why is "Intel Virtualilization Technology" disabled in BIOS?

[yawnmoth]

Why are "Intel(R) Virtualization Technology" and "Intel(R) VT-d Feature" disabled by default? Because, when enabled, the computer consumes power at a faster rate than it normally would, or something?

[Harryc]

It's disabled by default because it's mainly for a corporate environment, and requires a specific platform running on servers etc.
More information -
http://www.intel.com/technology/virtualization/

[yawnmoth]

"requires a specific platform running on servers"?

I'm not sure what that means? You install Virtual PC or VirtualBox or whatever and install a client OS into that. I'm not sure what an arbitrary server's platform has to do with that?

[Harryc]

I was talking about server virtualization.

[sjhwilkes]

No it doesn't require any kind of server OS, VMware Workstation requires the virtualization extensions if you want to be able to run 64 bit guests. I haven't come across any issues with them turned on, so I too am surprised on hasn't become the default.

[Crunch]

I think Harryc meant that since ThinkPad's and virtulization technology are mostly used in a corporate environment, ... (correct me if I'm wrong, Harryc. )

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that it is as simple as my humblest of opinions which is that most users (still) do not require/do not use their ThinkPad's for/(insert your own hypothetical government conspiracy theory here), and therefore virtulization is not enabled by default. As virtulization is becoming more and more prevalent, Lenovo may enable VT by default in the future.

[mjdl]

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that it is as simple as my humblest of opinions which is that most users (still) do not require/do not use their ThinkPad's for/(insert your own hypothetical government conspiracy theory here), and therefore virtulization is not enabled by default. As virtulization is becoming more and more prevalent, Lenovo may enable VT by default in the future.

I noticed when I upgraded my W500 BIOS last month and reset everything to "Default Settings" that VT was enabled by default.

Anyone who runs things like the VMware player or VirtualBox might want to enable this setting (and the Virtual I/O setting, or whatever it's called) for performance reasons. On the other hand, people who make a habit of visiting dodgy web sites and running dodgy software may not want to: I'm sure there are wonderful rootkits using those features in some fashion to hide from detection...

[fuscob]

Windows XP Mode under Windows 7 also requires a VT-capable processor (and thus, requires VT to be enabled in BIOS). I have often wondered why it is disabled by default - Dell does this as well, at least on their desktop systems. As virtualization technology becomes more prevalent on end-user systems (i.e. desktops and laptops), I hope manufacturers will begin enabling it by default.

[Crunch]

I'm guessing that it is because most end users do not use virtulization. How many users do you think use Win XP Mode in Win 7? Windows XP remains the most popular OS in the world, and by a large margin at that. Win 7 has yet to break 10% market share, which is forecast to happen this week.

My 2 cents.