In order to install Hyper-V, you should make sure your server
supports it by verifying the prerequisites. Failing with the Hyper-V
requirements will result in an error while you install it.
Neither Windows nor Hyper-V offers a tool to verify the prerequisites, but the processor companies created tools such as AMD-V System Compatibility Check and INTEL Processor Identification Utility.
You will see in this recipe how to use them and also how to use the Coreinfo tool to facilitate the process.
In
the following steps, you will see how to verify if your computer meets
the requirements to install Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.
- After downloading and installing the necessary tools as explained in the Getting ready section, install the utility based on your processor.
- For
AMD processors, the AMD-V System Compatibility Check provides the
results for AMD processors, if it supports Hyper-V, as shown in the
following screenshot:
- If
you have an Intel processor, after the Intel Processor Identification
Utility install, you will see three tabs once you run it.
- Select the first tab named Frequency Test to show the highest frequency and speed that your processor can handle.
- Select the second tab named CPU Technologies and check the results for the technologies supported by the processor model such as Virtualization technology, Hyper-Threading and other technologies.
- Then, select the CPUI Data tab to see information such as the Processor type, Family model, Cache sizes, and Data Execution Prevention (Execute Disable Bit).
- For Intel processors, the result will be similar to the one shown in the following screenshot:
- To verify whether the processor supports Second-Level Address Translation (SLAT) or not, use the free tool called Coreinfo.
- After its download, copy it to the chosen directory, then access it through the command prompt and run the command
coreinfo –v. - In
the following screenshot, you can see an example of a computer running
with an AMD processor, the SLAT support, the Hypervisor support, and it
shows that the Hypervisor is not installed.
- With these steps, you have identified whether the computer you want to install Hyper-V on has all its prerequisites.
The
mentioned tools simply verify the processor properties to show if it
has the necessary features to install Hyper-V. One of these features is
the Hardware-assisted virtualization.
This functionality allows Hyper-V to run under privileged access
through a special layer in the processor. In some cases, this feature
must be enabled through the Basic Input-Output System (BIOS).
These three tools also check whether the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is present. Intel calls this feature Intel XD bit (Execute Disable Bit), and for AMD it is AMD NX bit (no execute bit). This feature must be also enabled through the BIOS.
There is a particular prerequisite called Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)
that is shown only by the Coreinfo tool. SLAT is the only requirement
that is optional for Windows Server, but necessary for Windows 8 installations. It provides
better performance by reducing the CPU time and improving the memory
usage in virtual environments. The-v switch used by Coreinfo shows
whether the Hypervisor is enabled, whether it supports virtualization,
and whether your processor supports SLAT. For the last one you will see
an asterisk (*) at Intel Nested Page (NP) tables on the AMD processor and Extended Page Tables (EPT) for Intel processors.
Coreinfo
and both AMD and Intel utilities extract details about the processor
information provided by the BIOS. Sometimes for security reasons these
features can be enabled manually. It is also common in some cases for it
to be necessary to update the BIOS in order to manage these features.
