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.