Unable to boot with Hyper-V Enabled

[Wahlgren]

Hello guys!

I just bought a new HP Elite Mini 800 G9, and promptly installed Windows Server 2022 on it.

Everything basic works fine, all drivers are installed etc.

However, as soon as I install Hyper-V the machine refuses to boot. It freezes at the "HP Protected by HP Wolf Security" screen.

Booting in troubleshooting mode gives me "SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED"

Booting into "Safe Mode" reverts the installation of Hyper-V and I get back into Windows.

I have tried enabling and disabling every setting in UEFI I could think of, from different types of Virtualization-settings to anything regarding HP Sure*, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. Another thing I found was a Biometric setting on Lenovos that made Hyper-V stop working, with the same error, though I have not managed to find a similar setting to fix it on my new HP. Windows BSOD and other problems after enabling "Enhanced Windows Biometric Security" in BIOS Setup -...

I've also tried installing the Wolf Security Agent and enabling it, hoping that any strangeness would be solved after reading this:
Hyper-V and Virtualization Based Security (VBS) Support (hp.com)

Though, what I really am expecting is that if I enable Intel VT-settings (of which there are 2) in UEFI, that should be enough.

Closest I have to what I think should work, but doesn't:
VTx: Enabled

VTd: Enabled

UCSI: Disabled

Virtualization Based BIOS Protection: Disabled

Secure Boot: Enabled

TPM 2.0: Enabled 
TXT: Enabled

Anyone have any ideas or have come across this before?

[Wahlgren]

In case anyone else have the same issue. Hyper-V in Win10/11 works, just not using Windows Server.

Only answer I can get from HP is that it is not supported, which is a bummer.

Will go back to Intel NUC as small lab-servers in the future, which is sad, because this looked really promising.

[AndyMacNaughton]

Edited:

In case anyone else stumbles upon this issue. I had this same exact problem and thought I was able to fix it.

System:

HP Z2 SFF G9 Workstation - i712700 - 128gb RAM - 512GB system drive with ~4TB data drive setup in RAID.

Background:

Clean install of Server 2022. Attempted to install the hyper-v feature/role. Upon reboot during this process, the boot would get stuck at the HP/HP Wolf Security splash screen. Just like OP. To get back into windows, i had to start in safe mode. This would go through to Windows and basically say the installation of hyper-v failed.

NOT a Fix:

What I thought worked for me was going into the BIOS/UEFI and disabling the Virtualization settings. I disabled both VTx and VTd. These were under Advanced>System Options. HOWEVER, to be able to do this (VTx was initially greyed out) I had to first disable Virtualization Based BIOS Protection (I think that part comes from the stupid Wolf Security crap). This setting is under Security>BIOS Sure Start.

Once the BIOS settings for virtualization were turned OFF I saved and exited the BIOS. From there, the installation of hyper-v actually finished on its own successfully.

Edit: Unfortunately, though everything appeared to work and Hyper-V was up and running, the VMs would not start and I would get an error about VT not be available on the machine. It even let me live migrate VMs to this server from another server while VT was still disabled. It wasn't until actually trying to start the VMs that I realized it was still broken. Ultimately, I had to abandon Server 2022 and go with Server 2019 instead. Hopefully HP solves this issue with updated firmware soon and not too many people continue to run into this problem.

hope this helps

Andy

[Williamjoe]

Our advice is to start with the easiest fixes and, in order, move to the harder ones.
Try Windows Safe Mode.
Check Your Battery.
Unplug All Your USB Devices.
Turn Off Fast Boot.
Check Your Other BIOS/UEFI Settings.
Try a Malware Scan.
Boot to Command Prompt Interface.
Use System Restore or Startup Repair.

Regards,

Will

[benstart]

Did VMs in Hyper-V actually work with virtualization being disabled in the bios? 

[AndyMacNaughton]

Hey @Benstart,

Unfortunately, it did not. I thought it had resolved the issue as Hyper-V would act as normal all the way up until trying to start the VMs. I could even use live migration to get the VMs onto this new server from a previous one. I had to abandon Server 2022 and do a fresh install of 2019. I simply didn't have more time to further troubleshoot as I had to get this into production. I will edit my initial response. Sorry If I led you down the wrong road.

Andy

[benstart]

No worries and thank you for the quick response. I am finding that 12th gen processors are a problem with Hyper-V (even ones without efficiency cores).