How to enable hardware virtualization without bios. How to enable virtual technology

How to enable virtualization in BIOS? This was the question asked a large number of users personal computers. Some people have probably heard of this technology, but do not understand what benefits it can provide, or what it actually involves. These issues will be discussed in this article.

What is virtualization?

Before telling you how to enable virtualization support in BIOS, you need to explain what it is. IN computer technologies This term refers to the modeling of hardware using software methods. Thanks to virtualization technology, it is possible to create a certain number of virtual computers, that is, those that are simulated programmatically. In this case, only one is used enough powerful computer physical type.

Main advantages

What's good about virtualization? Here are its main advantages:

Increases the efficiency of hardware use.
Material costs are reduced.
Resource allocation is optimized.
Work safety becomes higher.
Simplified administration.
Increased reliability.

In order to create virtual systems, a special software, which is called a hypervisor. But due to some features of older processors built on Intel architecture, the hypervisor could not use them computing power as efficiently as possible in order to create virtual machines.

For this reason, leading companies developing processors for personal computers have created hardware virtualization technology. It can optimize the operation of processors in such a way as to significantly increase the efficiency of the software for this process. Intel's hardware virtualization support technology is called Intel-VT, while AMD's is called AMD-V.

Principle of operation

The basis is the division of the processor into guest and monitor parts. For example, when switching from the host OS to the guest OS, the processor automatically switches to the guest state. At the same time, it shows the system the register values that it wants to see and that it needs to stable operation. Thus, the processor is a “deceiver”, which relieves the system of all sorts of tricks. The guest OS works directly with the processor, making the virtual machine run much faster than on a PC without virtualization support.

Technology support

Since hardware virtualization is integrated into the central processor, in order for the user to take full advantage of its benefits, it is necessary that his computer also supports this technology at the processor level. In addition, it is also necessary that the technology be implemented by the operating system and BIOS. If the latter supports hardware virtualization, the user has the opportunity to enable or disable it in the settings. Please note that there are chipsets for motherboards that are based on AMD processors, and in which it is not possible to disable support for this technology.

How to enable virtualization in BIOS?

To enable or disable this option in the BIOS there is special function, which is called Virtualization Technology. Typically, this option is found in the CPU or Chipset related sections.

So, how to enable virtualization in BIOS? Very simple. Typically, setting the value to Enabled allows you to enable the technology, and setting it to Disabled allows you to disable it. It must be kept in mind that activating the setting only affects the performance of virtual computers that run within the hypervisor. The performance of all operating system programs is not affected in any way.

Different manufacturers use their own settings, but it is still not difficult to enable virtualization in the BIOS (Asus, Lenovo and others have similar settings).

Conclusion

We found out how to enable virtualization in the BIOS. This technology is a very powerful tool that allows you to expand the capabilities of computers and use the available hardware much more efficiently. Most modern personal computers have processors that have built-in this decision. This improves their performance if virtual machines are used. In addition, most PCs have the ability to configure support for hardware virtualization.

Some users are interested in how to enable virtualization without BIOS. This is impossible to do, since manufacturers hardware They are introducing technology into hardware. And only BIOS has direct access to it.

Virtualization may be necessary for those users who work with various emulators and/or virtual machines. Both of them can work quite well without switching on this parameter, however, if you require high performance while using the emulator, you will have to enable it.

Important Warning

Initially, it is advisable to make sure whether your computer supports virtualization. If it is not there, then you risk simply wasting your time trying to activate it through the BIOS. Many popular emulators and virtual machines warn the user that his computer supports virtualization and if you enable this parameter, the system will work much faster.

If you do not receive such a message when you first launch an emulator/virtual machine, this may mean the following:

Virtualization is already enabled by default (this rarely happens);
Your computer does not support this setting;
The emulator is not able to analyze and notify the user about the possibility of connecting virtualization.

Enable virtualization on an Intel processor

Using these step-by-step instructions, you can activate virtualization (only relevant for computers running on an Intel processor):

Enable virtualization on an AMD processor

The step-by-step instructions in this case look similar:

It’s easy to enable virtualization on your computer; all you need to do is follow step by step instructions. However, if the BIOS does not have the ability to enable this function, then you should not try to do this using third party programs, as this will not give any result, but may worsen the performance of the computer.

We are glad that we were able to help you solve the problem.

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Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) in Windows 10 Enterprise

In Windows 10 Enterprise (and only in this edition) appeared new component Hyper-V called Virtual Secure Mode (VSM). VSM is a protected container (virtual machine) running on a hypervisor and separated from the host Windows 10 and its kernel. Security-critical system components run inside this secure virtual container. No third party code cannot be executed inside VSM, and the integrity of the code is constantly checked for modification. This architecture allows you to protect data in VSM, even if the kernel of the host Windows 10 is compromised, because even the kernel does not have direct access to VSM.

The VSM container cannot be connected to the network, and no one can gain administrative privileges on it. Encryption keys, user authorization data and other information critical from the point of view of compromise can be stored inside the Virtual Secure Mode container. Thus, an attacker will no longer be able to penetrate the corporate infrastructure using locally cached domain user account data.

The following system components can run inside VSM:

LSASS (Local Security Subsystem Service) – a component responsible for authorization and isolation local users(thus the system is protected from attacks like “pass the hash” and utilities like mimikatz). This means that passwords (and/or hashes) of users registered in the system cannot be obtained even by a user with rights local administrator.
Virtual TPM (vTPM) is a synthetic TPM device for guest machines, necessary for encrypting the contents of disks
OS code integrity monitoring system – protecting system code from modification

To be able to use VSM mode, the environment must meet the following hardware requirements:

UEFI support, Secure Boot and Trusted Platform Module(TPM) for safe storage keys
Hardware virtualization support (at least VT-x or AMD-V)

How to enable Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) in Windows 10

Let's look at how to enable Virtual Secure mode Mode Windows 10 (in our example this is Build 10130).

Checking VSM operation

You can make sure that VSM mode is active by the presence of the Secure System process in the task manager.

Or by the event “Credential Guard (Lsalso.exe) was started and will protect LSA credential” in the system log.

VSM Security Testing

So, on machines with VSM mode enabled, we register under the domain name account and as a local administrator we run the following mimikatz command:

mimikatz.exe privilege::debug sekurlsa::logonpasswords exit

We see that LSA is running in isolated environment and user password hashes cannot be obtained.

If the same operation is performed on a machine with VSM disabled, we obtain an NTLM hash of the user's password, which can be used for “pass-the-hash” attacks.

Virtualization technology can improve your computer's performance and allow Nox App Player run more smoothly and quickly.

1. Does your computer support virtualization technology (VT)?

To check if your computer can support VT, simply download LeoMoon CPU-V. This will not only detect whether your processor can support hardware virtualization, but will also detect whether Hardware Virtualization is enabled in the BIOS or not.

If the scan result shows a green check mark under VT-x Supported, it means your computer supports virtualization. If it is a red X, then your computer does not support VT, but you can still install Nox under the installation requirements.

1.If the test result shows a green checkmark under VT-x enabled, then this means that VT is already enabled in your BIOS. If it is a red cross, then do the following actions, to turn on.

2. Determine your BIOS type: Press Win + R to open the “Run” window, type “DXDiag” and click the “OK” button. After this, you will see the BIOS information as shown in the image below.

3.Then find on Google what exactly needs to be done to enable VT for this specific BIOS. Typically, to enter the BIOS you have to press a certain key several times when your computer boots. The assigned key can be any function key or the ESC key depending on the brand of your computer. After logging in BIOS mode, look for VT-x, Intel Virtual Technology or something similar that says "Virtual" and turn it on. After that, turn off your computer, then turn it on again. Virtualization is now enabled and Nox performance App Player got even better.

Attention!!!

If you are running Windows 8 or Windows 10, there may be a conflict between VT and Microsoft Hyper-V technology. Please disable Hyper-V by following these steps: Go to Control Panel->Programs and Features->Turn it on or off Windows functions> uncheck the Hyper-V box.

2.If VT is enabled in the BIOS, but the LeMoon scan result still shows a red cross under VT-x Enabled, then there is a high possibility that your antivirus is blocking this function. For example, let's take Avast antivirus! What you need to do to solve this problem:

1) Open Avast antivirus >> Settings >> Troubleshooting

2)Uncheck Enable virtualization with hardware, then restart your computer.

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Other identical option names: Vanderpool Technology, VT Technology.

The Virtualization Technology option is designed to enable the processor's support for hardware virtualization technology. This option can take only two values – Enabled and Disabled.

What does the term “virtualization” actually mean? Virtualization technology allows a user to have many virtual computers on a single physical computer. Naturally, this approach often has many advantages compared to having several physical computers, primarily in terms of reducing equipment costs and reducing energy consumption.

To create virtual computers, special software is required. The most well-known virtualization software is VMWare and Microsoft Virtual PC.

The heart of any virtualization system is a technology called the dispatcher virtual machines(Virtual Machine Monitor, VMM). This technology provides a solid foundation for managing virtualization. The function of the virtual machine manager (also sometimes called a hypervisor) is to manage computer resources in real time and distribute them between virtual systems. The hypervisor can transfer data between systems and create virtual disks.

Virtual Machine Manager allows you to run on one computer or several operating systems(such virtual operating systems are usually called guest), or several copies of one operating system. Its tasks also include managing memory, processor and input/output device resources in order to distribute them between different virtual computers. In this way, the hypervisor can allow multiple operating systems to share the same processor, making it more efficient.

However for a long time Virtualization technology was based only on software methods, and there was almost no support for it at the hardware level, in particular due to the lack of clear standards. Although one of the first implementations of hardware virtualization was support for the virtual operating mode of the Intel 8086 processor, built into the 80386 processor and subsequent Intel processors (you can learn more about the processors), however, the capabilities of this technology were limited. Today, leading processor manufacturers, Intel and AMD, offer their own virtualization technologies designed for the protected mode of processor operation.

Intel's version of virtualization technology is called VT-x. It appeared in 2005. This technology introduced a number of improvements to server and client platforms to support software virtualization. VT-x technology allows different operating systems and applications to run on independent partitions and can turn a computer into a set of virtual operating systems.

AMD's virtualization technology is called AMD-V. She first appeared in Athlon processors 64 in 2006. This technology allows you to take over some of the tasks performed by the hypervisor programmatically and simplify them thanks to the built-in AMD processors improved set of instructions.

Compared with programmatic method virtualization Hardware virtualization has a number of advantages. The fact is that operating systems designed for Intel platforms, were developed in such a way that the operating system had to have direct access to the computer's hardware resources. Software virtualization emulated necessary equipment, and hardware virtualization technologies allowed the operating system to directly access hardware resources, avoiding any emulation.

Processor virtualization extensions offer new approaches to managing virtualization. Briefly, the essence of the improvements can be described as follows. Operating systems provide different levels access to resources called protection rings. These rings represent a hierarchy of privileges within the architecture computer system. The most privileged level is usually zero. This layer can also access resources directly.

In the traditional Intel x86 architecture, the operating system kernel can directly access the processor at level 0. However, in a software virtualization environment, the guest operating system cannot perform work at level 0 because it is occupied by the hypervisor. Thus, the guest operating system can only run at level 1.

But there is a catch - some processor instructions can only be executed at level 0. This problem can be solved in several ways, but none of them is satisfactory. For example, the operating system can be recompiled to avoid such situations, but this can only be done if source codes of this operating system. This approach is sometimes used and is called paravirtualization.

But in cases where paravirtualization is not possible, another solution is usually used. Virtual Machine Manager simply intercepts necessary instructions guest operating system and replaces them with safe ones. It goes without saying that this approach leads to a significant drop in performance. Accordingly, software virtual machines are often much slower than their real counterparts.

Therefore, hardware virtualization technologies from Intel and AMD not only contain new processor instructions, but also, crucially, allow the use of a new level of privileges. Now the hypervisor can operate at a level lower than zero (this can be denoted as –1), while the guest operating system is given full control over level zero. Thus, the hypervisor was spared unnecessary painstaking work, and the performance of virtual machines increased significantly.

Intel and AMD technologies are not identical in every way, but they offer similar benefits and functionality. In addition to increasing the performance of virtual machines, they allow you to increase the number of virtual machines on one physical system, as well as increase the number of virtual machine users.

Should I include it?

The Virtualization Technology option (sometimes called simply Virtualization) allows the computer user to central processor. Selecting Enabled enables this support, and selecting Disabled disables it.

The Virtualization Technology option should only be enabled if you are using your computer to run virtual machines. Enabling hardware support for virtual machines can significantly improve their performance. However, if virtual machines are not used, enabling the option will not affect the performance of the computer in any way.

That's all today large quantity Modern computer systems are turning their attention to virtualization technologies. True, not everyone clearly understands what it is, why it is needed and how to resolve issues of its inclusion or practical use. Now we will look at how to enable virtualization in the BIOS using the simplest method. Let us immediately note that this technique is applicable to absolutely everyone. existing systems, in particular, to the BIOS and the UEFI system that replaced it.

What is virtualization and why is it needed?

Before we begin to directly solve the problem of how to enable virtualization in the BIOS, let’s look at what this technology is and why it is needed.

The technology itself is intended for use in any operating system of so-called virtual machines, which can emulate real computers with all their hardware and software components. In other words, in the main system you can create a certain one with the selection of a processor, random access memory, video and sound card, network adapter, hard drive, optical media and God knows what else, including the installation of a guest (daughter) “OS”, which will be no different from a real computer terminal.

Types of technologies

If anyone doesn’t know, virtualization technologies were created by leading processor manufacturers - Intel and AMD corporations, which even today cannot share the palm in this area. At the dawn of the era, the created hypervisor (software for managing virtual machines) from Intel did not meet all the performance requirements, which is why development of support began virtual systems, which had to be “hardwired” into the processor chips themselves.

At Intel this technology was called Intel-VT-x, and AMD called it AMD-V. Thus, the support optimized the performance of the central processor without affecting the main system.

It goes without saying what to include this option V presets BIOS should only be used if physical machine It is intended to use a virtual machine, for example, to test programs or predict the behavior of a computer system with various “hardware” components after installing a particular operating system. Otherwise, such support may not be used. In addition, by default it is completely turned off and, as already mentioned, has absolutely no effect on the performance of the main system.

Login to BIOS

As for BIOS systems or UEFI, any computer or laptop has them, regardless of complexity installed equipment. The BIOS itself on a computer is a small chip on motherboard, which is responsible for testing the hardware when the terminal is turned on. In it, despite the memory of only about 1 MB, the basic settings and characteristics of the equipment are saved.

Depending on the BIOS version or manufacturer, entry can be made by several various methods. The most common is to use the Del key immediately after turning on the computer or laptop. However, there are other methods, for example, the F2, F12, etc. keys.

How to enable virtualization in the BIOS in the simplest way?

Now let's define some basic parameters and menus. We start from the fact that you have already entered the BIOS on the computer. There are several main sections here, but in this case we are interested in everything related to the processor chip.

Typically, such options are contained in the Advanced settings menu or in the Security section. They can also be called differently, but, as a rule, it is something like Processor or BIOS Chipset (although other names may also occur).

So, now the question of how to enable virtualization in the BIOS can be taken seriously. In the above sections there is a special line Virtualization Technology (in the case of Intel, the name of the corporation is added to the main name). When you enter the corresponding menu, two available parameter: Enabled and Disabled. As is already clear, the first is the enabled virtualization mode, the second is complete disabling.

The same goes for UEFI systems, in which enabling this option is performed in a completely similar way.

Now that the BIOS has been set to the enabled mode parameter, all that remains is to save the changes (F10 or the Save & Exit Setup command) and press the confirmation key Y, corresponding to the English word Yes. The system reboots with the newly saved parameters starts automatically.

What should you know besides this?

As you can see, the procedure for enabling virtualization in the BIOS is quite simple. However, there are some subtleties to consider here regarding the possible disabling of this function. The point is that when using virtual machines like WMware Virtual Machine, Virtual PC, VirtualBox, or even the native Microsoft module called Hyper-V, this option must be enabled in mandatory even with support enabled Windows components directly in the system settings.

This mostly applies to newer Windows modifications, starting with "seven". In "exp" or "Vista" this is prerequisite is not. Although, if such operating systems are installed on the latest hardware, enabling support may also be required. However, it is unlikely that a user on such a machine will install an obsolete operating system, which will not allow him to “squeeze” the maximum out of the computer hardware that it is capable of. So it’s better to use the latest hardware components in combination not only with the most latest versions operating systems, but also even with diagnostic systems and UEFI controls, which replaced the BIOS that had served for so long.