Upgrading to V14 System Requirements

[DanielPineault]

I was looking into upgrading from V12 to 14 and was reviewing the system requirements.

"Systems using Processors (CPUs) launched in 2011 or later are supported except:

• Intel Atom processors based on the 2011 “Bonnell”  micro-architecture (e.g. Atom Z670/Z650; Atom N570)
• Systems using Intel Atom processors based on the 2012 “Saltwell” micro-architecture (e.g. Atom S1200, Atom D2700/D2500, Atom N2800/N2600.
• Systems using AMD processors based on the “Llano” and “Bobcat” micro-architectures (e.g. code-named “Hondo”, “Ontario”, “Zacate”, “Llano”)

In addition the following are supported:

• Systems using Intel processors based on the 2010 “Westmere” micro-architecture (e.g. Xeon 5600, Xeon 3600, Core i7-970, Core i7-980, Core i7-990)
• 1.3GHz or faster core speed"

So will it run or not on an Intel i5 M430 which came out in 2010?  Does this fall into the "1.3GHz or faster core speed" category?

I called for support and was informed my question was of a technical nature and that they weren't trained to answer such questions?!  Wow.  I was told to download the trial and see for myself, but I don't know if that will mess up my current version and don't want to risk messing that up.

No point making the purchase if it won't run, or isn't supported.

[bluefirestorm]

The i5-430M belongs to the Arrandale family Westmere generation.

https://ark.intel.com/products/43537/Intel-Core-i5-430M-Processor-3M-Cache-2_26-GHz

The feature required from the Westmere generation of CPU is the VMX Unrestricted Guest.

To check for the presence of the VMX Unrestricted Guest feature, you can look at the vmware.log file of any existing VM that you have with version 12 and look at the value of MSR 0x485, bit 5 value should be 1.

For example:

vmx| I125: Common: MSR      0x485 =         0x300481e5

The hexadecimal e5 = binary 1110 : 0101

                                   (bit 7 - bit 4 : bit 3 - bit 0)

Bit 5 is on and the VMX unrestricted guest feature is available.

Bit 5 is the one in bold red as Intel bits start from bit 0, on LSB orientation.

[DanielPineault]

I found this in the VMware.log file

2018-02-26T15:36:28.813-05:00| vmx| I125: Common: MSR      0x485 =            0x401e5

Can you decipher the above for me please.

I believe it converts to

0000 0000 0100 0000 0001 1110 0101

just don't understand which element needs to be equal to 1

and thank you for taking the time to help!

[bluefirestorm · Accepted solution]

The conversion is correct.

The bit position number start at bit 0 from the right-hand side and ascend in number to the left

position 7 6 5 4 : 3 2 1 0

value 1 1 1 0 : 0 1 0 1

So the i5-430M has the VMX Unrestricted Guest feature.

[DanielPineault]

So I'm good to go.  Thank you for your help!

[cparke2]

This is great information, proving that the universe of supported systems is actually larger than the official description of supported CPU's suggests.

However, I have a follow-up question: How can we likewise determine if an AMD processor will technically work with the new VMware correctly?  The MSR code and bitmaps are totally different under AMD.

If it helps, I have an AMD Phenom II X4 B95 processor.  This is an codename "Deneb" processor first released October 2009. Using Linux, /proc/cpuinfo reports the following relevant flags: popcnt svm npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save.  More detailed information can also be obtained using the Linux 'cpuid' command, which basically decodes and prints all the MSR settings also I understand it, or I could directly read the specific MSR needed using the Linux 'rdmsr' command. 

However, I need to know what am I looking for?  What feature (under AMD now) is VMware leveraging that led to the statement that almost all AMD processors released prior to 2011 no longer work in VMware Workstation 14? 

Much appreciation if you can clarify here as well.  Thank you!