Use SecurAble To Check Whether Processor Possesses VT Support For Windows 7 XP Mode
Specific Windows 7 editions come with optional components called XPM (Windows XP Mode, formally known as VXP (Virtual Windows XP)) and Windows Virtual PC, a virtual PC for Win 7 OS that allows you to run a virtual system for virtualization. You can run and access applications that are installed in virtualized XP instance on your Windows 7 desktop to enable backward compatibility.
XPM is simply a virtual system which runs Windows XP (pre-activated) that uses Windows Virtual PC features. XPM and Virtual PC possess improved functionalities which is why several Windows 7 users wish to have these optional components on their system.
The requirements of Virtual PC on Windows 7 are different as compared to Virtual PC 2007 (Service Pack 1). The main difference is that Windows Virtual PC needs hardware-assisted VT (virtualization technology) support. Microsoft has come up with KB977206 which helps users to hack Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC so that they can be run without any hardware virtualization.
VT is a built-in technology in CPU processors. It is known as Intel VT in Intel chip while it is called AMD-V in AMD processors. This virtualization technology capability is incorporated into a tiny chip which cannot be removed or added manually. Even if your CPU possesses VT, you need to enable the same in BIOS.
A majority of recent CPUs posses default VT operation. However, some of the older CPUs running on OEM PC may not include VT. Without VT support, installation of Virtual PC might not be possible or it might not start working. You will be shown the below mentioned error message in such cases.
“Cannot Start Windows Virtual PC host process. Check the System event log for more details.
Windows Virtual PC requires hardware-assisted virtualization. There is no hardware-assisted virtualization support in the system.”
To check whether your processor supports VT, you would normally go through the list of Intel processor features or features list of AMD CPU. However, this might be pretty time consuming. Instead of doing so, you may confirm whether or not your processor supports VT by making use of SecurAble.
SecurAble is a useful utility that displays the status of maximum bit length of your CPU, its DEP as well as virtualization support. You need to simply download SecurAble and directly run it. It does not require any installation. It will quickly display the status of hardware-assisted VT feature of your CPU. If it shows the status as “Locked On” or “Yes”, it means that you are free to use Windows Virtual PC.
In case it shows “No”, it means the CPU does not support VT feature. However, if you see the status as “Locked Off”, it means that VT support is not enabled in BIOS. In such a situation, all you need to do is, restart the system, go to BIOS configuration and turn on or enable the hardware virtualization support.
In case the hardware virtualization support is locked off or disabled in BIOS, you will see the below mentioned error when you try to run Windows Virtual PC component on your Windows 7 system.
“Virtual machine could not be started because hardware-assisted virtualization is disabled. Please enable hardware virtualization in the BIOS settings and try again.”
Apart from SecurAble, Microsoft’s HAV Tool is another utility that helps you detect the status of hardware-assisted virtualization support in your CPU.