Does My Processor Support Intel® Virtualization Technology?

Documentation

Compatibility

000005486

07/13/2022

Intel® Virtualization Technology abstracts hardware that allows multiple workloads to share a common set of resources. On shared virtualized hardware, a variety of workloads can co-locate while maintaining full isolation from each other, freely migrate across infrastructures, and scale as needed.

Intel® Virtualization Technology requires a computer system with the following elements. Contact your vendor for more information.

  • A processor
  • Chipset
  • BIOS
  • Operating system
  • Device drivers

Here is the list of all Intel® Processors supporting Intel® Virtualization Technology

To find out if your Intel® processor supports Intel® Virtualization Technology, use one of the options below:

Q: How can I check if my Intel processor supports Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) ?

  1. Identify your Intel® processor. Refer to How to Identify My Intel® Processor?
    • Press the Windows key and the letter S at the same time. Windows plus S
    • Type system Information.
    • Also, you can click the Windows Key Windows key, and start typing System Information.
    • Make note of your processor number, located under Processor.
  2. Visit the product specification site (ark.intel.com). Enter the number of the processor in the search box located on the right side.

    On the processor product page, and under Security & Reliability, check to see if Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) is supported.

    Using Intel® Core™ i7-12700K processor as an example:

    1. Enter the number of the processors in the search box.

      Enter the number of the processors in the search box

    2. On the specification page for the processors, and under Security & Reliability, look for the Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) field.

      Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x) field

Q: How do I enable or disable Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)?

With a VT-x supported Intel® Processor and a VT-x supported BIOS, VT-x can be enabled or disabled in BIOS. Refer to your motherboard vendor for exact instructions if the option is not available in BIOS.

Q: My processor supports Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) but I am unable to enable it in the BIOS.

If the processor supports VT-x but the option to enable or disabled in BIOS is available, contact your motherboard vendor to see how to get that option enabled.

Q: How can I tell if Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) is enabled or disabled in my system?

You can use the Intel® Processor Identification Utility to verify if your system is capable of Intel® Virtualization Technology.

Using the tool, Select the CPU Technologies tab. See if the Intel® Virtualization Technology options are checked or not.

Here is an example to show that the Intel® Virtualization is available.

Intel Virtualization is available

Here is an example to show that the Intel® Virtualization is not available.

Intel Virtualization is not available

If Intel® Virtualization Technology is not checked in the tool, there might be a possibility your processor still supports Intel® Virtualization Technology, but it is already being used by some software that uses a hypervisor. In that case, you can also use the Task Manager to verify the situation.

Here is an example to show Intel® Virtualization is enabled using Task Manager:

Intel Virtualization is enabled using Task Manager

Using the table below,  you can see if your processor supports Intel® Virtualization if it is disabled, and additional information.

Intel® Processor Identification Utility Task Manager Observation
Intel® Virtualization Checked Virtualization is Enabled Intel® Virtualization is enabled and it is available to use.
Intel® Virtualization Checked Virtualization is Disabled Intel® Virtualization is disabled in BIOS.
Intel® Virtualization not Checked Virtualization is Enabled Intel® Virtualization is enabled but it is used by some other software on the machine.
Intel® Virtualization not Checked Virtualization is Disabled Intel® Virtualization is not supported by the processor.

Q: If the Intel processor supports Intel® Virtualization technology (VT-x), should the chipset, OS, drivers support that too?

Intel® VT-x support requires that both the processor and BIOS support it. Although, if VT-d (Virtualization Trusted I/O is also needed, the BIOS, chipset, and processor must also support it.

Q: How do I disable Intel® Virtualization technology (VT-x) if BIOS option is not there?

With a VT-x supported Intel® Processor and a VT-x supported BIOS, VT-x can be enabled or disabled in BIOS. Refer to your motherboard vendor for exact instructions if the option is not available in BIOS