33.6. Verifying virtualization extensions
Use this section to determine whether your system has the hardware virtualization extensions. Virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V) are required for full virtualization.
Note
If hardware virtualization extensions are not present you can use Xen para-virtualization with the Red Hat kernel-xen package.
- Run the following command to verify the CPU virtualization extensions are available:
$ grep -E 'svm|vmx' /proc/cpuinfo
- Analyze the output.
- The following output contains a
vmxentry indicating an Intel processor with the Intel VT extensions:flags : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
- The following output contains an
svmentry indicating an AMD processor with the AMD-V extensions:flags : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8legacy ts fid vid ttp tm stc
If any output is received, the processor has the hardware virtualization extensions. However in some circumstances manufacturers disable the virtualization extensions in BIOS.The "flags:" content may appear multiple times for each hyperthread, core or CPU on the system.The virtualization extensions may be disabled in the BIOS. If the extensions do not appear or full virtualization does not work, see Procedure 36.1, “Enabling virtualization extensions in BIOS”. For users of the KVM hypervisor
If the kvm package is installed. I As an additional check, verify that thekvmmodules are loaded in the kernel:# lsmod | grep kvm
If the output includeskvm_intelorkvm_amdthen thekvmhardware virtualization modules are loaded and your system meets requirements. sudo
Note
If the libvirt package is installed, the
virsh command can output a full list of virtualization system capabilities. Run virsh capabilities as root to receive the complete list.
