Running MS Hyper-V in VMWare Workstation 11

This post is an update to the previous post “Running MS Hyper-V in VMWare Workstation 10” that I did a while back. In VMWare Workstation 11, the steps are different to achieve this. When you try to install the Hyper-V Role in Windows Server 2012 R2 VMWare Workstation VM, you will see the following error … Continue reading “Running MS Hyper-V in VMWare Workstation 11”

This post is an update to the previous post “Running MS Hyper-V in VMWare Workstation 10” that I did a while back. In VMWare Workstation 11, the steps are different to achieve this.

When you try to install the Hyper-V Role in Windows Server 2012 R2 VMWare Workstation VM, you will see the following error below.
Hyper V Role Installation Error

The following is what you can do in order to run Hyper-V in a VMWare Workstation VM.

Configuring the VM to run MS Hyper-V

1) Shutdown the VM and go to the Virtual Machine Settings for your VM in VMWare Workstation and make sure that “Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI” and “Virtualize CPU performance counters” are Checked In.
VM Settings Window

2) Next go to the folder your VM is stored. Open up the .VMX file in a Text Editor.
Find the Location of the VMX file

3) In the Text Editor, at the end of the file, add in the following lines at the end and Save the File.
hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = "FALSE" (This option makes the VM think it’s not running in a VM. The OS will think it is running on Hardware.)
mce.enable = "TRUE" (This option allows the VM to report any Hardware CPU issues through Machine Check Exception)
Editing the VMX file

4) Turn on your VM and try to install the Hyper-V role again. You will notice this time that the installation will complete.
Installing Hyper-V Role

After this is all done, you can now create Hyper-V VMs on your Hyper-V Host VM that is running in a VMWare Workstation VM :P. Hope you all find this useful for testing!
Running Hyper-V VM