Enabling Hypervisor on Genesis II

Paul

New member
I've just got a Genesis II laptop - it's a hi spec machine as I need to be able to run windows 2008 R2 and several virtual machines on the laptop using Hyper-V.

The processor, intel i7, supports hardware virtualisation (HyperVisor). This is often turned off in the BIOS by default and is normally a simple task to enable it.

The problem is that the BIOS , InsydeH20, on the Genesis II laptop appears to be extremely restricted, and the option to turn on hardware virtualisation is missing, along with a lot of other options you'd normally see. About the only things that can be are the boot order and the system date.

I sort of suspect that there is a hidden "administrators" or "advanced" BIOS screen somewhere, but I can't find it.

Does anyone know if this is the case? I've searched online but drawn a blank. I've also emailed PCSpecialist support, but after 24 hours I've not heard anything from them - not even an acknowledgement.

I'd really appreciate any help as without Hypervisor the laptop is pretty much useless to me.
 

Gishank

Bright Spark
You're using a laptop as a server, for virtualization? That sounds slightly silly in my opinion.
I did a quick search on your behalf and found that you'd need to find a BIOS update to get around the issue yet Insyde do not offer them directly, if you find out your motherboards model however then the manufacturer may be able to provide an updated version of the BIOS which unlocks the features.
 

Paul

New member
Many thanks Gishank,

On the face of it, yes it may seem odd, but there is good reason for it. I'm a software solutions architect. Part of my role is to go into company board rooms up and down the country & demonstrate working software solutions, proof of concepts etc. These usually involve Dynamics CRM, SharePoint, SQL Server and Exchange. I can never guarantee any internet connectivity so I therefore use virtualised machines on the laptop to give me a whole working server environment for the purposes of the demo. I've been using a HP Pavillion for this for quite some time to good effect. That's getting a limited in its RAM for the newer versions of the software and hence the need for a new laptop.

Anyway, I too did the internet searching over the weekend and found similar info from Insyde.

Insyde refer you back to the manufacturer. I've contacted PCSpecialist, but I've not had a reply from them as yet, rather disappointingly.
 

Gishank

Bright Spark
Hmm, yeah. That makes sense.. But naturally as it's a laptop and not designed for such is most likely why it lacks most BIOS functionality. It's their busy period which is why you've most likely not recieved a reply yet, though if you're lucky one of the PCSpecialist staff may see this thread and help you out making the e-mail unneccessary, they're usually on quite regularly.
 

Gorman

Author Level
The chassis has a very limited BIOS in which enabling hardware vt is not possible, i have had a dig for an updated BIOS but there is none availiable at the moment.
 
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PCS

Administrator
Staff member
We checked with the manufacturer and hardware virtualisation (on the CPU) is enabled by default providing the CPU supports this. It cannot be enabled/disabled.
 
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