running 64-bit guest on 32-bit host

[cyberfish]

Hi,

I have been using VMware for some months now, and just had a strange idea today.

Is it possible to run 64-bit guests on 32-bit hosts? (Both Linuxes in particular)

My common sense tells me thats not possible, but all the pages on the VMware site on 64-bit seem to only list a 64-bit CPU as the requirement, and that made me wonder...

Thank you,

Matthew Lai

[admin · Accepted solution]

Yes, it is possible and supported.

We only require that your hardware meet the requirements for running 64-bit guests. We don't care if your host OS is 32-bit.

The hardware requirement is that we require an AMD Rev F chip or later, or Intel EM64T chip with VT extensions, in order to run the guest. Note that these requirements are more strict than what is required to run a lot of 64-bit host OSes. For example pre-Rev-F AMD chips can run Windows XP x64 or RHEL5 x64, but cannot run 64-bit guests (regardless of the host or guest OS type).

[cyberfish]

Thank you for your reply.

I see.

[admin]

Note that pretty much any new chip from Intel or AMD that's shipped in the last ~18 months or so (ballpark) meets all of these requirements. Also, we have a utility available for download that will tell you specifically if your hardware can run 64-bit guests:

http://download3.vmware.com/software/wkst/VMware-guest64check-6.0.0-45731

Finally, this document has more information about our specific 64-bit guest requirements including an explanation of what this utility actually does:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/processor_check.pdf

[cyberfish]

Thank you.

I think my CPU is supported (Core 2 Duo T7300 with VT).

[miefi]

Although it is possible, is it faster to have 64 bit host OS than 32 bit host OS when guest OS is 64 bit?