VirtualBox will not allow install of 64-bit OS

[scradock]

I am running VBox in Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit; whenever I try to set up a 64-bit ubuntu guest I get a message that I have only a i686 system, so I have to install a 32-bit version instead.

To be more specific:after Loading initrd.gz.....ready I get
"This kernel requires anx86-64 CPU, but only detected an i686 CPU. Unable to boot - please use a kernel apprpriate for your CPU."

My computer has an AMD64 cpu; Maverick is 64-bit through and through; VBox is the 64-bit version 3.2.10 r66523..........

I have tried the OSE version from the repo (3.2.8 ) and the PUEL version from Oracle (3.2.8 and 3.2.10, the latest), making sure to get the 64-bit version each time. Still the same error - it will only accept installation of 32-bit guests.

What am I doing wrong?

[memilanuk]

Sounds somewhat familiar...

Last summer I bought a brandy-new HP desktop, with 64-bit stickers all over the box. It came running Windows Vista 64-bit, so I installed Virtualbox and tried installing the 64-bit version of Ubuntu, with similar results to what you got.

Turns out... just because there is a 64-bit cpu doesn't necessarily mean that the manufacturer turned on the extensions necessary for a 64-bit virtual machine. In my case, HP apparently chose to cripple its consumer desktop models thus.

There might be an off chance that you may be able to turn on the virtual extension features in the bios, but you may be out of luck.

[scradock]

Thanks - the cpu runs 64-bit Ubuntu just fine, so it's not the same problem.

Oracle now claims that VBox can run 64-bit guests in a 32-bit host, with all the virtualization done in software - sounds like a miracle to me, but that's what they claim.

All I want to do is run a 64-bit guest in a 64-bit host - should be a simple enough thing to do - I'm sure lots of people here are doing it all the time.....

[memilanuk]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear... the crippled processors can run a 64-bit *host* OS just fine - doesn't matter if its Windows or Linux. They lack the ability to run 64-bit *guests* - which is exactly what you're having problems with, same as I did.

[scradock]

Ah - that's interesting. I don't see any settings in the BIOS that relate to virtualization - did HP forget them too?

What properties do I look for in the cpu? and where do i find the list?

[memilanuk]

Yep. I was somewhat less than pleased to find that myself. Not enough to take the 'puter back, as I didn't really consider Virtualbox to be my primary use for it at the time, but maybe I should have.

I'm not sure if there is a test that can be run to verify if the cpu has the necessary extensions or not. I'd imagine there is, I just don't know what it is.

BTW, I don't think you'll be able to run KVM either without those 64-bit virtualization bits either.

[NightwishFan]

You will most assuredly need hardware virtualization extensions (amd-vt, vt-x) to run Virtualbox with a 64-bit guest. Generally there should be a bios option to enable them.

Something like qemu can run a 64-bit guest without extensions I believe.