Are you interested in Virtual Machines, Virtualization, Hypervisor, whatever name you call it and not sure if your Windows box supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V? This post tell you how to find out for yourself.

But, first the big question:

Do you need Intel VT-x or AMD-V based CPU to run Virtual Machines?

The answer is both Yes and No. Intel VT-x or AMD-V capable processors have inbuilt set of processor instruction that can handle virtualization effectively. To be able to use these instruction, they need to be enabled in BIOS. By default they are not enabled. Some say that enabling virtualization in BIOS slows down the performance of the CPU. But these days, the lag is hardly noticeable. My experience is that, enabling Inter VT or AMD-V did not slow down the performance of my computer.

So to give it to you straight, If you plan to run 64 bit virtual machines on your computer, you need a Intel VT-x or AMD-V.. But if you plan to run 32 bit virtual operating system as guest, you don’t need Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU. Any normal CPU would work just fine.

How to check if your CPU has Intel VT-x or AMD-V?

You need to check for Intel VT-x if you are using Intel based CPU and AMD-V if you are using AMD CPU. They are the same technology offered by two different processor manufacturers.

You can check if your CPU has virtualization technology or not right from within Windows OS. All you have to do is to boot your computer if you have not done it already and follow any of the below methods.

First method – Easiest option- Check your Task Manager

If you have Windows 10 or Windows 8 operating system, the easiest way to check is by opening up Task Manager->Performance Tab. You should see Virtualization as shown in the below screenshot. If it is enabled, it means that your CPU supports Virtualization and is currently enabled in BIOS. If it shows disabled, you need to enable it in BIOS. If you don’t see virtualization, it means that your CPU does not support virtualization.

Windows 10 task manager – performance tab – virtualization enabled screenshot

Second method – Check using systeminfo command in windows terminal

Open Windows terminal or command prompt and type the following command:

systeminfo

systeminfo command prompt screenshot

Below is the systeminfo command screenshot in windows terminal. If you see “Yes” for Hyper V requirement properties, encircled in red box, it means that you have Virtualization capable CPU which could either be AMD-V or Intel VT-x. Please note that this method does not tell you which class of CPU(Processor) is present in your computer. All you can deduce from this is that, you have virtualization capable CPU, which could either be Interl VT-x or AMD-V.

systeminfo result Hyper V requirements screenshot

Third method – Use third party utility such as securAble

You can download a utility called SecurAble . This is pretty old software but still it works. It works for both Intel and AMD CPU. All you have to do is to download and run this application. Below screenshot shown you result when you run this utility. If you see hardware virtualization as Yes, it mean that you CPU supports Virtualization.

securable utility run result screenshot

Fourth method- Use utility tool provided by Intel or AMD

Intel and AMD provide their own utility which you will have to download and Run. One you run it, the result dialog box will have an entry for Vitalization. Below is the link for the utility tool for Intel and AMD and their corresponding result screenshot when you run it.

1. Intel
   If you have Intel Chipset, download the utility Intel® Processor Identification Utility – Windows* Version, its a .msi file, so you will have to install it and run. In Intel Technologies tab, under Supported Intel Advanced Processor Technology you should see Intel Virtualization Technology as Yes. If you see this, your CPU supports Virtualization as shown in the below screenshot.
   

   Intel processor identification utility

2. AMD
   If you have AMD chipset, download the utility AMD Virtualization™ Technology and Microsoft® Hyper-V™ System Compatibility Check Utility. Its a .zip file. Extract it and run the amdvhyperv.exe file. This will ask you to allow it to extract files. Say yes and after the extraction is complete, run amdvhyperv.exe again from the extracted folder. You will see something like the below screenshot. Since I ran this on the Intel CPU system, the results fails. If you have AMD CPU and see something like this, it mean that you don’t have AMD CPU that supports Virtualization.If you see a sucess page, it mean that your AMD CPU supports Virtualization.
   

   AMD Hyper -V compatibility check screenshot

Fifth method – Use Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool (Works for Windows 7 and Vista and not for Windows 8 or 10)

If you have Windows 7 or Vista, Microsoft provides a utility tool called Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool to check if your CPU supports Hyper-V, which is a Virtualization software from Microsoft provided for free in Windows pro and above versions. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s alternate to VMware Workstation or Oracle’s Virtual Box. Download this tool (havdetectiontool.exe) and Run it. If you see something like the below screenshot, it means that your processor supports Virtualization.

Microsoft hardware assisted virtualization detection tool screenshot

So, that’s it in this post. Thanks for visiting my website. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.