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Dead Space 3 - "Cannot run under a Virtual Machine" Error on Surface Pro (Non-VM Device)

Anonymous
2025-05-06T00:47:21+00:00

Hello Support Team,

I recently downloaded and attempted to launch Dead Space 3 on my Surface Pro for the first time. Unfortunately, I encountered the following error:

"Sorry, this application cannot run under a Virtual Machine."

However, I am not using a virtual machine — this is a physical Surface Pro device running Windows 10 Home Edition. All other apps and games function normally.

I suspect this issue might be related to the recent Windows 10 22H2 update or underlying virtualization features that are enabled by default on Surface devices, which may be incorrectly triggering the VM check in the game.

  • Device name: Oliver-surface-pro
  • Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300U CPU @ 2.60GHz
  • RAM: 8.00 GB
  • Storage: 256GB Intel SSDPEBKF256G7
  • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 620 (128 MB)
  • System type: 64-bit OS, x64-based processor
  • OS version: Windows 10 Home, Version 22H2 (Build 19045.5737)
  • Touch support: 10-point multitouch
  • Install date: May 1, 2021
  • Disabled all virtualization-related features in Windows ("Virtual Machine Platform", "Windows Hypervisor Platform")
  • Ran bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off and rebooted
  • Confirmed via systeminfo that Hyper-V is disabled at the OS level

Despite this, the game still fails to launch.

I would really appreciate a workaround or official fix. This is a clean, physical device with no virtualization software installed.

Thanks in advance!

Surface | Surface Pro | Performance and maintenance

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-06-29T05:22:36+00:00

    Hello Oliver,

    Welcome to the Microsoft Community!

    Thank you for reporting the issue where your Surface Pro 5 is mistakenly detected as a virtual machine when running Dead Space 3. Our analysis indicates this problem stems from the game's anti-cheat mechanism being overly sensitive to hardware virtualization flags such as Intel VT-x. Surface devices enable virtualization technology at the firmware level by default to support enterprise-grade security features like memory integrity protection, and this cannot be fully disabled. This design is not incompatible with a physical device environment.

    You have correctly performed system-level virtualization disablement operations including disabling Hyper-V, uninstalling related components, and verification. However, the game may still misjudge the environment through low-level hardware characteristics. Since Microsoft cannot disable the device's core security features via firmware updates, we recommend that you:

    Submit a formal report to the game developer Electronic Arts (EA), explicitly providing your device model (Surface Pro 5, i5-7300U), system version (Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.5737), and attempted solutions, requesting optimization of their virtual machine detection logic;

    Temporarily attempt updating your Intel integrated graphics driver to the latest version, as isolated cases suggest this may alleviate false positives (though not a fundamental fix).

    If the issue persists, please submit an msinfo32 system report through EA technical support channels and emphasize that your physical device is being blocked due to hardware virtualization flags. Microsoft will continue collaborating with partners to advance compatibility improvements, but core fixes must be implemented by the game developer.

    Best Regards,

    Ami | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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