So what does 64-bit mean exactly? It starts (as most things do) at the hardware level.
If the CPU is 64-bit, it just means that the CPU can address (and access) greater than 4GB of Memory (RAM). Of course, all this is pretty useless if you have a 32-bit OS installed on it.
Why? Well – if the OS is 32-bit, then all it can “see” is it’s limit of 4GB of addressable RAM - even if you have a lot more installed. So it, in turn, reports the 4GB to all the applications that sit on top of it. Think of this as an OS with 32-bit blinders on – where the OS doesn’t even know there’s more Memory installed.
This is, however, a simple description. I’m not going to go into all the details of what 64-bit computing offers in this post. I just want to cover an issue which I hit in setting up a 64-bit Guest Virtual Machine on a 32-bit Host.
These days, 64-bit edition OSs aren’t reserved for just servers, but are available right to the end user as well on personal Desktops and Laptops. Anyway, I had a need to setup a couple of virtual 64-bit OSs for testing on a 32-bit Host and hit an issue.
NOTE: If your CPU is 32-bit, ignore this post. This only works if your CPU is 64-bit and supports Virtualization Technology to begin with. Almost all 64-bit AMD and Intel processorts do support Virtualization Technology.
Problem: Unable to install a 64-bit Virtual Machine Guest OS on a 32-bit Host
My setup:
- CPU: Intel P9400
- Host OS: Windows Vista 32-bit
- Guest OSs (all 64-bit)
- Solaris 10
- Linux (Fedora Distro 12)
- Windows Server 2008
Details:
- Restart your computer and during bootup access the BIOS.
- Navigate to Virtualization Support > Virtualization and check the box to Enable Intel Virtualization Technology
- Boot up the Host OS
- Install the Guest OS
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