Nested Virtualization - "platform does not support virtualization"

Nathan Gloyn 11 Reputation points
2021-09-24T14:06:41.063+00:00

I have been attempting to set up docker on a VM but have run into issues as soon as I run the powershell command to allow a VM to be able to have virtualization: 

Set-VMProcessor <VMName> -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true

then whatever VM it is run against will fail to start and will provide the error message:

"The virtual machine could not be started because this platform does not support nested virtualization"

From what I am reading online the system should support this, the processor is fine, the OS version is higher than the recommended Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

I can also go into a VM and install WSL from the command line and it works although if I attempt to run the Unbuntu app downloaded from the store I get an error in the bash window saying:

Error: 0x80370102 The virtual machine could not be started because a required feature is not installed

Even though at the cli I am able to run wsl and its clearly a running linux distro.

Having reached out to other developers I know that people do have nested virtualization running on AMD Ryzen and it "just works" for them, I don't know why it doesn't work for me.

I'm at the end of my tether as I need to have docker installed on WSL in a VM for work purposes, any help or pointers would be gratefully received.

What I've tried:

  • create VM using Powershell, turn on virtualization extensions before installing OS, when starting VM to install OS it fails VM
  • use existing VM, try to turn on virtualization extensions, it fails to start VM
  • create new VM from ISO, install updates, try to turn on virtualization extensions, , it fails to start VM
  • turn off virtualization in BIOS, uninstall Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Platform, renable virtualization and reinstall Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Platform: no difference
  • create VM, install docker on VM - it complains of missing feature even with it turning on the features it needs

Some background:

  • My system (2 months old) is based off AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
  • OS is Win 10 21H1 (build 19043.1237)
  • Task Manager shows Virtualization Enabled
  • Hyper-V is installed and am able to create and run multiple VM's
  • Windows features - Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Hypervisior are on on the host
  • Turned off dynamic memory on VM's
Hyper-V
Hyper-V
A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
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  1. Liam Chaney 1 Reputation point
    2021-12-25T18:00:19.267+00:00

    Try the Cmdlet get-VMProcessor -VMName <name> to find the status of the current Vmprocessor. I turned everything to false, stopped getting the error and the machine starts but won't boot into ESXI. (Don't know the root cause yet. Maybe something with PowerCLI or net-tulip not being installed.
    I ran into this problem trying to run ESXI through Hyper-V. I don't know if this will help you get closer to your end goal, but it may get you past the initial error. I run a
    AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six-Core Processor, 3400 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)

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  2. Nathan Jones 1 Reputation point
    2022-07-13T23:46:49.613+00:00

    did you ever find a solution to this? I have same problem Ryzen9

  3. Nathan Jones 1 Reputation point
    2022-07-14T08:52:45.173+00:00

    I read an article last night that says our problem is because we need to be running Server 2022 host with Hyper V, then hyper-v inside that will work. Will drop a new drive in later today and build it/see what happens..

  4. Nathan Jones 1 Reputation point
    2022-07-19T17:14:04.17+00:00

    I got it working!! Ryzen 9 Hyper V running on Server 2022, New VM and inside that VM I have Hyper-V with DockerDesktopVM running

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  5. Nathan Jones 1 Reputation point
    2022-07-19T17:21:51.337+00:00

    "What I found out is that since I run this server on Win2012 server host, this host OS does not support nested virtualization. For this I need Win10/Serv2019 host."

    Just gotta run it on 2019/2022.. it's worth it ;)

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