An event occurs on the Windows guest OS stating: "Hypervisor launch failed; Either VMX not present or not enabled in BIOS."

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

An event occurs on the Windows guest OS stating: "Hypervisor launch failed; Either VMX not present or not enabled in BIOS."

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Cause

The "Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS" feature may not be enabled.

Resolution

After shutting down the target VM, configure the settings as follows.

 1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
 2. Select the target VM, right-click, and select "Edit Settings"
 3. Expand the ">" to the left of CPU and check "Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS" under "Hardware Virtualization"
 4. Click "OK"

Additional Information

Japanese version: Windows ゲスト OS にて "ハイパーバイザーの起動に失敗しました。VMX が存在しないか、BIOS で有効になっていません" というイベントが発生する。