I'm currently using 64 bit ubuntu 9.10 as my primary operating system. I am trying to run windows 7 as a guest using virtual box. When I try to install the os virtual box gives me an error telling me that my hardware cannot support a 64 bit operating system.

I'm doing this on an hp laptop and I think that may be part of the problem. I looked in the bios and quite frankly hp won't let me modify many settings. I know my processor is capable of hardware virtualization but I believe that hp may have disabled that feature.

I'm not sure how to get it working. If any one could shed some light on my situation I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Chris

Hi,

possibly there is no support for 64-bit OS in virtual machine?

1st what processor model do you have? Some of the models do not have Virtualization technology built in, you need that to run a virtualized 64-bit guest. 2nd If you have a VT model processor what BIOS version are you running you may want to upgrade to the newest BIOS some slightly older 64 bit computers had it turned off by default and only with a BIOS upgrade could you turn it on. 3rd are you using Virtualization software that supports 64-bit.

I did some more looking around and it appears that my processor is not vt enabled so that is for sure the problem. The website I purchased my laptop from claimed that it did so there is some controversy there.

I am now curious as to what other options I have. Can I run a 32 bit guest (windows xp) or is all virtualization now out of the question? Since my hardware doesn't support virtualization are there any other ways or workarounds to get it to work?

Thanks,
Chris

Well I know of no way to virtualize a 64-bit guest without VT, however, all 32 bit guests should work depending on your Virtualization software. HyperV will not work, VirtualBox should work, so should VMWare solutions.

Thank you everyone for your help.

Chris