How to enable VT-x on Surface Book 3?

Anonymous
2020-06-19T23:16:41+00:00

I can't run virtual machines on my system because of an apparent lack of support for VT-x.

All these softwares say that VT-x is disabled:

  • Virtualbox
  • VMware Player
  • Intel Processor Identification Utility

I just bought Windows 10 Professional to address the fact that Hyper-V support is non-existent in Windows 10 Home edition so it should be capable of running virtual machines now.

Intel specs on i7-1065G7, the processor of Surface Book 3, is pretty clear about this model supporting Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x).

I just had an Agent from Microsoft Support connect to my computer remotely, dance around and share his conclusion that when systeminfo reports the message below is because, and I quote: "the computer does not really support Hyper-V":

Hyper-V Requirements:      A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.

I mean, really?!? The newest computer that Microsoft sells CAN'T run virtual machines??? That's a deal breaker for me. I might have to return this computer and all the accessories I purchased from Microsoft, including Windows 10 Professional, if this thing can't run VMs.

So I guess the question is: how do I enable VT-x support on Surface Book 3?

Surface | Surface Book | Install and update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2020-06-26T18:32:18+00:00

I spent the greater part of two days fighting against this situation and finally found the solution that worked for me.  Some of the steps seem mutually redundant, but it only worked when I performed *all* of the below (from a clean Windows 10 Pro installation).  I hope it helps you as well:

  1. Turn off Hyper-V.  Run the "Turn Windows features on or off" applet and uncheck the entire "Hyper-V" tree
  2. Disable Credential Guard: Run the "Edit group policy" applet, and navigate to the Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Guard group.  For the "Turn On Virtualization Based Security", set it to "Disabled"
  3. Turn off hypervisor in the boot loader: in PowerShell as Administrator, type 

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

  1. Disable DeviceGuard: run the "Registry Editor" applet and navigate to Computer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > DeviceGuard group.  set the "EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity" to 0, set "RequireMicrosoftSignedBootChain" to 0.  Then navigate further to ... Scenarios > HyperVisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity and set "Enabled" to 0
  2. Disable Memory Integrity: in the Settings Applet, navigate to Update & Security > Windows Security > Device Security > Core Isolation.  Turn the Memory Integrity option "Off"

When you reboot, you should have "Virtualization Based Security: not enabled" and the Intel utility will show VT-x enabled.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-09-05T16:42:17+00:00

    I found another... way to just run vm machines (mainly talking about vmware Ubuntu 20.04 machine). It looks like that is a specific problem of Windows feature version 1909 ( the custom build for surface book 3). Currently, there is not an official release, but I solved this problem through the Beta Channel of my Windows Insider account. The new realease (20H2 Windows features and build 19042.488) seems to bypass the Hyper-V conflict between Device Guard and VMWare virtualization feature. 

    I will do further investigation around the case but for now is enough to run VMs on my brand new machine (i was going to return it because i needed this feature)

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-08-13T10:05:24+00:00

    Latest versions of VMware Player (version 15.5.5 and above) should support running VMs when Hyper-V is turned on if you're running the latest version of Windows.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-14T20:40:25+00:00

    I spent the greater part of two days fighting against this situation and finally found the solution that worked for me.  Some of the steps seem mutually redundant, but it only worked when I performed *all* of the below (from a clean Windows 10 Pro installation).  I hope it helps you as well:

    1. Turn off Hyper-V.  Run the "Turn Windows features on or off" applet and uncheck the entire "Hyper-V" tree
    2. Disable Credential Guard: Run the "Edit group policy" applet, and navigate to the Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Guard group.  For the "Turn On Virtualization Based Security", set it to "Disabled"
    3. Turn off hypervisor in the boot loader: in PowerShell as Administrator, type 

    bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

    1. Disable DeviceGuard: run the "Registry Editor" applet and navigate to Computer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > DeviceGuard group.  set the "EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity" to 0, set "RequireMicrosoftSignedBootChain" to 0.  Then navigate further to ... Scenarios > HyperVisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity and set "Enabled" to 0
    2. Disable Memory Integrity: in the Settings Applet, navigate to Update & Security > Windows Security > Device Security > Core Isolation.  Turn the Memory Integrity option "Off"

    When you reboot, you should have "Virtualization Based Security: not enabled" and the Intel utility will show VT-x enabled.

    What are the security implications disabling all those protections?

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-06-22T07:43:30+00:00

    SB3 runs device guard and credential guard out-of-the-box.  As such trying to run VMware (or similar) means you are trying to run a HyperVisor in a VM (your OS) on a HyperVisor (Device Guard / Credential Guard)... it's also why if you look in Task Manager Virtualisation is on, but in Intel CPU identifier it appears to be off.  It's also why there's no option in the UEFI to enable/disable, MS don't want you disabling it.

    You can turn off Device / Credential Guard but I've no idea what this might do to an SB3 that's very much designed to use it.

    All of the Surface line are meant to be a bit of a "closed-book"... think Apple here... as such I leave it to your judgement as to whether it's the right tool for you.  Personally I run a SB3 and a Dell XPS 15 7590.

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