Hyper-V on the Dell Optiplex


With the correct BIOS settings enabled on a E8500 processor (see http://processorfinder.intel.com/ for the processors that support EM64T, Virtualisation and Execute Disable which is needed for Hyper-V to work), and with them and the Trusted Execution property set to On in the BIOS I got the following errors with Hyper-V RC1 on Windows 2008 Enterprise Server RTM (running Server Core):

  • Hyper-V launch failed; Either VMX not present or not enabled in BIOS.
  • Hyper-V launch failed; at least one of the processors in the system does not appear to provide a virtualization platform supported by Hyper-V.

Fixed this by rebooting and pressing F2 to enter the BIOS and disabling the following settings

  • Security > Execute Disable (set to Off)
  • Performance > Virtualization (set to Off)
  • Performance > VT for Direct I/O Access (set to Off)
  • Performance > Trusted Execution (set to Off)

Press Esc and save settings. When the server reboots do a hard power off. Power on, and then in the BIOS again ensure that the following is set:

  • Security > Execute Disable (set to On)
  • Performance > Virtualization (set to On)
  • Performance > VT for Direct I/O Access (set to On)
  • Performance > Trusted Execution (set to Off)

Press Esc and save settings. Hard power off again once the server reboots. Turn power on and let computer boot normally.

At this point I got an Hyper-V error in that the entries in the event log above did not appear anymore, but were replaced by an error indicating that Hyper-V was not installed.

So I removed Hyper-V by running:

  • ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V /uninstall

and reboot.

Reinstall Hyper-V by downloading the latest build and install it using:

  • wusa <filename_of_download.msu>

or if you have the latest build already installed, then reinstall using:

  • ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V

15 responses to “Hyper-V on the Dell Optiplex”

  1. Hi,
    Sorry for my ignorance.. 🙂
    Here’s my question.
    I have a Dell Optiplex 755 with an Intel Dual Core E2200.
    After reading your post,it seems my CPU is not compatible.
    So my question is, if I change my CPU to a E8500, do you think I’ll get the option “Virtualization” as well as the “Trusted Execution” within my BIOS ?
    These 2 options are not present right now.

    Thanks for your help
    Stan

  2. This worked on my Optiplex 755 with an E8400 using Server 2003 and Virtual PC 2007.

    Thanks a bunch for posting this!

  3. It worked on my Optiplex 755 too.
    Don’t forget to shutdown (power off) the machine after you change and save the BIOS settings succesfully though.

  4. Stan,

    Quite simply, yes.

    By replacing the processor those menu options will appear. The BIOS detects what features the processor has and hides/shows menus accordingly.

  5. Hi Brian,
    I have an Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8300 processor. This processor definitely supports the Virtualization techology. But I got the same error message – ” Hyper-V launch failed; at least one of the processors in the system does not appear to provide a virtualization platform supported by Hyper-V.” after installing the Windows Server 2008. I tried the solution given here but I could find only the “Security > Execute Disable” option. The other 3 options are missing. The “Execute Disable”option is set to ON. Any idea why it is failing?

    – SN

  6. When I disable TXT the playback of audio and video stutters. I have a Dell E6500 running Win2008R2. In fact, general performance suffers quite heavily when TXT is disabled, rendering the machine pretty useless. 🙁

    Any thoughts?

  7. As you put your computer through its paces installing and uninstalling software your System folder gathers a ton of DELL files. Over time, you’ll accumulate DELL files you no longer need hogging disk space and causing your system to run sluggishly. Clean System Directory scans your system looking for all references to DELL files in your System directory. When it finds DELL files that have no programs calling them,

    http://www.cheapestcomputerdeals.com/

  8. hi there nice post It’s always my pleasure to read this type of stuff. I am very much interested in these types of topics from childhood and it’s my habit to read this. Thanks for the information, i will surely take a look to this.

  9. son of a….

    i spent 2 days going through blogs just saying “Make sure you do a hard reboot” and im like yeah, i have done 50 of those!!

    This actually helped me get virtual box running on ubuntu on my dell optiplex 755. Thanks so much 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.