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jvenuto
Contributor
Contributor

VMware Workstation Pro 14 - Fails To Start Due To CPU Non-Support

Just installed VMware Workstation Pro 14.   It fails to start guest (either 32 or 64 bit Kali distro).  Attempted on Windows 10 Enterprise and Ubunutu 17.04.

No prior issues with same using any prior version.

Pop Up Box Error:

     This host does not support "Intel EPT" hardware assisted MMU virtualization.

     This host does not support virtualizing real mode. The Intel "VMX Unrestricted Guest" feature is necessary to run this virtual machine on an Intel processor.

     Module 'CPUIDEarly' power on failed.

     Failed to start the virtual machine.

51 Replies
TracyHuang
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the posting!

What's your CPU type?

It seems the issue is due to your OLD CPU. Some old CPUs are deprecated in Workstation 14, System Requirements of Workstation 14 can be found in releasenotes -- VMware Workstation 14 Pro Release Notes

jvenuto
Contributor
Contributor

Processor: Intel Xeon X5460

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wice22
Contributor
Contributor

Same issue here

Intel Xeon CPU W3530

so going back to old version ...

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gnietom
Contributor
Contributor

Edit: found it. Add monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "true" to the config ini

Over: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation

Regards.

VM_Michael
Contributor
Contributor

This doesn't work: Add monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "true"

2017-10-02_16-04-59.jpg

Processor:

2017-10-02_16-07-17.jpg

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Hi
I found the tweak

monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "true" 

more or less accidentaly by looking at the WS-binaries. It helped for my XEON cpu but may not help with other types.
Watch this post
@VMware Workstation Product manager : please publish the necessary vmx-file hacks that are required ...

If a lot of folks complain we may be able to persuade the engineers to publish better hacks.
Ulli


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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corsafr
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I have the same issue on my laptop.

I test Workstation 14 but I think I will not buy this version...

I don't understand why Workstation 14 requires only new CPU.

No workarround for it ?

No patch from VMware to solve it ?

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busdriver99
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem. Downloaded Version 12 Demoversion and everything what I wanted to do worked perfectly!

So I bought VMware Workstation but in the meantime Version 14 was out and I received Version 14. But now I get this error and the here suggested workaround doesn't work.

I don't want to replace my computer :smileyangry:

I hope for a solution! Smiley Happy

drueter
Contributor
Contributor

Same problem here.

Add monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "true" in C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation\config.ini DID "work" in that it bypassed the error, but the VM's would not start (no error, but just painfully slow through POST...never made it to boot).

I read https://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_ESX_Intel-EPT-eval.pdf  I understand that things progress...but I think it was a mistake to deprecate these older CPU's.

I do intensive software development and data processing, all day, every day, and most of that in multiple VM's running concurrently in VM Workstation 12.  My hardware keeps up just fine.

Workstation 14 really should have a switch to allow it to run like Workstation 12 without using EPT if it is not available.  Ditching stable useful hardware doesn't seem worthwhile, when the performance gains from EPT may not contribute much to overall performance experienced by users.

I uninstalled Workstation 14, and re-installed Workstation 12...and now I am back in business.

Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67 GHz / 18 GB RAM, Windows 10 x64 host.

Wanderer0123
Contributor
Contributor

This is insane! What kind of a bonehead move is this??? I have a Core i7 and now cant run this software? Seriously? Did a group of you actually sit down and discuss this and say "This is a great idea"???

Clive_Thorne
Contributor
Contributor

I have just encountered this myself. Was really looking forward to having USB3 support at last, 

This just defies comprehension because the VmWare team/management have really shot themslves in the foot with this one. The fix in the config file 'works', but as someone said makes it ridiculously slow to boot (over 2 minutes). Someone at VMware should be loosing their job over this.

I shall be reverting to V12 and recommending anyone I know not to touch V14.

Are you listening VMware people?

wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi Clive_Thorne,

Was really looking forward to having USB3 support at last,

What do you mean?

USB3 support for a Windows 7 guest OS perhaps?

If so then that is available on Workstation 12, but you have to install a driver from intel and I don't think that has changed for Workstation 14.

More modern OS's should have USB3 support out of the box already when using Workstation 12.x,

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Clive_Thorne
Contributor
Contributor

Wila,

Yes that's exactly what I meant, so thanks for pointing out that it can already be done. Fortunately my laptop also has USB 2 ports.

I am only a 'casual' VMware user and had assumed that because because WIn 7 supports USB3 on the native PC (it does on mine at least) that the problem lay with the VMware.

Even less reason to move to V14 now!

Thanks again.

Clive.

APPENDIX:

Just followed that link that you gave me and the instructions say to chnage the USB compatibility in the VM settings to 3.0. However my VM only shows options for 1.1 and 2.0. Perhaps this is where I originally got the idea that 3.0 wasn't supported.

Any ideas ?

Note that this particular VM originates from Vmware V6.5 - would that have anything to do with it?

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

Note that this particular VM originates from Vmware V6.5 - would that have anything to do with it?

Yes, most likely.  In order to take advantage of newer features of Workstation, the virtual hardware of the VM must be 'upgraded' to a newer version.  If it is still on Workstation 6.5x compatibility, then it will not have access to any features added since then.  You can upgrade the virtual hardware in the VM - with the guest powered off, open the VM settings, and you should be able to modify the version compatibility.  I forget the exact setting/location.

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SirWobbyTheFirs
Contributor
Contributor

I've got the same issue, I had the issue during the Tech Preview (Hi Continuum) where my quad-core i7 950 isn't able to be used with Workstation 14, I figured at the time, it was an issue with the tech preview and simply uninstalled and went back to 12. I did try Continuum's idea of adding the monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "TRUE" entry to the VMware config file and found that whilst UEFI based virtual machines would boot, BIOS-based machines wouldn't, in addition, the POST and overall operation of the virtual machine would be tremendously sluggish, I figured it was a beta thing so I uninstalled and went back to 12.

Today, however, I've installed Workstation 14 because I wanted to skip having to manually add the extra entries to the VMX file for the VCSA and upon booting up a UEFI based Windows DNS and DHCP Server that works fine in Workstation 12, I am greeted with the "VMX Unrestricted Guest" error message, I enabled the monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "TRUE" entry to the VMware config file again and tried booting my VM and whilst it starts, again the UEFI POST is sluggish, for curiosity sake, I started up a BIOS-based pfSense virtual machine AND! it took 3 minutes to display the VMware logo during post, going into the BIOS setup, I watched as the screen was drawn line by line incredibly slowly like 1 line per second.

And it continued like that navigating through the BIOS setup menus, going to boot pfSense up, the boot menu that pfSense shows prior to startup was again drawn on screen 1 line per second until the point where it was supposed to display the text for choosing whether I wanted to boot up in Multi-User or Single-User at which point it stopped booting altogether. And again for curiosity sake, I created a fresh pair of VMs, one set to boot up using BIOS and the other set to boot using UEFI, both took incredibly long to progress through their POST and whilst the UEFI machine continued to boot up Windows Server 2012 R2 Setup, the BIOS stalled prior to when the Windows Boot Logo would show up.

VMware, to say you have fluxed up hella bad, is an understatement, the way I see it, if my CPU is good enough to run Windows 10's latest iteration as well as Hyper-V standalone and VirtualBox on an Ubuntu Server installation, then it is clearly good enough to run Workstation.

MikeRNH
Contributor
Contributor

I also just purchased the upgrade to Workstation Pro 14 and have the same issue with the unsupported CPU. I added the below line to the config.ini file and I can now boot my Win 10 VM however it takes an extremely long time to boot - about 5 minutes! This is a horrible situation!

The fix I applied: Add monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "true" in C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation\config.ini

Is anyone from VMware support going to respond to any of these posts? Is anything going to be done to provide a better fix/work-around that doesn't require waiting 5 minutes or more for a VM to boot? Otherwise I am going to downgrade to WS12 and ask for a refund.

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SirWobbyTheFirs
Contributor
Contributor

Update on my Comment:

Rather than wait for VMware to eventually respond saying "Works as intended" I just went ahead and bought a Xeon X5670 from eBay for 43 GBP, I'm getting two extra cores, four extra threads over my i7 950 and I'm also getting a couple of pence back on my electric bill, VMware 14 accepts the chip and I'm sat enjoying the new tweaks and features in the software as well as the general extra snappiness in Windows from the Xeon.

It is a shame that my i7 950 has had to be taken out of service, it has served me well for the past 7 and a half years and had it not been for VMware 14 requiring an upgrade, I'd have been quite content using the chip until this time next decade when Microsoft would have likely dropped support for the latest fad. I only did this because I do need virtualization for my home lab and my work, so I'm hoping VMware 15 doesn't decide to drop support for Westmere because I sure as hell can't afford to build a new tower, neither Blue or Green are looking particular cost-effective these days and I am still super disappointed in VMware to not have communicated this in advance of the tech preview being released and even more so for there not being a check in the installer or indeed the updater that says "This CPU can't run VMware 14, let's warn the user and cancel the install/let's not offer VMware 14 as an update.".

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jcldg
Contributor
Contributor

Hooo sh...t,

I just upgraded to version 14, upgraded the virtual hardware without cloning my VM (Windows 10) - trusting the VMware product and now I cannot boot anymore my VM... .

Thanks to VMware for that great and original idea!

I would have appreciated a window poping up saying "Be carreful, you've got an old CPU and your installed VMs may not boot anymore" during the upgrade.

Now I have to try the tricks described here or wait for a sign from VMware team.

So so sad.

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Raybat
Contributor
Contributor

I am having the same issue. I am going to uninstall and reinstall 12. Vmware was the last company i trusted.

This was why we bought Vmware and didn't use Microsoft's VM software.

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