Resolved June 2013 13" ultimate configuration - virtualization disabled?

[TigerG]

I have not yet installed Parallels in OS X, but in Windows 8 Pro the OS is reporting that hardware virtualization features are disabled in firmware. Has anyone else experienced this? I may be missing something, but is there an enabler that I have to run or something I do in OS X to enable virtualization? I have the i7, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. I'm having zero issues with Windows except that it appears the VT extensions are off.

I'm not well versed enough on the OS X side to know how to do this or if there is even a way to access the EFI/BIOS settings like VT extensions.

I appreciate any help you can provide!

 

[TigerG]

Apparently all I needed to do was install Parallels on the OS X side and it enabled it. I didn't even create a VM or attach it to my boot camp partition. Strange... Anyway - there is the solution (at least for me).

 

[TigerG]

Ok, so I rebooted after Hyper-V install and it's disabled again. Frustrating...

Any ideas?

 

[sk3tch]

I'm a big VM user - but I use VMware Fusion 5.0...so I'm not sure how helpful my experience will be...but in the Virtual Machine > Settings > Processors & Memory section in VMware Fusion 5.0.3 you can set support for VT-x/EPT to on inside the VM via a checkbox ("Enable hypervisor applications in this virtual machine").

It's interesting that both the i5 and the i7 have equal capabilities in the VM side of the house. Other than speed - there's no reason to opt for i7.

 

[TigerG]

Thanks sk3tch.

I do almost all of my virtualization on the Windows side of my Mac. I did come up with a workaround. This workaround was also submitted by phone to Apple Support when they called me back to help work on the issue.

If I go into OS X and start Parallels and then restart into Windows (but don't shutdown completely) the virtualization extensions are enabled on the Windows side. I can then put it to sleep, reboot multiple times, and generally work it like a mule without issue. BUT... if I shut it down completely the virtualization extensions are disabled again. I believe it is related to the native EFI boot for Windows in the new Air and hope that it can be fixed in a firmware patch.

This workaround will satisfy my needs. It's inconvenient but it solves my issue so I can fulfill the 3 purposes of my new Air: great battery, Hyper-V virtualization, and playing Star Trek Online smoother than my Late 2010 13" Ultimate.

I hope this helps anyone else with virtualization issues.

 

[mmsbludhound]

For the cash-strapped, you may want to use VirtualBox instead of Parallels. Tested it and it works great.