85

My host is x64 bits Windows 8.1.

I downloaded the latest Virtual Box (4.3) and I'm trying to create a VM with a 64 bits Ubuntu OS (ubuntu-12.04.3-desktop-amd64).

When I go to New VM wizard, it doesn't give me option to select "Ubuntu (x64)" as I have seen in other people's screenshots, only just "Ubuntu". As a result, the ISO can't boot. I tried in another PC and Virtual Box gives the x64 variants to most listed OS...

Control Panel shows x64 OS, x64 processor. My host laptop is a Sony Vaio VPCZ22UGX/N, Intel® Core™ i7-2640M processor. CPUz shows Vx-t is available on my processor, of course.

Here is what I tried so far:

  • I enabled IO APIC as required in the docs.

  • I have virtualization enabled in the BIOS. It works fine in VMware.

  • Check that Hyper-V is not running or even installed on my Windows. Same for VMware.

  • I also tried running the command:

    VBoxManage modifyvm [vmname] --longmode on

for that VM, but no change.. I think the issue is really that I can't select x64 variant of the Ubuntu OS for that VM. Other people seem to indicate that's a requirement, but I don't get that option for some reason.

I spent a lot of time and can't find what's wrong... Anyone knows what could be missing here?

Thank you very much!!

Eduardo

Edy Bourne
  • 983
  • 1
  • 8
  • 11

9 Answers9

45

I ran into the same issue.

Turning off Hyper-v temporarily solved my problem and all 64bit options were available:

I use hyper-v on my laptop. When I know I don't need VMs for the day, I can squeeze a bit more performance out of the machine by turning hyper-v off with:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

and a reboot. To turn it back on:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype on (or auto start)

and reboot.

Source

Rapptz
  • 103
user321898
  • 451
  • 4
  • 2
17

I had the same issue (compatible hardware, options enabled - no way to create a 64 bit VM), and gave up with VirtualBox and gave VMWare Workstation a try. Fortunately, I had a similar yet explicit error asking me to uninstall Hyper-V. Deactivating it is not enough, you have to remove the component from your system. This post was helpful for me : Uninstalling HyperV from Windows 8

To remove the component simply run this command from and admin cmd (credits to @levi-botelho):

Dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Hyper-V
Community
  • 1
Binary9
  • 271
14

VT-x/AMD-v cpus are the way to go.

See this post for more detail.

I successfully enabled this capability in my Thinkpad T420.

Kane
  • 505
4

Because the VT-x setting is typically locked at power on, it is necessary to fully power down the system after changing any VT-x options in the firmware (BIOS/EFI). A simple reboot is not sufficient!

It may be related only for Intel processors

user3132194
  • 251
3

I had a similar issue. Post VT-x in your BIOS and restart, can you try reinstalling VirtualBox? For some reason, the 64-bit option doesn't show up unless you reinstall VirtualBox. I did that and it solved the issue for me.

karel
  • 13,706
SamU
  • 31
1

I had the exact same problem; Hyper-V uninstalled, BIOS/UEFI virtualization enabled, tried forcing the VM to be enabled.

In the end, the solution was quite simple:

When you install VirtualBox with all the correct settings, it will state that only 32 bit guests are available as before. However, if you then restart your computer and try to load VirtualBox again (for me, it crashed twice before loading successfully), the 64 bit options appear out of nowhere.

OMGtechy
  • 297
0

After following the steps that most others had recommended I still wasn't able to move forward; what did it for me was disabling antivirus (in my case Avast). Restarted Virtualbox and voila!

Roy Truelove
  • 332
0

The solution for me was to update my bios. Even though my 2012 bios had the Intel virtualization option, it didn't work for me. I'm guessing it was a mismatch between my bios and my windows drivers. Flashing to the 2014 bios fixed the problem for me. Now I have x64 options all up in my virtual box.

Rafe
  • 179
0

I hadn't realized that the steps for accessing the BIOS had changed in Windows 8.1, but this is the MOST helpful link for this problem!: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-access-the-bios-on-a-windows-8-computer/

Once you enter the BIOS by following the steps from the link above, Enable "SVM" and you should be good to go!

slallen
  • 1