Enabling Hardware virtualization using Windows 10 Pro w/HP Elitebook Folio 9470m

[ninja661]

I have a simple question and I was wondering how one might enable HyperVisor & Virrtualization on this particular model.  I bought this laptop used and the info from the manuals is pretty thin.  I am open to advice as I am still learning this machine.  The configuration is a i5-1900 Mhz cpu w/16Gb and  1Tb drive.  Any/all info is welcome 🙂

Thanks in advance!

Brent

[BastianW]

There is no i5-1900 released by intel. However enabling the Hardware virtualization normally can be done in the BIOS. Did you already tried that?

[ninja661]

I have tried but I forget if the system asks for some driver or what.  This is a refurbished laptop so the original restore image of this machine is NLA - it was wiped from the original hdd.  So, I’m hoping that since the machine is running Windows 10 Pro, that it is still possible to load this feature.

[BastianW · Accepted solution]

The Hardware virtualization is a feature offered by the CPU and can be enabled in the BIOS. Its not part from the Windows OS. You need the Hardware virtualization features if you would like to install for example VMWare Workstation / Oracle VirtualBox on that PC and start to emulate some other systems on that.

If you wish to reinstall the PC you do not need a original ISO image, you can download a Windows 10 recovery image from here and once installed you can use the HP Support Assistant to download and install all drivers. However that has nothing to do with the Hardware virtualization.

So if your device for example is having a i5-3427U then the Intel Virtualization Technology is supported as you can see in the link. You only need to enable that feature in the BIOS. If you have another CPU you need to check if that is supported by the CPU.

[ninja661]

This can be done  AFTER the machine has already been rebuilt or does this have to be done at say a system build (wipe)?

[BastianW]

yes, the "Intel Hyper-Threading Technology" and "Intel Virtualization Technology" can be activated / deactivated in the BIOS after the OS has been installed. The reason is that the normal OS is for example not using the Virtualization technology. So if you enable or disable the there is no difference in using the primary installed Windows 10 OS. Only if you do some virtualization like with using VmWare Workstation or Virtual box you need that feature. The Hyper threading might get some performance but it depends on the application. Technically its a kind of scheduler who emulate additional CPUs but as this is only a emulation the benefit for most applications is zero BUT often needed for VmWare Workstation or Virtual box.