VMware Cloud Community
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

"Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS option" - does it work for ESXi 5.5?

Hello everybody! Please help with some option in vSphere (5.5). We have 2 VMware hosts - 6.5 and 5.5. So the 6.5 has a web-interface and when I create VM I can choose option "Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS". It makes my VM works much more faster. But I can't find the same option in vSphere 5.5. Is it possible to enable it for the VMware ESXi 5.5 host? Thank you for answers.

P.S. Some screenshots attached.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

And how can I check hardware option is working inside of VM? Is it some utility to check this?

Externally, you can look at the vmware.log file of the VM upon powerup. There should be section called

vmx| I125: FeatureCompat: Requirements:

You should find these entries if the hardware assisted virtualisation features is powered up along with the VM.

vmx| I125: VM Features Required: cpuid.VMX - Bool:Min:1

vmx| I125: VM Features Required: hv.capable - Bool:Min:1

Within the VM, depending on the OS,

For Windows, you can use an utility such as CPU-Z and VT-x should show up in the Instructions box.

For Linux, you can go to Terminal

cat proc/cpuinfo | grep vmx

vmx should appear in the flags section

You should try to edit using vi from the ESXi command line and ensure the VM is powered down (not suspended).

View solution in original post

19 Replies
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

This option in 5.5 is availabe in vcenter's web client.

If you don't have it, add the following line into vmx file

vhv.enable = “TRUE

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

So adding this line will enable option just in vSphere 5.5? And don't need vcenter's web client?

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

when you mark this checkbox in web client it just adds this line into vmx, nothing more Smiley Happy

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Please look at this 🙂 - this is vmx-file from ESXi 6.5 (and option "Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS option" is enabled):

---

vhv.hwv8 = "TRUE"

---

So should I write exactly as in this example? I mean /vhv.hwv8="TRUE"/? As far as I understand hwv8 - version of virtual machine, right?

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

No you don't need to do that.

Read the following article from William Lam and also make an upgrade of virtual HW from 8 to the latest version.

https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/08/how-to-enable-nested-esxi-other.html

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Excuse me, trying URL:

https://host_IP:9443/vsphere-client

But I receive just timeout. What is wrong with my host? It responds with https://host_IP only. So I can download vSphere 5.5 client only (not web). How to fix it?

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

This URL is valid for vcenter and it's web client only. You can't open this URL on ESXi host.

I've pasted the link for you so you could read the option a mentioned in the begining.

All that you need with a VM on your 5.5 host is:

1. Update virtual HW.

2. Add advanced parameter for a VM.

That's all.

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

And how can I check hardware option is working inside of VM? Is it some utility to check this? Thank you.

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

Not sure how it can be checked from a VM perspective.

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

OK, will try 🙂

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

"2. Add advanced parameter for a VM."

Please look - is it correct?

pastedImage_0.png

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

Yes, looks fine.

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Strange but this option doesn't save... Just mounted ISO (Win7 distr) and parameter has been disappeared:

pastedImage_0.png

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

I would recommend to check this parameter in VMX directly from the command line.

As well you can add it from the CLI manually when VM is powered off.

Reply
0 Kudos
bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

And how can I check hardware option is working inside of VM? Is it some utility to check this?

Externally, you can look at the vmware.log file of the VM upon powerup. There should be section called

vmx| I125: FeatureCompat: Requirements:

You should find these entries if the hardware assisted virtualisation features is powered up along with the VM.

vmx| I125: VM Features Required: cpuid.VMX - Bool:Min:1

vmx| I125: VM Features Required: hv.capable - Bool:Min:1

Within the VM, depending on the OS,

For Windows, you can use an utility such as CPU-Z and VT-x should show up in the Instructions box.

For Linux, you can go to Terminal

cat proc/cpuinfo | grep vmx

vmx should appear in the flags section

You should try to edit using vi from the ESXi command line and ensure the VM is powered down (not suspended).

shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Thank you for advices - I enabled this option using MS Word to edit .vmx-file:

---------

.encoding = "UTF-8"

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "8"

nvram = "test_vt-x.nvram"

pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"

svga.present = "TRUE"

pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"

pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"

pciBridge4.functions = "8"

pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"

pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"

pciBridge5.functions = "8"

pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"

pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"

pciBridge6.functions = "8"

pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"

pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"

pciBridge7.functions = "8"

vmci0.present = "TRUE"

hpet0.present = "TRUE"

displayName = "test_vt-x"

extendedConfigFile = "test_vt-x.vmxf"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

numvcpus = "4"

vhv.enable = "TRUE"

cpuid.coresPerSocket = "4"

memSize = "2048"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.startConnected = "FALSE"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

ide1:0.clientDevice = "TRUE"

---------

And this is Intel utility to check virtualization has been enabled:

pastedImage_3.png

So the final question is: can I enable this option for all virtual machines on my host? May be it will make unstable some machines under high load CPU?

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

Usually you need to enable this feature when you want to install nested hypervisor or you have an application which requires these feature to be enabled.

Reply
0 Kudos
shupike
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Is there a limit of such machines per one host? I mean - ESXi 5.5.

Reply
0 Kudos
Finikiez
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

No, there is no limit.

Reply
0 Kudos