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xebec1
Contributor
Contributor

GNS3 and Virtualized Intel VT-x/EPT not working in Windows 11 and VMWare 16

I am trying to run GNS3. I get this error message: "Virtualized Intel VT-x/EPT is not supported on this platform. Continue without virtualized Intel VT"  GNS3 requires this setting to be enabled.

The workaround is the following method but its still not working: (KB2146361)

-Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System
-Double Click on Device Guard on the right hand side to open.
-Double Click on "Turn On Virtualization Security" to open a new window
-It would be "Not Configured", Select "Disable" and click "Ok"
-Close the Group Policy Editor.
-Restart the system

This gets GNS3 *to work* BUT - it breaks stuff such as Windows System for Linux (WSL). VMWare can you please look to fix this as it was supposed to be fixed in v16.

 

---MY SETTINGS---

Laptop model: Dell Latitude 5510
Windows 11: 21H2 IS Build 22000.1098
VMWare Workstation: 16.2.4 build-20089737
GNS Version: 2.2.34 (latest)
Windows settings: Windows Integrity: Off


BIOS settings enabled:
-Enable Intel Virtualization Technology: Enabled
-Enable VT for Direct I/O: Enabled
-Trusted Execution: Enabled

 

 

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ender_
Expert
Expert

Nested virtualisation support depends on Microsoft adding support for that for 3rd party hypervisors – this is currently not supported yet (even Hyper-V only gained nested virt support on AMD CPUs with Server 2022 and Windows 11).

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xebec1
Contributor
Contributor

So its a Microsoft thing 😞

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rcolliard
Contributor
Contributor

Hello

Problem is that Win11 is keeping Hyper-V enabled most of the time, and this prevents to have VMware Workstation running natively (only way AFAIK, to get Intel VT-x). With Win10 there was this well-known way with:

 

 

To disable:
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

To enable:
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto 

 

requiring each time a reboot. But this is not working with Win11.

On Win11, I was able to get Workstation running in native mode after uninstalling everything requiring HyperV (WSL aka Windows Subsystem Linux, Windows Sandbox, disabling also Windows Defender Core Isolation, etc).

But otherwise there is another solution : use GNS3 Microsoft Hyper-V VM which is ready-to-use
https://gns3.com/software/download-vm

Inside there is some PowerShell script which will deploy the HyperV VM and enabling nested virtualization:
create-vm.ps1

 

 

if ($Manufacturer -eq "GenuineIntel") {
if ($WindowsVersion -eq 10 -and $BuildNumber -lt 14393) {
Write-Error "Hyper-V with nested virtualization is only supported on Windows 10 Anniversary Update (build 10.0.14393) or later" -ErrorAction Stop
}
New-VM -Name "GNS3 VM" -Generation 1 -MemoryStartupBytes 1GB -SwitchName $SwitchName
}
ElseIf ($Manufacturer -eq "AuthenticAMD") {
if ($WindowsVersion -eq 10 -and $BuildNumber -lt 19640) {
Write-Error "Windows 10 (build 10.0.19640) or later is required by Hyper-V to support nested virtualization with AMD processors" -ErrorAction Stop
}

 

With that I was able to do my Network labs on GNS3 on Win11.

 

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