Cannot boot with Virtualization enabled in the BIOS

Hope someone here can help as extensive searching on the web has not.

I am trying to use the Core Isolation feature but this needs Virtualization to be enabled in the BIOS. When it is enabled the boot process display the vendor logo but the spinning circle of dots from Windows never appear. Reboot, disable Virtualization and all is well.

Various combinations of other BIOS settings such as Secure Boot, Legacy Support, Disable USB boot make no different.

My newer HP desktop PC has a similar BIOS interface to this HP laptop, and enabling Virtualization there is fine and results in Core Isolation being available. Both are running Windows Home versions, but the desktop is still on Win 10.

I have also tried enabling it and booting from a Windows setup .iso on a USB stick but the boot process stops at the vendor logo.

It is not essential to have this working but I want the option. Any suggestions?

I had an OOOOOOOLD X58 motherboard from eVGA - in the BIOS enabling Virtualization actually disabled it. it was a known issue but never actually fixed.

With your system as it is, what does GRC's Securable say about your system?

It does not seem that I have that bug.

Running Core Isolation with Virtualization disabled:


From Securable:

But you're trying to enable it in the UEFI firmware settings, and so right now it is *disabled*, right?

And yet Securable says it is enabled....

Of course, Securable is also very old, and the fact that it also shows my current system backward may be a sign it's not actually working like it should be.

On my system, Securable says disabled, whereas it shows as enabled in Task Manager (Performance tab, CPU selected).

I used to have a very very old small bootable .ISO that would also check the presence of Virtualization, but cannot find it.

I'm assuming that the machine you have listed in My computer is the one exhibiting the issue? Is it updated to the latest fw version?

I believe that Securable is stating the the processor is capable, but not specifically stating that it is turned on.
The BIOS is current, and My computer is the one with the issue. Task Manager shows Virtualization as disabled, and Hyper-V support as Yes.

From the Intel utility:

Well, it states a clear no on my machine, and not only is it capable, it is enabled.






And using this utility Download AMD Virtualization Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V System Compatibility Check Utility 6.1.7600.6 you can see it officially supports it as well.



So, I'm not sure what is going on.

But in your case, when you enabled your VT in your UEFI settings, was it VT-d or Vt-x?


Also Fix: VT-X/AMD-V Hardware Acceleration is Not Available on Your System - Appuals.com

All of which gets right back to where you are now - enabling it prevents boot for you. So, maybe you need to disable Hyper-V support in the OS (if it is enabled), first, per the article from appuals, then enable the virtualization in the UEFI settings and see if it let's you boot.

This is getting more complicated than it needs to be. Might be a good idea to take a picture with a camera when you;'re in the UEFI settings to show what you're enabling where and maybe there is something else that also needs to be enabled in order for it all to work - but we'd have to see it first.

John: thanks for your interaction, it gave me the motivation to deep dive the problem. I have now learned more about Safe Mode and the boot log file than I really wanted to.
What confused me was after enabling Virtualization neither Windows on the PC or a Windows setup USB would boot. Today I tried a Macrium Reflect USB and that booted. This led to believe that it was something in Windows, especially as nobody else seemed to have the problem, but why would the Windows setup not work?
The next stage was to try Safe Mode, and was pleased to find that this booted. It was then down to comparing the boot log from various attempts, and I was thinking that some driver was having an issue. Lots of entries in the Startup list but nothing obvious.
Then an entry in the boot log caught my eye, Trusteer Rapport. It is a program recommended by banks to help prevent malicious activity when doing online backing. Uninstalled it, shut down, enable Virtualization, and Windows booted. Yeah! Then tried to reinstall Trusteer Rapport and popup box said it cannot be installed because it causes security or performance issues on Windows. Seems like it tries to make some deep links into Windows.
So all is well after spending nearly a week in research and tests.

Awesome news. It's been a very, very long time since I even heard about trusteer, let alone saw it, and never would have guessed that you had it installed. Glad you were motivated to go digging around in the system and that you were able to find the cause.

Enjoy the virtualization!

Just found this forum and I'll certainly be posting off and on. I have an Eluktronics Max-17 Intel laptop where I am dual booting (on a 4 TB SSD) Manjao Linux 21 (Gnome 40) and Windows 11, which I just reset (due to playing with the Start 11 beta). On Manjaro I am running VMware 16 (also without the VMware Server - don't believe VMware 15.5 will install on the newest kernel and now I'm running Linux 5.14 rc7), VirtualBox 6.1, QEMU/KVM and Gnome Boxes - all with Windows 11 VMs. I'll do more playing with VMware and Hyper-V on Windows 11 (and WSL) by and by. Thanks to all for these discussions.