Easily Enable Intel VT-x in Your Computer’s BIOS or UEFI Firmware

 

Try Uninstalling Hyper-V

If you have Hyper-V installed, it gets greedy and won’t let other virtualization apps access hardware acceleration features. This more often happens with Intel VT-x hardware, but can also happen with AMD-V on occasion. If this is the case, you’ll see an error message in your virtualization app to the effect that Intel VT-x (or AMD-V) is unavailable, even though it is enabled on your computer.

To solve this problem, you just need to uninstall Hyper-V. Hyper-V is an optional Windows feature, so uninstalling it is a little different than uninstalling a regular app. Head to Control Panel > Uninstall a Program. In the “Programs and Features” window, click “Turn Windows features on or off.”

In the “Windows Features” window, clear the “Hyper-V” checkbox and then click “OK.”

When Windows is done uninstalling Hyper-V, you’ll need to restart your PC and then you can try using VirtualBox or VMware again.

Turn Intel VT-x On in Your BIOS or UEFI Firmware

If you have an Intel CPU and uninstalling Hyper-V didn’t solve your problem—or your virtualization app reported that Intel VT-x was disabled—you’ll need to access your computer’s BIOS or UEFI settings. PCs made prior to the release of Windows 8 probably use BIOS. PCs made after Windows 8 came out may use UEFI instead, and the likelihood of using UEFI grows the more modern the PC.

On a BIOS-based system, you’ll access BIOS settings by restarting your PC and pressing the appropriate key right when it first boots. The key you press depends on your PC’s manufacturer, but it’s often the “Delete” or “F2” key. You also will most likely see a message during startup that says something like “Press {Key} to access setup.” If you can’t figure out the right key to get into your BIOS settings, just perform a web search for something like “{computer} {model_number} access BIOS.”

On a UEFI-based computer, you can’t necessarily just press a key while the computer is booting. Instead, you’ll need to follow these instructions to access the UEFI firmware settings from the Windows advanced startup options. Hold down the Shift key as you click Restart in Windows to reboot straight to that menu.

Whether your PC uses BIOS or UEFI, once you’re in the settings menu, you can begin looking around for an option labeled something like “Intel VT-x,” “Intel Virtualization Technology,” “Virtualization Extensions,” “Vanderpool,” or something similar.

Often, you’ll find the option under a “Processor” submenu. That submenu may be located somewhere under a “Chipset,” “Northbridge,” “Advanced Chipset Control,” or “Advanced CPU Configuration” menu.

Enable the option and then select “Save and Exit” or the equivalent feature to save your settings changes and reboot your PC.

After the PC restarts, you can try using VirtualBox or VMware again.