell XPS 8700 - can you please share details? (e.g. what BIOS version you have or what settings did you enable?). Sorry, but replies "it works for me" are no use.