vMotion fails with the error: problem detected at CPUID level 0x80000001 register 'edx'

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• vMotion fails
• You see the error:
  
  Unable to migrate from : The CPU of the host is incompatible with the cpu feature requirements of virtual machine;
  problem detected at CPUID level 0x80000001 register 'edx'

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

This issue is caused by the Nx flag setting.

 

There are 2 options to correct this:

1. In VMware Infrastructure (VI) Client, select the virtual machine from the Inventory. Click Edit Settings > Options > Advanced > Hide the Nx flag from the guest.
   
   Note: The virtual machine needs to be powered off for the change to take effect.
    
2. Check /proc/cpuinfo on both hosts and verify the Flags column is identical. In this case "nx" was missing. Go into the BIOS of each host and enable the setting called no-execute memory protection on both hosts or turn this off on both hosts.
   
   

For more information, see Ensuring Virtualization Technology is enabled on your VMware host (1003944).

Note: Execute Protection is Intel eXecute Disable (XD) on Intel processors and AMD No eXecute (NX) on AMD processors.