Windows hypervisor will not launch at boot despite AMD-V enabled — Event ID 26

[FruitsPunch314]

Product / system details

• Model: HP OMEN MAX Gaming Laptop 16-ak0003nr
• Product number / SKU: C42CFUA#ABA
• CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 w/ Radeon 890M (Strix Point), 12 cores / 24 threads
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop + AMD Radeon 890M iGPU
• RAM: 32 GB
• OS: Windows 11 Home, build 10.0.26200.8655
• BIOS: Insyde F.07 (released 2026-04-27) — current latest
• Embedded Controller: 40.38

Problem summary

The Windows hardware hypervisor (required for Virtual Machine Platform / WSL2 and for virtualization-based apps) fails to launch on every boot. Applications that need it report HRESULT 0x80370102 ("hypervisor not running").

The true root cause, captured from the Windows System event log, is:

Event ID 26 — Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Hypervisor — Level: Error "Hypervisor launch failed; the hypervisor boot loader's internal logic failed (BalStatus 0x7, sub-status 0x7)."

This event is logged on every single boot. Critically, this is not a "virtualization disabled in BIOS" condition:

• msinfo32 reports Virtualization Enabled in Firmware = Yes, plus VM Monitor Mode Extensions = Yes, Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) = Yes, Data Execution Prevention = Yes.
• Virtualization-based security shows "Enabled but not running."

In other words, AMD-V/SVM is enabled and the CPU advertises full virtualization support, yet the Windows hypervisor loader aborts during its own internal initialization and the hypervisor never comes up.

Everything already tried (all verified; none changed the error)

1. Confirmed AMD-V / SVM enabled in firmware (msinfo32 flags all = Yes, as above).
2. Updated BIOS F.06 → F.07 (latest available). No change — identical error.
3. Fully updated Windows to build 26200.8655, including a component-store repair (DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth = success, sfc /scannow = no integrity violations). No change.
4. Verified boot config: bcdedit shows hypervisorlaunchtype = Auto. No change.
5. Tried bcdedit /set hypervisoriommupolicy disable (disable IOMMU use by hypervisor). No change — identical error after cold boot.
6. Core Isolation / Memory Integrity = Off. No change.
7. Secure Boot toggled On and Off. No change.
8. Graphics mode tried in all three BIOS options — Hybrid, Discrete, and Integrated. No change.
9. Verified the hypervisor binaries are present and intact: hvax64.exe (AMD), hvix64.exe, hvloader.dll.
10. Confirmed Virtual Machine Platform feature = Enabled; confirmed no third-party/anti-cheat/hypervisor drivers load at boot (clean boot-start driver list — all Microsoft/AMD/Intel).
11. Performed multiple full cold-boot power cycles after every change above.

What stays constant after every change

The same event, on every boot: Event ID 26 — "hypervisor boot loader's internal logic failed (BalStatus 0x7, sub-status 0x7)."

The failure is completely deterministic and unchanged across two BIOS versions (F.06, F.07), two Windows builds, IOMMU on/off, Secure Boot on/off, and all three GPU modes.

Request

This appears to be a platform firmware / BIOS defect specific to this Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (Strix Point) platform: the Windows hypervisor loader fails its internal initialization even though AMD-V is enabled, and current BIOS F.07 does not resolve it. Please advise:

1. Is there a known issue or a forthcoming BIOS fix for Windows hypervisor / AMD-V launch on the OMEN MAX 16-ak0003nr (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375)?
2. Are there hidden or required BIOS settings (e.g., SVM Lock, IOMMU, "Above 4G Decoding" / Resizable BAR, UMA Frame Buffer Size) that must be set a particular way for the Windows hypervisor to initialize on this model?
3. Given AMD-V is enabled in firmware but the hypervisor still cannot launch, please escalate to engineering if no setting or BIOS update resolves it.

I can supply the full System event-log export and msinfo32 report on request.

[Nal_NR]

Hi @FruitsPunch314,

We are working on a fix and will share an update shortly.
 

[JW256]

I feel your pain, was fighting very similar issue for hours.
Went pretty much through same steps.
While the exact error message I was getting was different and AMD based laptop was not HP made, what helped, regardless of how dumb it sounds, was to disable virtualization in BIOS, reboot, enable virtualization in BIOS, reboot.
I seen this as suggested resolution during my google searches more than once, but dismissed as not likely to work. Tried it out of desperation.
To my surprise it worked. What exactly happened, after enabling virtualization again, boot process (presumably) crashed and laptop went to restore windows screen or something. I gracefully powered down from there and next boot succeeded with wsl2 working.
No harm to try I suppose.